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A NEW INTERNATIONAL ORDER 251 See also: The Representation of the People Act 188–189 ■ The Universal Declaration of Human Rights 222–229 ■ The European Convention on Human Rights 230–233 ■ The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights 256–257 had mixed fairly freely until the Separate waiting rooms, dining the National Association for the 1880s, when some state legislatures areas, water fountains, and entrances Advancement of Colored People then required railroads to provide were commonplace, while some (NAACP) was patiently developing separate carriages for “Negro” establishments didn’t even permit its legal challenges to segregation and “colored” passengers. black people on the premises at all. laws in public schools. In Topeka, Kansas, the board of education Protests began immediately, principle—for example, school refused to allow Linda Brown, and in 1892, train passenger Homer buses were provided for white daughter of black resident Oliver Plessy refused to sit in the carriage children, while black children Brown, to attend her local school, reserved for black people. Plessy, had to walk to school. instead insisting she take a bus to who described himself as “seven- the black elementary school across eighths Caucasian and one-eighth Continued discrimination town. The NAACP stepped in and African blood,” was arrested. The America’s entry into World War II filed a case against Topeka on case went to the Supreme Court, in 1941 saw a million black men behalf of Oliver Brown. which, in 1896, ruled that state and women serve their country in governments could indeed separate defense of democracy and freedom. The NAACP argued that schools people racially, as long as all races Yet they still faced discrimination for black children were not as good were given equal facilities. It was when they returned. In 1948, as the white schools. It also stated a hammer blow. This “separate but President Harry Truman outlawed that segregation violated the clause equal” principle gave states freedom discrimination in the military, and in the Fourteenth Amendment, to continue segregation, and this the civil rights movement began which holds that no state can “deny division lasted for almost 60 years. to gain momentum. to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.” Black people were sent to In the 1950s, civil rights The case went with four others separate schools, worked activists made their first real to the Supreme Court as Brown v. separately, traveled separately breakthrough. Founded in 1909, Board of Education of Topeka. The ❯❯ on trains and buses, and were seated separately in restaurants. Prior to 1954, even in schools, racial Obligatory The facilities for black people segregation was obligatory in many were far inferior to those for states in the South. In the North, it No legislation white people, despite the equality tended to be outlawed or in limited use. Optional/limited Forbidden

252 THE CIVIL RIGHTS ACT With her defiant stance over bus the longest and most determined People always said that I didn’t seating in Montgomery, Alabama, in civil rights actions the US has seen. give up my seat because I was 1955, Rosa Parks began an unstoppable The boycott went on for 381 days, movement toward equal rights and the during which 90 percent of black tired, but that isn’t true … end of segregation. people refused to travel on the No, the only tired I was, buses. It proved highly effective was tired of giving in. Supreme Court agreed, too, with and ended only when the Supreme Rosa Parks Chief Justice Earl Warren ruling Court ruled that segregation on in 1954 that “in the field of public buses was illegal. Rosa Parks: My Story, 1992 education the doctrine of ‘separate but equal’ has no place,” as White backlash student sit-ins were being staged segregated schools are “inherently The court ruling triggered a vicious across the South. Protesters were unequal.” However, it would take reaction, with someone firing a often beaten and jailed, but they decades for the decision to be fully shotgun through Martin Luther persisted until Woolworth’s relented implemented. Meanwhile, there was King Jr.’s door; bombings at black and the segregated counters ended. another challenge to segregation. churches; and a young black man, Willie Edwards, being killed by the In October 1960, Martin Luther Rosa Parks Ku Klux Klan (a white supremacist King Jr. had been arrested in On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks, hate group) for dating a white Atlanta, Georgia, for leading one a woman of mixed heritage in woman. Black people soon returned such civil rights sit-in at a lunch Montgomery, Alabama, quietly to riding separately on the buses. counter. Presidential candidate refused the bus driver’s insistence John F. Kennedy offered his support that she give up her seat in the To reduce tension, President to King and assisted with his “mixed” middle section of the bus Dwight D. Eisenhower put a new release. Grateful for this display at she was traveling on. Like Plessy Civil Rights Act in place in 1957, a difficult moment, King endorsed 63 years earlier, she was arrested, enabling the prosecution of anyone Kennedy for president, and as a but this time there was resistance who tried to stop someone voting. in the form of public protests. On However, segregation was still an the day of her trial, black civil rights ugly fact. In 1960, four students in activists led by pastor Dr. Martin Greensboro, North Carolina, staged Luther King Jr. called for a boycott a sit-in at the Woolworth’s lunch of all the buses in Montgomery. The counter where they had been day’s boycott turned into one of refused service because only white people could sit at the bar. Soon, American Indian civil rights Unlike black people, American naive hope. The Indian Civil Indians sought to limit the Rights Act (ICRA) of 1968 damage of discrimination not by was intended by Congress to inclusion but by the protection recognize that the policy of of tribal lands. The brutal 1830 assimilation had been a failure. Removals Act had robbed But not all American Indians them of much, but there was were happy with the bill. By a fraction left to provide some guaranteeing the constitutional homeland. There was tension rights of individuals, the ICRA within the civil rights movement allowed them to challenge in the 1950s and 1960s between tribal governments. Various black people, who were US administrations have since campaigning for recognition in shifted gradually toward the Constitution, and American recognizing tribal sovereignty, Indians who thought this was a but it remains a thorny issue.

A NEW INTERNATIONAL ORDER 253 The March on Washington for Jobs motels, restaurants, theaters, and and Freedom, led by Martin Luther all other public places. Additionally, King Jr., was held in August 1963. desegregation in public schools was Some 250,000 people took part in this enforced, and federal funds would huge civil rights protest. be withdrawn from any programs that practiced discrimination. result, 70 percent of black people Kennedy was assassinated 3 voted for him in the November months later, before his legislation A key battle had been won in election, contributing to his victory. had passed through all its stages. the fight against discrimination, However, his successor, President but the long war continues. Martin In 1961, seven black and six Lyndon B. Johnson, using the tide Luther King Jr. was assassinated in white youngsters became known as of emotion from Kennedy’s death, Memphis, Tennessee, in 1968, aged “Freedom Riders” touring the South was able to push the Civil Rights 39, sparking a wave of race riots. together on a bus to protest against Act through, and it became law Gradually, things improved for black the segregation laws. When the in July 1964. people, and with the election of bus reached Anniston, Alabama, Barack Obama as president in 2009, a mob ambushed it and threw The new law guaranteed equal it looked as if a corner might have in a firebomb. The Freedom Riders employment rights for all, outlawing been turned. However, it is clear forced their way out but were discrimination in any business that there is still a long way to go beaten by the mob. Pictures of the exceeding 25 people, and an before true equality is achieved. ■ burning bus served to add impetus Equal Employment Opportunity to the civil rights movement. Commission was created to review Martin Luther King Jr. gave his complaints. The Act also protected emotional, historic “I have a dream” black people against discrimination speech to the assembled crowds at in voter qualification tests and the Lincoln Memorial during the outlawed segregation in hotels, March on Washington, 1963. “I have a dream” On being publicly pressured by King, President Kennedy made a decisive move. On June 11, 1963, he broadcast the urgent moral case for legislation to end segregation, saying, “This nation was founded on the principle that all men are created equal” and “Race has no place in American life and law.” In August, to put pressure on Congress to pass Kennedy’s legislation, King led a march of 250,000 in Washington, DC, where he delivered his famous “I have a dream” speech and promised “an oasis of freedom and justice.”

254 RTHEME ARIINGHSTILTEONT MIRANDA V. ARIZONA (1966) IN CONTEXT Complaints mount about Courts often overlook the US law enforcement Fifth Amendment to the FOCUS Constitutional law using threatening methods US Constitution, which while interrogating gives defendants the right BEFORE suspects. not to self-incriminate. 1791 The Fifth Amendment makes it clear that no one Despite claims that The Miranda “shall be compelled to be a justice is undermined, the decision upholds witness against himself.” Miranda decision helps the right to silence and to a lawyer. 1911 American magazine guard against police The Atlantic complains that misconduct. US legal processes are biased in favor of criminals. T he Miranda decision, more The Fifth Amendment properly known as Miranda The central ruling of the Miranda 1914 The exclusionary rule v. Arizona, was a landmark decision went beyond the Fifth upholds the rights of all Supreme Court ruling in June 1966 Amendment’s assertion that “No citizens to be “secure” against that reinforced one of the most person shall be compelled in any evidence obtained during an famous amendments of the 1791 criminal case to be a witness illegal search or seizure. Bill of Rights, the Fifth—the right against himself.” Instead, it made to remain silent. The decision was it plain that any suspect in police AFTER simultaneously hailed as a victory custody must be explicitly 2000 The Supreme Court for personal rights and denounced informed not only of their right rules in Dickerson v. United as an unwarranted restriction on to remain silent but also of their States that “Miranda warnings law enforcement that would tie the right to refuse to answer questions. are constitutionally required.” hands of the police in the interests At the same time, as allowed for of constitutional propriety. under the Sixth Amendment, any 2010 The Supreme Court’s ruling in Berghuis v. Thompkins asserts that any suspect under interrogation must actively assert his or her right to silence or actively waive it.

