Product Description

For everyone who wants to become better informed about the news, this book lays out the benchmarks for monitoring the watchdogs and governments. Published to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the Geneva Conventions, it illustrates what is legal in war and what is not. The text presents reportage of contemporary journalism while the A-Z format and the graphic design make accessible the complicated and often harrowing subject matter. as well as providing visual bookmarks, the photographs document the reality behind the words. The heart of the law, and of the book, are the grave breaches of serious war crimes, delineated in the four Geneva Conventions of 1949 and the First Additional Protocol of 1977. The book gives an example of each breach and journalists who were at the scene report on what they saw. These articles are labelled crime. Leading scholars have contributed shorter articles on techical topics, most labelled the law. There are also essay-length articles on major themes, labelled key terms. To provide an overview of the current scene, ten writers takes a critical look at recent conflicts and examine them in the light of the crimes of war. Complementing these case studies are experts' overviews of the applicable law.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #674973 in Books
• Published on: 1999-07-20
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 352 pages

Alex Renton, Evening Standard, 28 July 1999
"Crimes of War is fascinating and quite probably indispensable for anyone whose job it is to cover conflicts."

Jonathan Steele, Guardian, 30 July 1999
"These uncomfortable insights were the first of many I discovered in Crimes of War: What the Public Should Know, a brilliant handbook which is designed for anyone involved in armed conflicts, whether as journalist, aid worker, soldier, armchair commentator, or civilian. How often have we pontificated in print or lost our tempers on a public platform or in a letter to a newspaper editor without having the facts?" [

Dr Lynn Welchman, The World Today, August/September issue
"Compelling both visually and textually, it deserves to make a contribution to the struggle to end the kind of crimes it documents and to provide justice and reparation for victims."

Customer Reviews

Covers the ground well, looking at everyone whose erred
Contrary to other reviewers, I found the book to be a very healthy critique of the reality that countries always develop bigger sticks than their neighbours, it's just whether or not they use 'em that matters. The countries and cases given are based entirely on what's known. Israel gets a lot of comment, but that's because so much more is publicly known about their activities, rather than, say, China or Myanmar or Syria (now, there's a time-bomb waiting to fall over).

What's most appealing is the lengthy descriptions of how all the nastier weapons get developed, and the fact that the factories really may be in your back yard. Any medium-sized government plant closed to public entry can harbour a bio-chem weapons facility (even if it's been renamed an 'Agricultural Research Facility'!).

What's even better is the detail given of how easy industrial pollution accidents occur. A simple thing like leaving an air-scrubber turned off can lead to multiple deaths locally. The book is well-written and makes available a lot of government admitted information, which would otherwise be scattered across specialist journals, committee reports and the odd liberal newspaper. Worth keeping as a reference book, just so you can check what's going on the next time a Government says it's had a small, 'controllable incident' at a previously unknown research station.

All examples of violators are politically correct
A good review of the international law concerning war crimes. However, Israel comes in for much bashing as if it was the worst violator. Other states which are far worse, like China are left out. Do the writers have an agenda?

War crimes confined to those polically correct
In giving the information regarding the legal aspects of international law this book has value. However, it is an Israel basher, with taht beseiged state coming in for much criticism as if it were a major violator of international law. The book leaves out Turkey and China, friends of the US for commercial and military reasons. Strange!