General Resources on
Genocide and Mass Killings

International Treaties and Tribunals Relating to Genocide, War Crimes, and Crimes Against Humanity

International Treaties and Conventions. A  listing of links to all the major international conventions regulating the conduct of warfare, war crimes, and genocide. In addition to the various Hague and Geneva Conventions, and Protocols (1899-1977), there are also links to the Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict ( 14 May 1954 ), the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production and Stockpiling of Bacteriological ( Biological ) and Toxin Weapons and on Their Destruction ( 16 November 1972 ), Convention on the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage ( 16 November 1972 ), and the Convention on the Prohibition of Military or Any Other Hostile Use of Environmental Modification Techniques ( 10 December 1976 ). There is also a listing of the signatories to the Geneva conventions and their additional protocols, a link to the ICRC's summary of International Humanitarian Law, and the UN Security Council resolutions establishing the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, and that for Rwanda. The page was compiled by Mario Profaca and last updated June 15, 1996 (15/01/97).

International Criminal Tribunals (Former Yugoslavia, Rwanda, Nuremberg, IMTFE). This page has been put together by Mario Profaca, a Croatian journalist who has been manning a Web presentation focusing on war crimes and acts of genocide committed in the course of the conflicts during 1991-1995 in the former Yugoslavia, and monitoring steps toward indicting and punishing some of those responsible. In addition to being one of the best html designed presentations in terms of its objectives, it brings together a useful collection of resources for those interested in pursuing online materials relating to war crimes and genocide.

Although most of the resources linked to from this page relate to the former Yugoslavia, there are very useful links to materials relating to Rwanda-although this has not been covered all that extensively on the Internet-to the Nuremberg Tribunal, and also to the International Military Tribunal for the Far East, which rarely gets a mention in the context of discussions of war crimes. The information available from this source is also limited, being mostly focused on the Nanjing Massacre. There is a link to Basic Facts on the Nanjing Massacre and the Tokyo War Crimes Trial.

War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity. Part of the University of Minnesota's excellent Web presentation on Human Rights. Included here are the genocide convention, the Nuremberg Rules, and Control Council Law No.10 for the Punishment of Persons Guilty of War Crimes, Crimes Against Peace and Against Humanity. Most of those tried by the Allied Powers following the defeat of the Axis powers were prosecuted under the terms of this latter law. Some documents from this source are available in French. The Rules of Procedure and Evidence pertaining to the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda are also located here.

A Look Back at Nuremberg is part of the Court TV Web presentation..The Court TV Law Centre is best known for providing online full transcripts of important contemporary criminal law cases, including that of O J Simpson, and of the Lyle and Eric Menendez brothers.. Also available from this server are an extensive number of documents dealing with the Nuremberg tribunal. The files provide information on the defendants, the indictments, Who Was Who at Nuremberg, the creation of the tribunal and who was behind it, and an article on the Legacy of the Trial. There are also complete transcripts of certain sections of the trial, including: The Indictments and Entering of Pleas; the Opening Speech of the Chief US Prosecutor, Robert Jackson; the testimony of SS General Otto Ohlendorf, commander of Einsatgruppe D, who testified for the prosecution; the US prosecutor's cross examination of Hermann Göering; the testimony of Albert Speer, and Robert Jackson's historic closing speech for the prosecution.

International Criminal Tribunal Former Yugoslavia: Basic Documents Provided by the University of Minnesota's Human Rights Library. Included here is the statute establishing the International Criminal Tribunal, Rules of Procedure and Evidence, Dayton Peace Accords, and the Rules of Detention.

There are links from this page to various press reports relating to Yugoslavia, to information relating to the legal status of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide, and to the Final Report of the UN Commission of Experts on the Former Yugoslavia, which documents at length (3000+ pages), war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocidal acts committed in the former Yugoslavia.

See also my local page on Resources on the Conflict in the Former Yugoslavia, which includes a substantial volume of files on this server. 

War Crimes: American Prosecution of Nazi Military Officers, (Article) by Matthew Lippman. This is an extensive examination of the prosecution by the United States of military and SS personnel of the Third Reich by the United States following the defeat of Germany in 1945. The focus is on the prosecutions which were undertaken pursuant to Control Council Law No. 10, which was introduced by the Allied Control Council to deal with second tier war criminals and similar offenders who were subject to liability as principals or accessories or for ordering or consenting to the commission of the Nuremberg offenses of Crimes Against Peace, War Crimes, and Crimes Against Humanity The article was originally published in the Touro International Law Review, Vol.6, No.1, 1995

Truth and Reconciliation Commission. This is a difficult resource to classify. It is included here because the concept behind it is interesting in the context of what human rights experts refer to as the problem of impunity. One of the major problems that arises in the context of human rights violations arising out of state terrorism on a significant scale, or crimes against humanity, or war crimes, is that of dealing with their perpetrators. The approach of the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission is historically innovative and unique. Its approach to handling major violations of human rights, including mass killings, state terrorism and torture, raises issues relating to the comparative effectiveness of this approach with that adopted by the Nuremberg tribunal, and the International Criminal Tribunals on the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda, even if the scale and nature of the atrocities perpetrated is dissimilar.