A NEW INTERNATIONAL ORDER 255 See also: The US Constitution and Bill of Rights 110–117 ■ The Declaration of the Rights of Man 118–119 ■ The exclusionary rule 186–187 Richard Nixon, when running for experimentation.” North Carolina Ernesto Miranda president in 1968, promised to crack Democrat senator Sam J. Ervin down on crime. Central to his bid was complained that “self-confessed Born in Mesa, Arizona, in a vow to overturn the Miranda decision, criminals are turned free … 1941, Ernesto Miranda was which he vehemently opposed. because the arresting officer failed almost the archetypal drifter. to tell the criminal something he Even as a young teenager, his suspect’s right to a lawyer was already knew.” New York Democrat life was given over to petty affirmed, the lawyer to be provided senator Robert Kennedy countered crime followed by inevitable at public expense if necessary. with the question, “You think incarcerations in various penal The Miranda warning has since that additional warning in some institutions. His arrest in 1963 become a routine introduction to way infringes upon effective was another in a litany of such all police questioning of suspects. law enforcement?” run-ins with the law, and he didn’t deny his guilt. In fact, Background and decision Later developments it was precisely because he The decision’s name comes from The issue of “additional warning” confessed under interrogation the case of Ernesto Miranda, a was pertinent. In all four cases, the without having been made vagrant with a long history of suspects were described as men aware of his right to silence criminal offenses. He had been of “limited education” who were and to legal representation arrested in Phoenix in 1963 on unlikely to have been aware of their that the Supreme Court charges of rape and kidnapping. rights under either the Fifth or overturned his conviction, Three other cases were also Sixth Amendments. In addition, despite the Arizona supreme considered by the Supreme Court. police interrogations were often court having supported In each of them, the suspects, all hostile and frequently threatening. the original decision to tried and convicted, had not been Although a later Supreme Court find him guilty. explicitly advised of their rights judgment in 2000, Dickerson v. under the Fifth Amendment. United States, emphatically backed He was then retried the Miranda decision, that of for the same crime, but with The ruling, a majority decision, Berghuis v. Thompkins in 2010 his confession withheld as with five judges in favor and four significantly weakened it, ruling evidence. The same guilty against, sparked instant controversy. that the right to silence be held only verdict and 20- to 30-year Many people saw it as a charter if the suspect explicitly invoked it. ■ sentence was returned. After for criminals, with the obviously parole in 1972, he reverted guilty being freed essentially on A serious problem in the to his former indigent life. a technicality. Supreme Court enforcement of our criminal Further arrests and periods justice James Harlan, who opposed law will occur [if the right to in prison followed. He died in the ruling, claimed, for example, a knife fight in a Phoenix that it amounted to a “hazardous silence is not observed]. bar in 1976. Gary K. Nelson Miranda’s defense lawyer (1935–2013), to the Supreme Court

256 FTARHNEEDEFPDOEOUAMCN,EDJAUTSIOTNICOEF, THE INTERNATIONAL COVENANT ON CIVIL AND POLITICAL RIGHTS (1966) IN CONTEXT Any state signing up to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) must implement agreed-upon rights … FOCUS Human rights by passing enforcing and providing new laws existing laws local remedies BEFORE protecting for human rights 1948 The UN adopts the protecting Universal Declaration of rights, rights, abuses. Human Rights. Failure to implement rights means the state 1965 The UN’s International is not complying with the Covenant. Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial A victim of a violation of the rights in the ICCPR may Discrimination is adopted. take a case to the UN’s Human Rights Committee. AFTER T he International Covenant Declaration of Human Rights into 1979 The UN adopts the on Civil and Political Rights binding international law. These Convention on the Elimination (ICCPR) is one of the two big two treaties together make up the of All Forms of Discrimination international treaties created by the International Bill of Human Rights. against Women. United Nations (UN) in 1966— the other being the International After the UN Commission on 1989 The UN’s Convention on Covenant on Economic, Social, Human Rights drafted the ICCPR the Rights of the Child deals and Cultural Rights (ICESCR)— and opened it for signature in comprehensively with the that turned the 1948 Universal 1966, it came into force in 1976. rights of those under the Countries that sign up to it are age of 18. 1989 The Second Optional Protocol of the ICCPR aims to abolish the death penalty. 1992 The United States ratifies the ICCPR.

A NEW INTERNATIONAL ORDER 257 See also: The Declaration of the Rights of Man 118–119 ■ The United Nations and International Court of Justice 212–219 ■ The Universal Declaration of Human Rights 222–229 ■ The International Criminal Court 298–303 Freedom of opinion and Chilean politician Michelle Bachelet 1994, Nicholas Toonen used this freedom of expression are was appointed to the role of UN’s high Protocol to take the Australian indispensable conditions commissioner for human rights in government to the HRC on the for the full development 2018, charged with ensuring that grounds that Tasmanian laws the ICCPR and other human rights criminalized sexual relationships of the person. treaties function properly. between men. He successfully Human Rights Committee argued that this was a violation Rights Committee (HRC) every of Article 17, the right to privacy. General Comment No.34 4 to 5 years on what progress the country is making to implement The HRC has also helped in also required to adopt laws that the rights contained within the cases where a victim of human protect the rights contained in the Covenant. The HRC is a body of rights violations has nowhere else Covenant and to use government 18 experts from signatory nations, to turn. Jehovah’s Witnesses have resources to ensure that the rights empowered to scrutinize states brought a series of cases against are protected. and issue recommendations on the government of South Korea, their human rights compliance. objecting to the punishments Among the rights enshrined Although not formally a court, the imposed on those who refused in the Covenant are freedom of decisions of the HRC have been to be conscripted into the army. thought, religion, expression, and vital in shaping human rights law. They successfully argued that assembly; the right to a fair trial; this was a violation of Article 18 freedom from torture and other Taking action against states of the ICCPR, which protects inhuman or degrading treatment; The First Optional Protocol to the freedom of conscience and belief. and equality of treatment before the 1966 ICCPR allows individuals law. Discrimination on grounds of in the 116 states that have ratified Despite its many successes, the race, gender, language, religion, or the Protocol (which include HRC does not have the power to social class is outlawed. Article 25 France, Germany, Russia, and force states to follow the provisions guarantees the right of citizens to Brazil) to refer their country to the of the Covenant. Furthermore, its vote and be elected at free elections HRC if they believe it has violated resources are limited, so it struggles held at regular intervals, leading their rights under the ICCPR. In to keep pace with the influx of some to criticize the ICCPR for complaints and reports it receives. representing only a Western tradition … the ideal of free human As a result, some states continue of democracy. Some signatories beings enjoying civil and to flout the Covenant. ■ have ignored parts of the Covenant political freedom … can only when it suits them. For example, be achieved if conditions are Indonesia’s blasphemy laws have created whereby everyone been used against non-Muslims. may enjoy his civil and Scrutinizing states political rights … Currently, 173 states have ratified ICCPR preamble the ICCPR. Each is required to submit a report to the UN’s Human

258 BENLDAMTEHEGAME NO-FAULT DIVORCE (1969) IN CONTEXT I n almost all Western societies, By the late 1960s, attitudes had divorce was once universally changed. It was in the state of FOCUS considered the most desperate California in 1969 that a new legal Civil law of remedies and was socially belief emerged: that a couple shaming. Because marriage was the who had suffered “irreconcilable BEFORE bedrock of Christian belief in the differences” had sufficient grounds 1794 Prussia’s General State primacy of the family, divorce was for divorce. No “fault” needed to Laws permit couples without more or less unthinkable. It was be demonstrated. Since 2010, children to divorce. made more so by its complexity and no-fault divorces have been legal the need to prove “fault,” whether in every US state. 1917 Bolshevik Russia adultery, cruelty, or abandonment. loosens divorce laws on the Its impact on the victims—children The arguments for and against grounds that marriage is a above all—weighed just as heavily. have been fierce. No-fault divorce bourgeois construct. has been hailed as a liberation, It … mystifies me that the a rational means of ending any AFTER spouses could … be forced doomed marriage, with painful 1975 Australia permits to stay married to someone disputes avoided. It has no less no-fault divorce on the grounds been criticized as a cheapening only of the “irretrievable who refuses to let go. of what should be a lifelong breakdown” of a marriage. L. M. Fenton commitment, with liberalized divorce laws invariably leading to 2010 New York becomes the American divorce lawyer, more divorces. It cannot be said last US state to introduce Salon magazine, 2010 whether or not children benefit from no-fault divorce. their parents’ more ready separation. 2019 Britain commits to Either way, Western opinion introducing no-fault divorce, has since accepted no-fault divorce with a bill entering Parliament as the least harmful way to end a in 2020. marriage. However, while the law can moderate and reason, it cannot legislate for the full complexity of human relationships. ■ See also: The Universal Declaration of Human Rights 222–229 ■ The European Convention on Human Rights 230–233 ■ Same-sex marriage 292–295

