Nuremberg strongly extended the reach of international law for individuals as to their obligations and their rights. In terms of responsibility, it eliminated the defence of both sovereign immunity for top-drawer officials and the defence of superior orders. And in terms of human rights, it held that individuals had certain inviolable rights, which could not be abridged by nation States (i.e. Germany).
Nuremberg introduced a new dimension to 'international law. It brought to justice the leaders of a nation engaged in starting wars. It confronted those who carried out wartime atrocities with responsibility for their crimes. Finally, it characterized as international crimes the massive killing of individuals for racial, religious or political reasons.
Nuremberg marked the real start of the international human rights movement. It was the forerunner of the European Human Rights Convention, and was the progenitor of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and of more than 30 human rights conventions. It foreshadowed the trials now taking place at The Hague and in the United Republic of Tanzania for violations of human rights in Bosnia and Herzegovina and in Rwanda. It also laid the basis for punishment of the type of crimes which General Pinochet has been charged with responsibility for having committed in Chile.
The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, which 120 nations have approved, is a direct outgrowth of Nuremberg. It moves toward the realization of Justice Jackson's dream of a permanent and independent institution for maintaining international peace and security. In essence, the crimes on which it is based are Nuremberg-type crimes.
Nuremberg represented the greatest moral advance growing out of the Second World War. In mankind's history, it was, as Justice Jackson said, "the most significant tribute that power has ever paid to reason". What are its lessons?
* That individuals have responsibilities under international law which transcend their obligations under national and local law - that these responsibilities apply at all levels - although in varying degrees.
* That individuals have human rights which exist on an international level regardless of their recognition on the local or national level - that these rights are inviolable and that those who transgress them are subject to punishment.
Nuremberg was about the erosion of national sovereignty. It recognized that it was individuals who committed crimes in the name of nation States, and forced them to confront their responsibility for such acts and punished them for it. Nuremberg also reached behind the curtain of national sovereignty to hold that individuals had certain rights which could not be violated without punishment, regardless of whether the violations were sanctioned by a nation State.
Nuremberg recognized that if individuals, who ran nation States, were allowed to use them as vehicles for aggressions and for war crimes and crimes against humanity, that international human society would continue to be governed by a rule of anarchy in the future. Nuremberg sought to lift mankind's sights with a brighter future where reason and a rule of law prevailed. The ultimate lesson of Nuremberg is that the surrender of some national sovereignty is necessary to ensure a better future for all mankind.
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| Professor Henry T. King, Jr. is a former United States Prosecutor at the Nuremberg trials, a former General Counsel of the United States Foreign Economic Aid Program, as well as Chairman of the Section on International Law and Practice of the American Bar Association. He is currently Director of the Canada-United States Law Institute and Professor of Law at Case Western Reserve University of Law, where he teaches international arbitration.
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Number 2 1999