The Avalon Project, arranged by Yale Law School, is mounting a wide range of documents of relevance to those researching and studying in the fields of history, law, economics, politics, diplomacy and government. The plans include a wide range of materials relating to the Second World War, many of which are already available.The documents are arranged by century. Those for the twentieth include various materials relating to the International Military Tribunal for Germany. The documents linked to from the Nuremberg War Crimes Trial page include the London Agreement of 1945 which established the International Military Tribunal, the Charter of the tribunal, rules of procedure, minutes of the opening procedures, the text of the indictment, testimony of witnesses, relevant documents, medical reports, the judgment and sentences. The aim of the project is to make available online all materials relating to the trials. Already portions of some of the Proceedings volumes (the Blue Set) have been mounted, as well as volumes in the series Nazi Conspiracy and Agression (the Red Set). There is an impressive range of documents already available here, including various international treaties (Versailles, the Hague Conventions, the Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact, the Munich Pact and associated documents). In sum, an invaluable resource.

Miscellaneous

Atomic Bomb Decision. A collection of documents bearing on the decision to use atomic weapons on Japan and the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. There are a large number of documents and reports that can be accessed here. They include the recent opinion of the International Court of Justice on the legality of the threat or use of nuclear weapons, minutes of the Target Committee, Los Alamos (May 10-11, 1945), the Franck Report, various petitions, excerpts from the Truman's diary and his radio broadcast (AU file).

The Bryce Report. Report of the Committee on Alleged German Outrages Appointed by His Britannic Majesty's Government and Presided Over by the Right Hon. Viscount Bryce, O.M. the Right Hon. Sir Frederick Pollock, Bt., K.C.; Sir Alfred Hopkinson, K.C; Mr H A L Fisher, Vice-chancellor of the University of Sheffield; and Mr Harold Cox; "to be a Committee to consider and advise on the evidence collected on behalf of His Majesty's Government as to outrages alleged to have been committed by German troops during the present War [WWI], cases of alleged maltreatment of civilians in the invaded territories, and breaches of the laws and established usages of war; and to prepare a report for His Majesty's Government allowing the conclusion at which they arrive on the evidence now available." The report focused on  alleged atrocities committed by German forces in Belgium. Subsequently it was established that many of the allegations made about German atrocities owed more to the imagination of those putting pen to paper than to reality. This, it has been argued, was a factor which led authorities in Britain and the United States initially to disbelieve reports concerning German atrocities during the Second World War.

Gendercide Watch

This site collates resources relating to what its owners refer to as gendercide, this being "gender selective mass killing."  Various case studies available at the site illustrate the application of the concept.  These include mass killings that have taken place during the conflicts in Bangladesh, Bosnia, Kosovo, and Manchuria, as well as the Holocaust and the killings of Soviet prisoners of war subsequent to the invasion of the USSR by the Third Reich.  Also available are briefer news reports and some links to related Internet resources. 

Genocide: Resources for Teaching and Research This project is jointly maintained by the Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of Memphis, and the Crime, Law and Justice Program of the Department of Sociology at Pennsylvania State University.  The resources provided:

Bibliographies: Most of the entries are post-1992 and are grouped in three classes.  Recent books, recent articles and reports (links being provided to those available online), and an annotated bibliogrpahy, generally in the form of abstracts, of selected publications.

News and Events:  Information about conferences, submission deadlines for journals, calls for action and miscellaneous news and announcements.

Links:  This is subdivided into a file that collates links to online resources relating to specific genocidal events, and a file that collates links to Syllabi and Catalog descriptions of courses on genocide, online resources on international law and human rights, online bibliographies, and to genocide resource centres.  The main genocidal events categories that are included are:  Holocaust, Armenia, Cambodia, Balkans, Bosnia, and Rwanda.

Generally, this is a well organised presentation which should be found very useful by anyone with an interest in an overview of the subject of genocide or in specific case studies of mass man-made killings.

The Rwandan Genocide: The Triumph of Evil This presentation brings together materials that were assembled for a PBS/Frontline programme shown in the United States on January 26, 1999.  The presentation includes the transcript of the programme, a chronology of the "100 days of slaughter", an historical chronology dating back to the 1920s, interviews with authors and leading decision makers, including Iqbal Riza (Chief of Staff to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan) and James Woods (Deputy Assistant Secretary for African Affairs at the Department of Defense from 1986-1994), communications from viewers and reproduction of "ignored warnings" anticipating the catastrophe that ensued.  A useful collection of introductory materials.

Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies (University of Minnesotta).  Links to resources on genocides.