At long last, the international community is moving toward the fulfillment of certain promises made at the close of the Nuremberg trials.'Since that time, human rights abusers have escaped accountability for their international crimes, in large part due to the lack of enforcement mechanisms at the international level. 2 Three contemporary initiatives, however, suggest that the Nuremberg legacy of holding individuals accountable for human rights violations is not mere history.First, the establishment of the International Tribunals for Yugoslavia 3 and Rwanda,' both under the auspices of the 1.In the aftermath of World War II, the Allied nations established the United Nations and convened the Nuremberg and Tokyo Tribunals in an effort to create an international regime that would restrain aggression and the use of force, protect individuals from governmental atrocities, and ensure world peace The tribunals, which were empowered to prosecute perpetrators of war crimes, crimes against the peace.and crimes against humanity, held out the promise that individuals would henceforth be held accountable before the international community for their acts of aggression and their crimes against humanity -Cnmes against international law are committed by men, not by abstract entities, and only by punishing individuals who commit such crimes can the provisions of international law be enforced.'*International Mdtary Tribunal (Nuremberg), Judgment and Sentences.Oct. 1. 1946.repnnted in 41 Am J INT'L L 172. 221 (1947).2. After the dissolution of the two ad hoc tribunals, the international community faded to "create structures in international society that would ensure that Ithe Nuremberg PIrinciples were not mere rhetoric but were operative upon behavior in times of peace as well as in the aftermath of military defeat -RicuARD
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Beth Van Schaack (1997) studied this question.