THE ROLE OF INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY IN REDUCING WAR CRIMES IN MIDDLE EAST

Abstract

War crimes involve the serious violation of the laws and customs of war defined by the international treaties and international customary laws. However, despite the prohibition of such actions by the international humanitarian laws, there are many instances where internal conflicts surpass the boundaries of permitted war offences leading to war crimes. In response to these crimes, the international community has a responsibility to intervene to prevent further atrocities against humanity being committed. In this study, the aim was to determine how effective the interventions by the international community have been in resolving and preventing war crimes in the Middle East. First, the study examined the history of war crimes in the Middle East and established that in Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Libya and Turkey, there have been many cases of war crimes committed against civilians. These civil wars have been going on for at least a decade or more and most are still ongoing. Some of the war crimes committed include the use of chemical weapons on civilians, rape and torture, detentions and disappearance of war soldiers and civilians and recruitment of child soldiers. The international community has been actively involved in the effort to end these war crimes. The measures adopted include but not limited to economic sanctions, IIIM interventions, negotiated settlements, military interventions and legal proceedings. However, in many instances, these measures have not been wholly effective in resolving the conflicts and the ongoing war crimes. The civil wars are still ongoing, and the war crimes are being committed by the governments, intervenors and the rebels. Therefore, it is concluded that currently, the approaches towards resolving the war crimes in the Middle East have been quite ineffective. The study recommends that the international community should focus on negotiated settlements where the focus is on healing the past pains and injustices, pursuing justice and accountability and a total change of the leadership regime through national dialogue and demographic election processes