A NEW INTERNATIONAL ORDER 259 OTAHNFEDWSWIATEFNLEEFTSAYSREES THE FEDERAL WITNESS PROTECTION PROGRAM (1970) IN CONTEXT O ften known simply as the upside down. In effect, the price Witness Security Program, of their safety is a double life—an FOCUS or WITSEC, the Federal elaborate lie rigorously enforced. To Criminal law Witness Protection Program began date, about 18,000 people have been under the terms of the Organized given protection. The US Marshals BEFORE Crime Control Act of 1970. It is boast that not a single person who 1871 US Congress passes the administered jointly by the US has adhered to its demanding Ku Klux Klan Act to protect Department of Justice and the dictates has been the victim of a witnesses against the white US Marshals Service and was the revenge killing. With a conviction supremacist group. brainchild of Gerald Shur of the rate of those testifying against Department of Justice’s Organized former associates of 89 percent, it AFTER Crime and Racketeering Section. has proved a major weapon in the 1984 The Comprehensive fight against organized crime. ■ Crime Control Act strengthens The program was sparked by witness protection. the case of Joe Valachi, who in Joe Valachi, the first to break the Mafia 1963, already serving life for murder, code of omertà (silence). Shur claimed 1986–1987 Sicilian mobster was the first senior member of the that Valachi “could discuss spaghetti turned informant Tommaso Mafia to detail its inner workings. sauce and the killing of a close friend Buscetta provides crucial In return, even in prison, he was with the same lack of emotion.” evidence at the Maxi Trial of accorded official protection. Valachi’s 475 mafiosi in Palermo, Sicily. case highlights an important fact: He dies in witness protection the program is intended to protect in the US in 2000. criminals who become informers rather than aiding the innocent 1994 Australia passes the victims of crime. Witness Protection Act. Those who are protected are 1996 Canada introduces cut off not just from their past but witness protection. from everything except immediate family. Granted new identities, 2013 Britain introduces the spirited away from everywhere Protected Persons Service. familiar, their lives are turned See also: INTERPOL 220–221 ■ The Universal Declaration of Human Rights 222–229 ■ DNA testing 272–273

260 IN CONTEXT OTTHOFEADREWICGOIDHMETAN FOCUS Civil rights ROE V. WADE (1973) BEFORE 1821 Connecticut is the first US state to outlaw abortion. 1900 Abortion is illegal in all US states. 1967 Colorado is the first US state to legalize abortion. AFTER 1976 The Hyde Amendment halts federal funding of abortions in the US. 1990 Abortions carried out in the US peak at more than 1.6 million per year. 2019 A US federal judge blocks President Trump’s “conscience rule,” which would allow healthcare providers to refuse abortions on moral grounds. T he right to vote aside, no issue has more obviously defined the struggle for women’s rights in the modern world than abortion. But whereas the demand for votes for women was fought (and won in many countries) in the early years of the 20th century, the legal right to abortion only came to the fore in the 1960s. It would become an absolute touchstone of what was originally called Women’s Liberation and is now known as feminism. To this day, abortion remains possibly the prime focus of all assertions of female equality. Throughout history, women confronted with unwanted or unexpected pregnancies faced the prospect of a blighted life, especially if they lacked financial support. If disowned by the child’s

A NEW INTERNATIONAL ORDER 261 See also: The Representation of the People Act 188–189 ■ The Universal Declaration of Human Rights 222–229 ■ The Dickey–Wicker Amendment 284 ■ Equal pay certification 314-315 Margaret Sanger encouraged funding for biologist Gregory Pincus to develop the American campaigner Margaret birth control pill. Sanger was a champion of family planning and contraception in the The success of Sanger, and early 20th century. Born in 1879, also that of British campaigner she opened the first birth control Marie Stopes, in confronting clinic in the United States in 1916. almost the greatest social taboo She established several birth of their age remains unmatched. control organizations, and she Their impact on the struggle of served as the first president of the women in the 1960s for abortion International Planned Parenthood as a fundamental right cannot Federation, which became the be underplayed. That said, world’s largest nongovernmental Sanger essentially opposed international women’s health, abortion, considering birth family planning, and birth control control to be a far more effective body. In the early 1950s, Sanger method of preventing unwanted pregnancies. She died in 1966. father, as often happened, women viewed as a desperate last remedy, abortion laws were antiquated and faced a lifetime of abject poverty a source of shame and horror. Those should be swept away. When the unless they gave up the child for women who nonetheless chose contraceptive pill was legalized adoption, since they could not look abortion not only faced the emotional (in the UK in 1961 and across the after a child and work. So-called trauma of being stigmatized by whole of North America by 1972), “illegitimate” children did not have those around them, but also risked denying women the right to the same rights of inheritance as endangering their own lives through abortion seemed illogical and those born “within wedlock,” and botched procedures performed by discriminatory. In the US, that their mothers were often treated unqualified practitioners—so-called right finally gained legal force as social pariahs. “back-street abortions.” in 1973, with Roe v. Wade. After World War I, the efforts By the time of the liberalizing A groundbreaking case of Margaret Sanger in the US and 1960s, a groundswell of opinion in In 1969, 21-year-old Texan Norma Marie Stopes in the UK forced some much of the world held that anti- McCorvey found herself pregnant public discussion of the hitherto with her third child and wanted taboo subjects of contraception Enforced motherhood is an abortion, but this was illegal in and family planning, but this had the most complete denial Texas. McCorvey’s cause was taken little impact for women of all classes up by two feminist lawyers, Sarah who found themselves pregnant, of a woman’s right to Weddington and Linda Coffee, who since contraception and abortion life and liberty. recognized her case had the capacity were still illegal—even Sanger’s to prove groundbreaking. They filed advocacy of contraception resulted Margaret Sanger a lawsuit for McCorvey—who for in her being arrested several times. the purposes of the legal hearing “Suppression,” published in adopted the name Jane Roe to In 1920, the Soviet Union (USSR) The Woman Rebel, 1914 protect her identity—alleging that became the first European the Texan abortion laws were government to legalize abortion, unconstitutional. The defendant though its totalitarian ruler Joseph in the case was Dallas County Stalin reversed the policy in 1936 to district attorney Henry Wade, who boost a population that had been represented the State of Texas. ❯❯ decimated by purges and famine. In most countries, abortion was

262 ROE V. WADE Thanks to decades of campaigning, the belief grows that judgment largely side-stepped the legal abortion is a fundamental right of women. contentious question of when a fetus becomes a viable human, The Ninth and Fourteenth Amendments are judged it accepted that it was by the start to cover the right of a woman to abort a pregnancy. of the third trimester, so the state should prohibit abortion then The US Supreme Court rules that women have (unless the woman’s life is at risk). a constitutional right to choose abortion. Even on strictly legal terms, Roe v. Wade legalizes abortion in the US. the ruling has been questioned by many commentators. One of Despite some opposition on moral grounds, abortion remains the two dissenting judges, Bryon legal in most countries as a woman’s right to choose. White, said, “I find nothing in the language or history of the An initial court case ruled in abortion carries serious risks) and Constitution to support the McCorvey’s favor, but when Texas that of the fetus. The Court sought Court’s judgment,” calling it appealed against that decision, the to resolve this potential conflict “an improvident and extravagant case moved to the Supreme Court in by considering pregnancy in each exercise of the power of judicial 1970. After more than 2 years of of its three trimesters. It ruled review.” Even Edward Lazarus, legal wrangling, a majority decision that, unless there were compelling a clerk to the Supreme Court and of seven to two finally ruled in medical reasons, a decision on firm supporter of women’s right to McCorvey’s favor in January 1973. abortion in the first trimester (up to choose abortion, said, “As a matter 12 weeks) should be the mother’s of Constitutional interpretation Enshrining personal rights and alone; during this period, abortions and judicial method, [the ruling] the right to privacy, the Ninth generally pose less of a threat to a borders on the indefensible [and] and Fourteenth Amendments woman’s health than childbirth. provides essentially no reasoning of the US Constitution provided During the second trimester, there in support of its holding.” the legal basis for the ruling. The could be grounds for not allowing Supreme Court ruled that these an abortion if it posed a threat to Pro-choice encompassed a woman’s right to a woman’s health. Although the The impact of the judgment was make her own decision on whether immediate. Any state law that or not to have an abortion. But at Norma McCorvey’s pregnancy was conflicted with this ruling was the same time, the Court made at the heart of the Roe v. Wade case. automatically overturned, but clear that this right was not After converting to Catholicism later “absolute” because it had to be in life, she opposed abortion and balanced against the need to regretted her part in its legalization. protect the mother’s life (late-term

A NEW INTERNATIONAL ORDER 263 Campaigners protest against the proposed 2019 Human Life Protection Act in Alabama, which would have, in essence, outlawed abortion. It was ultimately deemed contrary to the 1973 Supreme Court ruling. abortion remains a moral and kill another human being. Which Despite attempts made by several political issue that still divides is why we have murder laws.” Both states to reintroduce anti-abortion opinion. The feminist case is sides of the debate claim to have legislation, including Alabama in that abortion is fundamentally a the science on their side. Those 2019, all efforts to date have been question of women’s rights—that against abortion say that the blocked, with all Supreme Court abortion is as much a right as free DNA signature of any fetus is judgments since 1973 backing the speech—and a critical weapon in immediately clear from conception original ruling. Although the Hyde the fight for women’s equality. and that ultrasound technology Amendment enacted by Congress makes it clear that a fetus is a in 1976 barred federal funding for Feminists ask why only women human being capable of feeling abortions, two key judgments should suffer the consequences pain. Other clinicians say that by the Supreme Court—Planned of an unwanted pregnancy, with the fetus cannot feel pain until Parenthood v. Casey in 1992 not just their lives but those of their 24 weeks of pregnancy. In 2018, and Whole Woman’s Health v. child potentially blighted. They American journalist Jennifer Wright Hellerstedt in 2016—emphatically point, too, to the undeniable fact insisted, “A fetus’s right to life is reinforced the 1973 ruling of that there will always be unwanted debatable. A woman’s is not.” Roe v. Wade. pregnancies and so there will always be abortions, regardless Around the world, as of 2020, of whether abortion is lawful or about 60 percent of women of not—and illegal abortions are reproductive age live in countries far more likely to go wrong and, where abortion is legal. For the therefore, are far more likely to remainder, it is either banned place the mother’s life at risk. entirely or practiced only when a woman’s life or health are at Pro-life risk. The divisions highlighted The classic counter is that abortion by the abortion debate remain is murder—that from the moment essentially irreconcilable. ■ of conception, a fetus is a unique human life. In 2017, American The political divide Alabama’s abortion ban … conservative commentator Ben When the Roe v. Wade ruling was diminishes the capacity of Shapiro made the case simply: made, it highlighted a clear divide women to act in society and to “It is a violation of moral law to between pro-abortion Democrats make reproductive decisions. and anti-abortion Republicans. The Judge Myron Thompson ruling is still in effect but, in 2017, there were howls of Democrat commenting on the Human Life outrage when President Donald Protection Act, 2019 Trump nominated conservative Brett Kavanaugh for the Supreme Court. Democrats suspected Kavanaugh was appointed to help fulfill the president’s 2016 election campaign pledge to reverse the ruling.

