Treatment of War Crimes in Peace Settlements – Prosecution or Amnesty?

Abstract

Prosecution and punishment of war criminals is essential to the legal validity, observance and development of the laws of war. This chapter examines the standpoint of contemporary international law on these two conflicting policies: the prosecution of war crimes after the conclusion of peace, on the one hand, and amnesty, on the other. The peace settlements made after the First World War initiated a new policy, based on the twofold principle of prosecution of war criminals from among the vanquished aggressor States, on the one hand, and the granting of an amnesty to eventual war criminals who acted against the aggressor States, on the other. The chapter suggests that there is no legal possibility for an international amnesty for war crimes. Under present-day international law, based on States' duty to prosecute and punish war criminals, the traditional institution of international amnesty as part of a peace settlement is passe . Keywords:amnesty; international law; laws of war; peace settlements; prosecution; war crimes