Examining Questions Relating to War Crimes Tribunals, Human Rights and the US-China Cold War

Abstract

In this paper I explore some important questions on Human Rights, the US-China cold war and War crimes tribunals and offer my critique of some existing literature.The beginning of Human Rights which starts with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights form the modern content of Human Rights along with other human rights conventions. The written language of Human Rights conventions support the development of other International legal regimes such as International Humanitarian law. Therefore I add to the recent debate in the Human Rights literature about the beginnings of the come into being of Human Rights by clarifying that the charges before the Nuremberg trials marked a critical moment in the history of Human Rights to carry forward the goal of implementation of Human Rights as facist Nazis are charged for war crimes and individual criminal responsibility is applied as a rule of international law. Today individual criminal responsibility is applied through universal jurisdiction by the International Criminal Court to prosecute human rights violations like War crimes and Crimes against Humanity. Therefore this paper answers two questions, what is the relationship between the rise of war crimes tribunals and the rise of the human rights movement? I answer this question by highlighting the importance Human Rights places on its universal applicability and its relevance to other branches of international law such as international humanitarian law to enforce the language of human rights. The other question is when did Human Rights come into being? This paper offers a critical analysis of the debate in the existing literature about the actual beginnings of the human rights and answers that human rights began with the commencement of the community of States and international cooperation post world war II. This landmark beginning of human rights marks the universal application of human rights through the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as a part of the sources of international law with the consent of States. This paper also goes into the question of State behaviour when it comes to balance of power between States and answers the question what is the US foreign policy with regard to the economic improvements of China in international trade? The central thesis developed in this paper is that the American cautiousness about the Chinese communist party’s economic profit by having access to trade through Communist party businessmen and Chinese relations with other countries does not contradict international cooperation. But it is questionable whether the cooperation between US and China has changed things to a Hobbesian explanation of U.S.-China relations: that Sovereigns behave like 'leviathan gladiators' of Hobbes due to the improvement of State military security and economic losses incurred by the State in economic downturns. But it is counterintuitive to argue that there is impending war because international cooperation as a principle of international law which came into being post World war II applies to both The US and China and the two countries are aware of what is required in international law to avoid conflict -that is international cooperation.