264 NPARONIITCMHEAILNLEGLSIISSFETMHOARNE THE ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT (1973) IN CONTEXT The ESA’s two aims are to Section 4 requires the prevent extinction and designation of species FOCUS Environmental law increase numbers of as threatened or endangered species. endangered. BEFORE 1900 America’s Lacey Act If a species is listed as One of the main threats prohibits commercial hunting endangered, the ESA to endangered species is and interstate trade of certain animals and plants. gives its key habitat the destruction of special protection. their habitat. 1966 The Endangered Species Preservation Act leads to the T hroughout history, humans trafficking in certain species of first list of threatened and have directly caused the wildlife and plants. Originally endangered species. extinction of many species intended to stop the hunting of of wildlife, such as the dodo, wild and game birds and their 1972 The US bans the capture great auk, passenger pigeon, and sale across state lines, today it of marine mammals in Tasmanian tiger. Right now, it is used primarily to prevent the its waters. seems the threat we pose to other importing of invasive species. animals is accelerating, with 50 AFTER percent of species in real danger of The steep rise in human 1988 Scientists argue that disappearing and many biologists population and activity in the a sixth mass extinction on talking of extinctions on a massive 20th century put many more Earth is underway. scale. Hunting is partly to blame, but animals under threat, and by the the principal reason is the loss of 1960s, environmental movements 2004 California condors natural habitat through farming, were exerting pressure on the US reproduce in the wild for deforestation, and urbanization. and other governments to act. the first time in 17 years. In 1966, the Endangered Species Americans began to be aware Preservation Act led to the first 2007 The bald eagle is of the threat to native wildlife in list of endangered species, and in delisted following recovery. the late 1800s, and in 1900, the US 1969, Congress amended the Act introduced the Lacey Act to ban to provide additional protection to 2008 The polar bear is listed as threatened due to habitat loss in the Arctic.

A NEW INTERNATIONAL ORDER 265 See also: The Cruelty to Animals Act 146–147 ■ The “Vivisection Act” 163 ■ The World Network of Biosphere Reserves 270–271 ■ The Kyoto Protocol 305 CITES and international conservation By the mid-20th century, the on International Trade in The ESA is the strongest world began to recognize that Endangered Species of Wild and most effective tool the international trade in wild Fauna and Flora. CITES we have to repair the animals and plants was driving regulates or bans international environmental harm some species to extinction, trade in species under threat and exploited for food, medicine, is now one of the cornerstones of that is causing a or other purposes. In 1963, international conservation. CITES species to decline. the International Union for the currently has 183 signatory Conservation of Nature (IUCN), countries and regulates trade Norm Dicks which monitors global diversity, in more than 5,000 animal and began work on an international 30,000 plant species. The parties US congressman (1977–2013) agreement to restrict this trade. to the Convention meet regularly These efforts came to fruition and develop plans to protect in Washington, DC, in 1973 endangered plants and animals with CITES, the Convention from commercial exploitation. species in danger of worldwide term commitment is a key part made revisions to the ESA that extinction by prohibiting their of the Act. Most wildlife experts weakened it significantly. One importation and subsequent sale consider the ESA a huge success of the proposed revisions is to in the US. Inspired by regulations in preventing extinctions. It is restrict the protected critical adopted by the 1973 Convention on credited with the comeback of habitat to the area the endangered International Trade in Endangered several species—including the species now survives in rather Species of Wild Fauna and Flora American bald eagle, the California than the area it would inhabit if it (CITES), the groundbreaking condor, and the grizzly bear—and it recovered. With the climate crisis Endangered Species Act (ESA) set a global standard for protection and other environmental threats went even further to protect the of endangered species. accelerating species loss at an natural heritage of the US. alarming rate, the changes to the In 2019, in a bid to satisfy the ESA defy calls for stronger, not Coordinated efforts demands of commercial interests, weaker, protection. ■ The ESA allows individuals and President Trump’s administration organizations to petition to have a species listed as endangered Bird species threatened under the ESA or threatened. There is then a rigorous scientific evaluation and 42% 13% 16% public review before a final decision increasing delisted stable in is made to put the species on the in number (no longer number list. If a species is listed, critical at risk) habitat areas are given special protection, and a Species Recovery After 40 years: 7% Plan is put in place, outlining how Listed bird species extinct the numbers of the endangered that are better off species will be increased. Listed bird species 21% 1% that are still in decline declining no data Populations are monitored in number available over time to see whether a species has recovered enough to be removed from the list. This long-

MLAOWDEINRNT 1980–PRESENT

HAEGE

268 INTRODUCTION DNA profiling is Under the Chemical US federal funding The Anti-Personnel used for the first Weapons Convention, of scientific research Mine Ban Convention time in a criminal the use and production on human embryos investigation in is adopted in Ottawa. of chemical weapons is ruled illegal by the the UK. are banned. Dickey–Wicker Amendment. 1986 1993 1996 1997 1990 1995 1996 2000 The Americans with The World Trade A treaty proposed The Portuguese Disabilities Act Organization is by the UN’s World drug strategy founded, with the aim of Intellectual Property decriminalizes the aims to make it unlawful ensuring free and fair Organization agrees possession of drugs. to discriminate against international trade. to rules to protect people with disabilities. digital copyright. B y the closing decades of 1995, its aim being to create a global of information about themselves. In the 20th century, the threat framework for free trade. Yet it was 2014, the European Court of Justice of new world wars had not just the economic landscape ruled that the “right to be forgotten” retreated, thanks to international that was changing; technological trumps that of freedom of speech— cooperation and the work of the advances on a scale never seen but even this has been challenged. UN and its agencies. But these before were ushering in a new era, organizations could not stop the as well as new legal challenges. In Human rights relentless loss of life in regional 1996, the World Intellectual Property Public attitudes toward human conflicts, from Kosovo and Sudan Organization—an agency of the UN rights and discrimination shifted to Afghanistan and Syria. The dedicated to defending trademarks, fundamentally in some parts of effects of chemical weapons and patents, and copyrights—turned its the world. Campaigners brought the deadly legacy of landmines attention to the issues presented pressure to bear on governments led to international Conventions by a digital revolution. The need for to enact laws protecting the rights imposing bans on both: the 1993 regulation to safeguard intellectual of people with disabilities and Chemical Weapons Convention property rights and ensure the recognizing the right of same-sex and the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban security of data is evident, but as couples to marry. The US led the Convention in 1997. fast as technological solutions are way with the former in 1990, the introduced, determined hackers Netherlands with the latter in 2000, The world was rapidly becoming find ways of overcoming them. The and other countries followed suit. more interconnected. The growth law has struggled to keep pace. In Iceland, equal pay certification in international trade and the obliges employers to undergo a burgeoning power of multinational Public access to digital data has regular audit to show that they offer corporations led to the founding also highlighted problems regarding equal pay for work of equal value. of the World Trade Organization in privacy and individuals’ ownership

LAW IN THE MODERN AGE 269 The Netherlands The International The Kyoto Protocol The European Court becomes the Criminal Court opens comes into force to of Justice rules that first country to reduce greenhouse gas people have the “right legalize same- in The Hague in the emissions and slow the to be forgotten”—to Netherlands. pace of climate change. have negative data sex marriage. about them removed from internet searches. 2000 2002 2005 2014 2001 2005 2011 2017 Euthanasia is legalized UNESCO oversees INTERPOL Iceland’s equal pay in the Netherlands, the International establishes the certification ensures subject to strict Match-Fixing conditions and under Convention Task Force to that companies are medical supervision. Against Doping tackle organized obliged to pay women crime in sports. and men the same for in Sport. equivalent work. The law is also grappling with new stakes. As the industry expanded, space on the international agenda. ethical issues, including those raised corruption increased—the rewards In 1983, UNESCO led the way in by human embryo research and by of cheating lured individuals, crime environmental protection, with the the suffering of terminally ill people. rings, and rogue nations alike. creation of a network of Biosphere UNESCO moved to stem the tide Reserves to foster conservation The fight against crime with the International Convention and sustainable development. Advances in science can often pose Against Doping in Sport in 2005, ethical problems, but science has and in 2011, INTERPOL set up a An even bigger problem is the also been invaluable in securing the task force to combat match fixing. potentially catastrophic effects evidence to ensure justice is served. of global climate change. In 1992, DNA profiling to identify criminals In 2000, alarmed at the rate the Rio Earth Summit adopted proved to be as crucial a forensic of new HIV/AIDS cases—half of international goals for the reduction tool as fingerprinting, while digital which arose from injecting drugs— of greenhouse gas emissions, but technology became indispensable the Portuguese government put a reluctance to implement change in every aspect of law enforcement, in place a new drug strategy, and adopt sustainable energy especially given the increasing decriminalizing the possession policies prevented any legally sophistication and international of drugs as part of wider health binding agreement until the 21st scope of organized crime. and social reforms whose impact century. In 1997, the Kyoto Protocol other countries are now studying. defined targets for the reduction of The world of sports experienced emissions, which came into force significant change, too, with the Protecting the planet in 2005. Given our failure to enact increase in global sponsorship, live By the 1980s, the damaging effects reduction policies, the challenge television coverage, and online of human activity on the natural for law is to find new ways to gambling multiplying the financial world were clear, and the issue won ensure everyone does their part. ■

