This volume reviews the achievements and limitations of the International Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda, and the creation of mixed national/international courts: the Special Court for Sierra Leone and the Cambodia Tribunal. The major, unexpected and promising judiciary innovation is however the creation of the International Criminal Court in 1998, supported by the UN, European Union members and other countries, effectively promoted by NGOs, but strongly opposed by the USA. The Court will have to show that it is a fair and valuable instrument in fighting impunity at...

In spite of the Geneva and The Hague Conventions of the late 19th century, the Twentieth Century has been a century of massacres and genocides: the massacres due to European colonialism, two World Wars, the Holocaust, the Armenian and the Rwanda genocides, the casualties caused by the Communist utopia in the USSR, China and Cambodia, and numerous civil wars.
Most of the leaders mainly responsible for these massacres and genocides have enjoyed impunity. However, there is a slow popular awakening to the fact that leaders should be accountable for their crimes. A human rights regime was...

International monitoring of plebiscites, referenda and national elections has given a guarantee to the populations and the countries directly involved, and to the international community, that the people themselves have been able to exercise freely their right to self-determination through these processes. By focusing international attention on an internal electoral process, international monitoring may deter fraud by government, armed forces or electoral authorities. It shows international support for democracy and elections, as well as for human rights. While the international monitoring of...

UNICEF, the UN Children's Fund, is renowned for its efficiency in both rich and poor countries. Created as a humanitarian agency, it is now one of the international development institutions concerned with children and mothers. The book relates the creation of UNICEF, the evolution of its programmes, its structure and finances, its work in health, nutrition, education and sanitation and in emergencies. The 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child now serves as a framework for all UNICEF programmes and a basis for its advocacy. Current challenges include UNICEF's nature and identity, its...