270 BPTRHOIRUCENEADLTLEEESNSSESD,AND THE WORLD NETWORK OF BIOSPHERE RESERVES (1983) IN CONTEXT T he biosphere is the surface and population declines in many “skin” around Earth that wild animals. The first 57 Biosphere FOCUS supports mankind and all Reserves (BRs) were selected in Environmental law other forms of life. In 1971, UNESCO 1976. In the years that followed, launched its Man and the Biosphere more were designated, and a plan BEFORE Programme (MAB) with the aim of for a World Network of Biosphere 1821 Naturalist Charles encouraging economic development Reserves (WNBR) arose from a Waterton creates the first that would be environmentally UNESCO-sponsored conference nature reserve in Walton Hall, sustainable while protecting the in Minsk, Belarus, in 1983. Yorkshire, UK. natural world. In 1972, in Stockholm, the Conference on the Human Mutual benefits 1872 US president Ulysses S. Environment was the first forum According to the UN’s 1992 legally Grant makes Yellowstone the aimed at addressing international binding international Convention world’s first national park. environmental issues. Among its on Biological Diversity (ratified recommendations was the setting by 193 nations as of 2020), 1916 The first state-run “strict up of “biological reserves” to protect “Ecosystems, species, and genetic nature reserve” is set up in threatened flora and fauna. resources should be used for the Russia for scientific study. benefit of humans, but in a way At the time, concerns were that does not lead to the decline 1916 US president Woodrow growing about deforestation, air of biodiversity.” Recognizing that Wilson establishes the and water pollution, overfishing, National Park Service. A Biosphere Reserve’s zones AFTER 1992 The Convention on The core zone is a strictly protected area Biological Diversity is adopted. where human activity is limited and life forms and ecosystems (communities of interacting 2016 Canada’s giant Tsá Túé species and the environment on which they Biosphere Reserve is created depend) are conserved. by a Dene First Nation people. The buffer zone is used for monitoring, scientific research, training, and education. 2016 The world’s largest The transition zone is where people live marine reserve is created in and work and where sustainable cultural and the Ross Sea off Antarctica. economic activity is allowed.

LAW IN THE MODERN AGE 271 See also: The United Nations and International Court of Justice 212–219 Russia’s zapovedniks ■ The Endangered Species Act 264–265 ■ The Kyoto Protocol 305 Russia was a world leader in species diversity is crucial to Yellowstone National Park, in the creating wildlife sanctuaries. sustain our planet’s web of life, states of Wyoming, Montana, and Its first state-organized the WNBR now aims to show how Idaho, was designated a Biosphere zapovednik (Russian for biodiversity and human cultural Reserve in 1976. nature reserve) was set up diversity are mutually beneficial. in Barguzinsky, near Lake In the 50 years since the MAB Baikal, in 1916, to conserve its Environmental sustainability program was launched, the population of sables—small rests on the premise that if people threats facing the biosphere have mammals valued for their fur. have an economic or cultural stake intensified. One million species face In 2020, there were more than in their environment—for example, extinction in the next few decades, 100 zapovedniks, covering they rely on harvesting its fish for including 40 percent of amphibians about 1.4 percent of the food or its timber for building—they and 30 percent of marine mammals. country’s total area. Some are more likely to protect it and Human-induced climate change will are vast: the Great Arctic ensure that stocks are not depleted. exacerbate the decline, which some Zapovednik, for example, In many BRs, local people also scientists describe as Earth’s sixth covers 4 million ha (almost benefit from ecotourism. mass extinction. 10 million acres) of tundra and supports polar bears, snowy Building the network In 2020, there were 701 BRs in owls, seals, whales, and more. A global network is important to 124 countries, ranging in size from truly reflect Earth’s biodiversity. the enormous Central Amazon BR Russian soil scientist Vasily Governments can nominate new in Brazil to Biosffer Dyfi BR, a small Dokuchaev first put forward BRs. If MAB’s governing body estuary in south Wales. Globally the idea for zapovedniks in the agrees that they meet the required coordinated and legally enforceable 1890s, proposing that people criteria, they are added to the measures such as the WNBR other than scientists should be WNBR. Each BR is protected by program offer the best way of excluded from them. Russian the environmental laws of the meeting the huge environmental botanist Ivan Borodin later country in which it is situated. challenges facing the planet. ■ argued that they should not be established piecemeal, but should be planned to include every main ecosystem. These reserves provide research environments where scientists can see nature unaffected by human influence. We should preserve every scrap of biodiversity as priceless while we learn … what it means to humanity. E. O. Wilson American biologist, 1992

272 IIWSTHIFSAOTTROTTHJHEUESTSETTLIACERESSCOPE DNA TESTING (1986) IN CONTEXT Scientists show that DNA samples can exactly identify any individual. FOCUS Criminal law Law enforcement agencies around the world routinely adopt DNA profiling. BEFORE c. 1900 Fingerprinting is DNA databases provide a rapidly growing resource: millions adopted as the first scientific of records are assembled, and their applications grow. way to identify crime suspects. Concerns remain that DNA testing is not always stringently 1953 The structure of DNA, applied; the potential for misuse is clear. the genetic code governing life, is revealed by scientists D NA (deoxyribonucleic acid) 0.1 percent difference provides James Watson, Francis Crick, profiling was the most irrefutable identification of any Rosalind Franklin, and Maurice important breakthrough individual (apart from identical Wilkins in the UK. in forensic crime-solving since twins). DNA can be sampled from the widespread introduction of saliva, skin, blood, hair, or cells. To AFTER fingerprinting in the early 20th be of value, however, it is essential 1994 The FBI coordinates century. The value of the DNA that both the sampling and analysis DNA profiling across the US. molecule in forensics relies on the are performed to exacting standards. fact that although 99.9 percent of 2002 The INTERPOL DNA the DNA of every human who The first use of DNA testing database is established; 84 has ever lived is identical, the in a criminal investigation was to countries participate. establish innocence rather than From 2010 Increasingly complex software programs are developed to analyze and identify DNA samples. 2017 The Rapid DNA Act in the US boosts further research into DNA as a policing tool.

LAW IN THE MODERN AGE 273 See also: INTERPOL 220–221 ■ The Universal Declaration of Human Rights 222–229 ■ The European Convention on Human Rights 230–233 ■ The International Convention Against Doping in Sport 304 guilt. In 1986, Richard Buckland, Alec Jeffreys carried out research on People have unrealistic a youth with learning difficulties, genetics at Leicester University, in the perceptions of the meaning of was arrested for the rape and murder UK, from 1977 to 2012. His work has been scientific evidence, especially of 15-year-old Dawn Ashworth in the useful in paternity and immigration UK. The case came to the attention disputes, as well as in crime detection. when it comes to DNA. of British geneticist Alec Jeffreys. He EUROFORGEN examined DNA taken from semen crime scenes. Similarly, the UK’s found on Ashworth’s corpse and National DNA Database (NDNAD), (European Forensic Genetics showed that it was not Buckland’s. created in 1995, had 6.5 million Network of Excellence), 2017 Jeffreys also demonstrated that profiles by 2020. whoever killed Ashworth had killed testing techniques misapplied— another girl, Lynda Mann, 3 years Since DNA profiling was first also grows. “Secondary transfer,” earlier. Buckland was released used, advances in technology where DNA is transferred to from custody, and after a long have made it possible to analyze an object or person through an investigation, serial sex offender tiny samples very quickly. The clear intermediate, has proved to be Colin Pitchfork was found to have success of DNA profiling has led to a difficulty. Also, most everyday a DNA match with the semen an assumption that it is infallible, objects carry tiny traces of multiple samples. He was found guilty but human error has led to several people, and it can be almost on two counts of murder and miscarriages of justice. In 1998, for impossible to distinguish the DNA sentenced to life imprisonment. example, 16-year-old Josiah Sutton of those in frequent contact. As a from Houston, Texas, was given a UK government report explained, Advances in DNA testing 25-year jail sentence for rape based “Our ability to analyze [DNA] may Quick to exploit DNA as a major on DNA evidence. This was later outstrip our ability to interpret.” ■ advance, law enforcement agencies shown to have been mishandled in around the world set up databases the forensics laboratory, and Sutton to store and share information. The was exonerated. US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) launched its Combined DNA Shortcomings Index System in 1998; by 2020, it In reality, as the number of stored held DNA profiles of more than DNA samples increases, the risk 14 million offenders, gathered from of blunders—of files muddled or The Green River Killer police investigation. DNA samples taken from semen The Green River Killer serial found on some of the victims murder case—one of the worst were compared with one taken in US history—spectacularly from Ridgway in 1987, when, vindicated the use of DNA suspected of the killings, he profiling. Gary Ridgway had been interviewed but not raped and strangled at least charged. The samples proved 49 young women in the state to be an exact match; Ridgway of Washington between 1982 was found guilty of murder, and 2001, when he was finally and he was sentenced to 48 arrested. He dumped their consecutive life sentences. He bodies in or near the Green later claimed to have killed as River. The police had no leads. many as 80 women, and the true total may have been more. In 2001, improved DNA sampling techniques led to a crucial breakthrough for the

274 EOWMFAPTWOCRWHODENORGGTDSHOEING THE WHISTLEBLOWER PROTECTION ACT (1989) IN CONTEXT E mployees who highlighted Enhancement Act in 2012, the misconduct, deliberate legislation has rarely achieved its FOCUS or not, in any US federal intended impact. Its protections Employment law agency were first given protection do not include immunity from legal by 1989’s Whistleblower Protection action by an employer—a fact BEFORE Act. The Act offered guarantees that dissuades other workers 1863 The False Claims Act to whistleblowers that retaliation, from speaking up. is probably the world’s first such as demotions or suspensions, whistleblowing law to curb would not be taken against them. A 2006 US Supreme Court fraud by defense contractors ruling, in Garcetti v. Ceballos, was in the Civil War. Although the US was leading discouraging, with even the First the world with this legislation, Amendment guarantee of freedom 1966 The US Freedom of and despite it being fortified by of speech deemed inapplicable for Information Act aims to make the Whistleblower Protection whistleblowing public employees government business “open such as Richard Ceballos, a Los to public scrutiny.” Protecting employees who Angeles deputy district attorney. disclose government illegality, AFTER The 1989 Act also excluded US 1998 In Britain, the Public waste, and corruption is a intelligence agency employees. Interest Disclosure Act protects major step toward a more The 1998 Intelligence Community whistleblowers in public or Whistleblower Protection Act private institutions, if the effective civil service. (ICWPA) gave them only limited disclosed information is in Whistleblower rights; the Act was amended in the public interest. Protection Act 2014 to extend their immunity. 2010 The US Dodd–Frank The Dodd–Frank Act, passed Act includes protection for after the financial crisis of 2007, whistleblowers in its regulation aimed to curb excessive risk-taking of financial institutions. by financial institutions and protect consumers. This proved successful, 2015 Concerns mount that partly because 10–30 percent of the Dodd–Frank Act harms any money recouped may be paid smaller banks and lenders. to the whistleblower. ■ See also: The Universal Declaration of Human Rights 222–229 ■ The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights 256–257 ■ Megan’s Law 285

LAW IN THE MODERN AGE 275 OWTOVEEGRSECHTHOAEMLRLE.OWTVEOEGRHECATVOHEMEER THE AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT (1990) IN CONTEXT T he 1990 Americans with President George H. W. Bush signed Disabilities Act (ADA) into law the Americans with Disabilities FOCUS aimed to guarantee “the full Act—the first comprehensive civil Equal rights civil and human rights of people rights law for people with physical and with disabilities.” The government mental disabilities—on July 26, 1990. BEFORE wanted to make it clear that society 1964 The Civil Rights Act should encourage and enable Although the legislation showed aims to end segregation in people with disabilities to make that the US was in the vanguard the US on the basis of race. the fullest possible contribution to of disability legislation, the results American life. The ADA outlawed have been mixed. Many smaller 1965 The Voting Rights Act employment discrimination against businesses complained about the bans discriminatory practices those with disabilities, and every high costs of compliance. In 1990, that prevent some American employer with more than 15 70 percent of “significantly” citizens from exercising their workers had to “accommodate” disabled citizens were unemployed; right to vote. any such employee’s “reasonable” by 2010, the figure was unchanged. needs—unless it caused the Organizations that fail to comply 1973 The Rehabilitation Act company undue hardship. with the employment sections of outlaws discrimination against the ADA face no sanctions beyond the disabled in any federally The ADA also required that making good on their breaches. ■ funded program in the US. any building or business open to the public—such as schools, hotels, AFTER health clubs, and stores—had to 1992 The Equal Employment provide easier access and could not Opportunity Commission discriminate against those with begins enforcing employment disabilities. Telecommunications protections that are laid down and transportation—buses, trains, in the ADA. planes, even cruise ships—faced similar obligations. In 2008, the 2000 The EU’s Framework ADA Amendments Act broadened for Equal Treatment in the ADA’s scope, and the definition Employment and Occupation of disability, to protect more people. includes protections for disabled workers. See also: The Universal Declaration of Human Rights 222–229 ■ The European Convention on Human Rights 230–233 ■ The Civil Rights Act 248–253

276 OWAFWECAOHPROELMNDSICFARLEE THE CHEMICAL WEAPONS CONVENTION (1993) IN CONTEXT O ne of the most ambitious in Strasbourg in 1675, when France international treaties and various German states agreed FOCUS governing warfare, the to ban “poisoned bullets.” More Arms control Chemical Weapons Convention tellingly, in the Brussels Declaration (CWC) aims to outlaw the use of of 1874, the Laws and Customs of BEFORE these weapons everywhere. It was War prohibited “poison or poisoned 1899, 1907 The Hague approved by the UN’s General weapons.” Further restrictions Conventions propose the Assembly and made available for were placed on the use of chemical international outlawing signature in 1993. By 2020, it had weapons at the Hague Peace of chemical weapons. been ratified by 193 countries, and Conferences of 1899 and 1907. only three UN members—Egypt, 1925 The Geneva Protocol South Sudan, and North Korea— Following the extensive use of proposes more enforceable were not party to it. chemical weapons in World War I, prohibitions, but its impact Germany was forbidden to use is limited. There is a long history of chemical weapons under the Treaty treaties to outlaw chemical of Versailles. Then, in 1925, the 1975 The Biological Weapons weapons. The first was signed Geneva Protocol outlawed the use Convention comes into force. The Chemical Weapons The CWC prohibits 1990 An agreement between Convention (CWC) adopts all manufacture the US and the Soviet Union measures to ban their use and use of any commits both to halting the chemical weapons. production of new chemical in warfare. weapons and to destroying It orders the destruction stockpiled weapons. Nations must give access of existing chemical to independent verifiers weapons and the AFTER to ensure destruction and 2013 Civil war breaks out decommissioning of all in Syria. There are multiple decommissioning have manufacturing facilities. chemical weapons attacks— been carried out. including a sarin gas attack on a Damascus suburb that kills more than 1,400 civilians.

LAW IN THE MODERN AGE 277 See also: The Geneva Conventions 152–155 ■ The Hague Conventions 174–177 ■ The United Nations and International Court of Justice 212–219 ■ The Partial Test Ban Treaty 244–247 ■ The Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention 288–289 of chemical weapons, although A victim of a chemical weapons The use in war of not their manufacture. Japan used attack in Syria in April 2017. Syrian asphyxiating, poisonous them widely against the Chinese president Bashar al-Assad blamed during the Sino-Japanese War “terrorists” for this and other attacks, or other gases, and of of 1937–1945. At the start of World but his armed forces were implicated. all analogous liquids, War II, both Nazi Germany and the materials or devices, has Allies had stockpiles, though they production of an entire category been justly condemned. were rarely used on the battlefield, of weapons, but its effectiveness Geneva Protocol, 1925 chiefly for fear of retaliation. was limited by the absence of the means to verify compliance. of the stockpiles declared by their International agreements possessor states had been verifiably In 1975, after several years of Real progress came only with destroyed. Implementation of preparatory work, the Biological the thawing of US–Soviet relations the ban has been hard to police, Weapons Convention came into after 1985. By 1990, both countries however. Syria signed up for the force. This was the first multilateral had agreed to halt production and CWC in 2013 and claimed to have disarmament treaty to ban the destroy existing chemical weapons, destroyed all its chemical weapons, paving the way for the global but repeated attacks with chemical agreement that followed in 1993. weapons have been reported in the civil war that erupted that year. Provisions and abuses Despite denials, Syrian state forces The CWC’s provisions were clear: have been strongly implicated. ■ every signatory agreed to produce no further chemical weapons, eliminate any they already held, and allow mandatory inspections by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), carried out if necessary with only 12 hours’ notice. In 2007, Albania became the first country to comply fully, and by late 2018, 97 percent Iraq’s chemical weapons Born in c. 1941, Ali Hassan al- against Kurdish civilians. Ali Hassan al-Majid ordered the Majid (better known as “Chemical The Al-Anfal (“Spoils of War”) use of deadly chemical weapons Ali”) was a cousin of the Iraqi genocide against the Kurds against Kurdish civilians in northern dictator Saddam Hussein. He may have resulted in as many Iraq in 1987–1988. held some of the most important as 180,000 deaths. In the most government posts during the notorious incident, on March 16, 1980s and 1990s, and during the 1988, Iraqi planes dropped later stages of the Iran–Iraq War mustard gas and sarin canisters (1980–1988), he commanded all on the town of Halabja, killing the state agencies in the Kurdish- at least 5,000 and inflicting populated north of the country. injury and long-term illness on thousands more. Chemical Ali Iraq had deployed chemical was arrested by US forces in 2003 weapons against Iranian forces and, after a lengthy trial, was since 1980, but in 1987–1988, executed in 2010. al-Majid authorized their use

OF ALLTTOHOEPEBN TERNADEEFFIOTR THE WORLD TRADE ORGANIZATION (1995)



280 THE WORLD TRADE ORGANIZATION IN CONTEXT The Bretton Woods The UN-sponsored Conference of 1944 GATT (General FOCUS attempts to create a International free trade Agreement on Tariffs global economic and Trade) is signed BEFORE regulatory system for 1929–1939 The Great in 1947. Depression creates mass the postwar world. unemployment worldwide. The WTO becomes The agreement’s 1947 The General Agreement the most powerful stated aims are free on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) trade and the abolition is established; 23 countries legislative and of high tariffs, which are founding members. judicial body in the world. penalize imports. 1986 The Uruguay Round of GATT talks begin—the most However, the WTO’s goal ambitious international trade of trade liberalization talks yet attempted. is consistently hampered by competing national AFTER 1999 Violent protests take interests. place outside the WTO talks in Seattle. 2001 The Doha Development Round attempts to introduce greater trade liberalization but makes only limited progress. 2015 Doha talks are officially abandoned by the WTO. T he creation of the World that enlightened self-interest, if the International Monetary Fund Trade Organization (WTO) harnessed to individual enterprise, (IMF) and World Bank to help secure in 1995 arguably represents was the surest possible way to global financial stability and provide the most forward-looking of all increase wealth. loans for the governments of nations international agreements. It grew that were struggling. It also agreed out of the General Agreement on As World War II drew to a close, to put in place a system to regulate Tariffs and Trade (GATT), which such a global dream began to seem the rules of trade, and GATT had been established by the United possible. For US president Franklin followed 3 years later, sponsored by Nations in 1947. Both GATT and D. Roosevelt, British economist John the newly created UN. the WTO were informed by a single Maynard Keynes, and others, one of ethos: free trade between nations the main lessons of the 1930s was Reconciling interests on terms that are both equitable that high import tariffs had helped The Cold War that followed World and transparent produces only destabilize international relations War II produced a seemingly benefits. This was essentially an without improving the global unbridgeable barrier between the extension of the arguments put economy. They believed that free world’s two dominant powers, forward by Scottish economist trade promoted prosperity and the US and the Soviet Union Adam Smith in the 18th century: peace, and to that end the Bretton (USSR), underlined by the nuclear Woods Conference of 1944 set up

LAW IN THE MODERN AGE 281 See also: The Sherman Antitrust Act 170–173 ■ The Federal Trade Commission Seattle, 1999 184–185 ■ The WIPO Copyright Treaty 286–287 The WTO is no stranger to African commerce was given a boost notoriously complex and slow- internal disputes, often over in 2019 by the establishment of the moving—China, for example, matters of complex economic African Continental Free Trade Area, only signed up to the WTO in policy. From the late 1990s, enabling tariff-free trade between 2001, after 15 years of talks. That external opposition emerged most of the continent’s nations. said, by 2020, the WTO had 164 to any organization held to member nations, who between advance the exploitative, arms race, a stand-off with no them accounted for 98 percent capitalist interests that were obvious solution. At the same time, of all global trade. pushing a global neoliberal divisions between what were agenda—including the IMF, becoming known as the First and Basic mechanisms the World Bank, and the Third Worlds—the economically The stated aim of the WTO is to European Union, as well as “developed” and “developing” ensure trade flows as smoothly, the WTO. The WTO meeting countries—made the prospect of predictably, and freely as possible. in Seattle, Washington, in establishing any common means It strives to eliminate protectionist, December 1999 saw this of commerce even less likely. high import tariffs and so create ❯❯ opposition reach a new The problem was not simply how pitch. In excess of 50,000 such a variety of interests could be The WTO has one of the most demonstrators descended on reconciled. It was that narrower impressive records in global the city, protesting against national interests were always environmental degradation, more likely to prevail than lofty economic governance. cheap imports, democratic aspirations. It is a contradiction Anna Lindh unaccountability, unsafe work that has never been resolved. practices, or the existence of Swedish politician (1957–2003) capitalism in general. Peaceful The multilateral trade talks that protests spiraled into violence, led to the creation of the WTO were made worse by hamfisted known as the Uruguay Round attempts by the police to clear because they began at Punta del the streets. A new form of Este in Uruguay. They took place disruptive civic protest was within the framework of GATT born, whose offspring included from 1986 to 1993, with 123 nations the Occupy movement and taking part. Trade negotiations are Extinction Rebellion. “The Battle of Seattle” occurred on November 30 and December 1, drawing attention to the effects of global trade.

282 THE WORLD TRADE ORGANIZATION The structure of the World Trade Organization Ministerial Conference This is the highest policy-making body and usually convenes every 2 years. Every member nation is represented, and it can make decisions on any aspect of the WTO’s multilateral trade agreements. Dispute General Trade Policy Settlement Body Council Review Body When disputes arise, members of Between conferences, this is the General Council members sometimes the General Council convene as this supreme decision-making body. convene as the Trade Policy Review committee to establish dispute It meets regularly and has delegates Body to oversee proposed changes settlement panels. from every member country. in national trade policies. Council for Trade Intellectual Property Council for Trade in Goods Rights Council in Services This committee oversees GATT, The Council for Trade-Related Aspects This body oversees a number of which covers international trade in of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) subcommittees and is responsible goods. Ten subgroups cover specific is responsible for monitoring the for the General Agreement on Trade areas such as agriculture, market elimination of the trade in goods that in Services. This agreement covers access, and government subsidies. infringe intellectual property rights. trade in financial services. stable trading conditions that will policy. The Appellate Body, an defend intellectual property rights encourage investment and job independent committee of seven (especially proprietary rights of a creation. This, it is hoped, will trade law experts, was established business over any product it has boost developing nations, lifting in 1995. It considers reports from created), the WTO has denied the their people from poverty and dispute settlement panels, which potential benefits of medicines, in allowing them to compete equally it has the power to overturn. particular, to countries unable to with the developed world. afford them. For example, companies Varied criticisms that invested in developing The WTO coordinates its efforts The WTO is ponderous and slow “patented” original HIV medicines with the IMF and World Bank and to react because it has to consider forced cheaper but equally effective has used trade sanctions against a very large number of conflicting generic medicines out of many countries deemed to have abused interests. Critics accuse it of markets in the developing world. In its rules. Generally every 2 years, a being in thrall to the interests such cases, profits and shareholders’ ministerial conference convenes to of its most powerful members. They dividends seem to have taken make big decisions. Committees also question the transparency preference over patients. overseeing trade in goods and of the WTO’s decisions and argue services, and the contentious issue that it discriminates against Further criticisms have been of intellectual property rights, meet developing nations. One consistent leveled against trade blocs that have more regularly, and subcommittees criticism is that in seeking to successfully used their economic negotiate the minutiae of trade muscle to impose tariffs that are

LAW IN THE MODERN AGE 283 What countries must do to Although the WTO is the ultimate If the last 25 years have join the WTO is … accept arbiter of tariff and subsidy taught us anything about disputes, resolving them requires the rule of law, reduce the unanimous consent of all 164 the WTO, it is that this corruption, and become open, WTO members, and there is no organization is resilient accountable, and democratic. means of knowing how such decisions are reached. Global or and resourceful. Richard Haass not, the WTO can hardly claim to Roberto Azevêdo be democratic. That said, since US diplomat, July 2018 the late 1990s, the number of trade WTO director general, 2020 disputes under the WTO has much higher than those allowed consistently declined. There were Donald Trump called the WTO “a for other countries. For example, 50 in 1997, but only 18 in 2017, disaster” in 2018, and threatened to agricultural imports into the EU face for example. This suggests that, pull the US out of it, it was the first average tariffs of 11.5 percent. Under given sufficient time, most such step in a high-stakes negotiation. exactly the same WTO rules, Russia difficulties can be untangled His administration had just slapped has never been able to levy tariffs under WTO jurisdiction. So the tariffs on Chinese imports, with higher than 6.5 percent. So EU organization does seem to offer China imposing counter-tariffs. farmers enjoy a level of WTO- the hope of equitable global trade. sanctioned protection that is denied GATT was born from a postwar to their counterparts in Russia. An imposed ideal? belief that the world should and The quest for multilateral trade could be remade. The WTO is Any such international body is agreements will always take second its direct descendent. It may be vulnerable to manipulation by its place to national interests. Every compromised, but it has nudged most powerful members. Every nation has sought to bend the the world in the direction of greater WTO member or bloc—such as WTO’s rulings to its own advantage. prosperity and fairness based on the EU, ASEAN (Association The US has long resented countries free trade. However clumsy, its of Southeast Asian Nations), or blocs that have sought to extract underlying vision remains or Mercosur (Latin America’s favorable trading terms from the essentially optimistic. ■ “southern market”)—has to have WTO while the US has sought to agreed “schedules” with the WTO do exactly the same. The WTO’s that make clear their tariffs, quotas, critics argue that, in effect, it has and subsidies. These are then become simply another means for subject to approval by the WTO. those with economic muscle to Yet not only is it possible to trade impose their own agendas. When without this form of certification, but the EU’s WTO schedules, for example, have remained uncertified since 2004. US president Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping shake hands after talks in 2017. The following year, relations between the two nations deteriorated over the issue of trade.

284 LWIFHEENBEDGOIENS? THE DICKEY–WICKER AMENDMENT (1996) IN CONTEXT S ince 1996, the Dickey–Wicker Congress often legislates Amendment has prohibited without understanding the full FOCUS the use of federal funding for Family law the creation of human embryos for scope of its enactments. research purposes or for research Cathryn Smeyers BEFORE in which human embryos are 1976 In the US, The Hyde destroyed or injured. The bill, which Oncofertility Consortium, 2013 Amendment outlaws federal is attached to US appropriations funding for abortions except in (government spending) bills, had In 2009, the Amendment was cases of medical emergency. already been approved by the House partially watered down by President Committee on Appropriations in Barack Obama, and in 2011, the 1978 Louise Brown, the first 1995, before it was put to the vote Court of Appeals conceded that “test-tube baby,” is born in the in Congress in 1996. the Amendment was “ambiguous” UK; the potential of embryo and did not prohibit the funding research is clear. The Amendment—which never of research that uses embryonic prohibited human-embryo research stem cells. Medical opinion is 1979 A federal Ethics Advisory itself, only federal funding of such substantially opposed to the Board recommends that embryo research—strikes at the heart of Amendment, claiming that vital research is acceptable for the the ethical questions that similarly research is being hampered treatment of infertility; its fuel the abortion debate. At what by an obsolete law enacted by advice is disregarded. point can a human life be said to those unqualified to make such begin, and what laws should be a decision. ■ AFTER in place to protect it? The work on 2009 President Obama issues human embryos that began in the an executive order removing 1970s opened up new horizons the restriction on federal in medical science. It offered the funding of stem-cell research. possibility of conception for infertile couples, as well as the potential for 2011 The US Court of Appeals pioneering treatments for serious for the District of Columbia diseases using stem cells. But the Circuit upholds Obama’s order issue has always been controversial. with reservations; the essential provisions of the Dickey–Wicker See also: The Universal Declaration of Human Rights 222–229 ■ The European Amendment remain in force. Convention on Human Rights 230–233 ■ Roe v. Wade 260–263

LAW IN THE MODERN AGE 285 RESVIHGEOHRUTYLTDPOAHRKAENVNEOTWTHE MEGAN’S LAW (1996) IN CONTEXT M egan’s Law is a US Megan’s Law, which became a federal law that requires model for the law of the same name FOCUS state authorities to make passed in Congress 2 years later. Criminal law information about registered sex offenders available to the public. It No one has ever doubted the BEFORE was passed as an amendment to good intentions of Megan’s Law, but 1947 California becomes the the Jacob Wetterling Act of 1994, it has not reduced the number of first US state to compile a which required states to create offenses and has been denounced register of sex offenders. registers of those convicted of as a violation of the privacy rights sexually violent crimes or crimes that are guaranteed by the Fourth 1994 The Jacob Wetterling against children. States can decide Amendment. It has also encouraged Crimes Against Children and how much information to release to some to take the law into their Sexually Violent Offender the public and via what medium. own hands, meting out vigilante Registration Act is passed. punishments against convicted The new law was enacted as sex offenders. ■ AFTER a result of the rape and murder in 1996 The Pam Lychner July 1994 of 7-year-old Megan Kanka President Bill Clinton signs Megan’s Sexual Offender Tracking and in New Jersey. She was killed Law in the presence of Megan’s mother Identification Act leads to a by a neighbor, 33-year-old Jesse and brother; New Jersey representative federal database of offenders. Timmendequas, who had already Dick Zimmer; and John Walsh, host of been convicted of two sex crimes TV’s America’s Most Wanted. 2006 The Adam Walsh Child against children and had served Protection and Safety Act 6 years in prison. Megan’s parents, sets new conditions for the Maureen and Richard Kanka, frequency at which offenders launched a campaign for mandatory must update the authorities community notification of sex as to their whereabouts. offenders, arguing that if they had known of Timmendequas’s history, 2016 International Megan’s they would have protected their Law (a US Act) requires daughter from him. Within months registered sex offenders to be of the murder, New Jersey enacted identified on their passports. See also: The US Constitution and Bill of Rights 110–117 ■ The Universal Declaration of Human Rights 222–229 ■ The European Convention on Human Rights 230–233

286 IIFSFIECALRDFEE,ANCTCOIVEPIYTRYIGISHTA THE WIPO COPYRIGHT TREATY (1996) IN CONTEXT T he Berne Convention of but it did not apply outside Britain. 1886 was the first attempt The Berne Convention extended FOCUS to regulate copyright copyright protection to authors and Copyright law internationally. Initially, just 10 artists in an ever-growing number nations signed up to it, but now, of countries—recognizing both that BEFORE administered by the UN’s World they are the legal owners of the 1886 Signatory nations to the Intellectual Property Organization work they produce and that they Berne Convention agree to (WIPO), it has 178 signatories. should be the main beneficiaries respect international copyright. of their labor. The Convention also The very first copyright law had stated that copyright did not need 1909 In the US, the Copyright been the Statute of Anne, passed to be asserted but was vested Act overhauls the copyright by the British Parliament in 1710, protection given to authors. Internet service providers (ISPs) host art, music, 1988 The Copyright, Designs, films, photographs, articles, and books online. and Patent Act becomes law in the UK. Much of this online content infringes copyright, with the result that the original creators are not paid royalties. AFTER The WCT extends the Berne Convention to cover digital content, 2016 Google alone receives and the Music Modernization Act deals with streamed music. more than 900 million takedown requests in a year. Despite legislation, enforcing the principle of content ownership across the internet remains challenging. 2018 The Music Modernization Act in the US widens the scope of copyright and royalty rights protection for artists whose music is streamed. 2019 The EU Directive on Copyright puts the onus on internet service providers to stop copyright infringement.

LAW IN THE MODERN AGE 287 See also: The Statute of Anne 106–107 ■ The Universal Declaration of Human Rights 222–229 ■ The European Convention on Human Rights 230–233 ■ Google Spain v. AEPD and Mario Costeja González 308–309 ■ The Open Internet Order 310–313 The “Pirate Publisher” flaunting copyright was satirized in this cartoon in the American magazine Puck in 1886, the year of the Berne Convention, which sought to defend copyright. automatically in the creator. Several in encouraging creative activity. losses in the country’s film and updates to the Convention followed. After all, why would anyone create television industry. The law For example, in 1908, it was agreed anything if it was going to be also protects industrial design. that copyright would last for 50 copied and passed off online as Alongside patent and trademark years (later extended to 70) after someone else’s work? laws, it was a legal weapon in the the creator’s death. battle against counterfeit goods. Protection of creative content Global trade in these fake items A digital world and ownership was sorely needed. was worth $509 billion by 2016, Since the 1990s, there has been The US Chamber of Commerce said according to the Organization an exponential growth in digital in 2018 that online video piracy for Economic Cooperation and media, with music, books, journals, alone was costing the American Development (OECD). photographs, film, and art available economy almost $30 billion a year, online at the touch of a key. As it in addition to up to 560,000 job Further copyright legislation has became easier to copy and upload followed, including, in the US, the content, it proved harder to Kim Dotcom Digital Millennium Copyright Act determine its provenance. Artists, (1998), which increased penalties authors, and others regularly found One of the most shameless for those infringing copyright their creations hosted online exploiters of the almost limitless on the internet, and the Music with no attribution and no hope possibilities of the internet, Kim Modernization Act (2018) to protect of receiving royalties. The big Dotcom was born Kim Schmitz the copyright and royalties of artists challenge facing legislators was in in 1974. After operating lucrative whose music is streamed online. applying the provisions of the Berne scams in Germany, he moved to Convention to the digital world. Hong Kong, where he launched The problem remains, however, the file sharing website that legal mechanisms, though well To meet that challenge, in 1996, Megaupload in 2005. In its intentioned, are still finding it hard a conference arranged by the World heyday, Megaupload possibly to police digital copyright. ■ Intellectual Property Organization accounted for 4 percent of all adopted the WIPO Copyright Treaty internet traffic. Anyone could was the result, with Dotcom (WCT), which came into effect 6 register and anyone could profiting from the huge years later. The WCT outlined the upload. A vast repository of advertising revenue. As the importance of copyright protection illegal, downloadable files money flooded in, he bought cars, houses, planes, and yachts. However, the spending spree came to an end in 2012, with Dotcom’s arrest in New Zealand after he was charged in the US with copyright infringement, money laundering, and other offenses. He has denied these charges. By March 2020, he was still attempting to prevent his extradition to the US.

288 RDTHOECEEOSLGANNNOIDTZME IPNEEACE THE ANTI-PERSONNEL MINE BAN CONVENTION (1997) IN CONTEXT B y the early 1990s, an were used in such large numbers estimated 110 million anti- because they are easily deployed FOCUS personnel landmines (APLs) and very cheap. On the other hand, Arms control were buried in the ground across getting rid of them is dangerous the globe. Most were left over and expensive. An APL bought for BEFORE from former conflicts in Africa, the $3 (£2.50) can cost $1,000 (£815) to 1992 The International Middle East, and Southeast Asia. remove. This was clearly an urgent Campaign to Ban Landmines Detonated by people stepping on and growing humanitarian crisis. (ICBL) is founded. them, they caused horrific injuries or death. The exact number of The Ottawa Treaty 1995 Belgium becomes the casualties is unknown, but up A solution came in the form first country in the world to to 25,000 people were being killed of the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban ban anti-personnel mines. or maimed every year as they went Convention (or Ottawa Treaty), about regular activities such as which was adopted by 122 countries 1996 A ban on landmines herding animals or collecting in Ottawa, Canada, in December is provisionally adopted at a firewood. Those who trod on the 1997 and came into force in conference in Ottawa, Canada, mines were not the only ones to March 1999. By 2020, the number with 75 countries attending. suffer: the consequences were also of countries signed up to it had devastating for families deprived increased to 164. All signatory AFTER of breadwinners. In conflict zones nations made a commitment not to 1998 Landmine Monitor is around the world, these weapons produce or use APLs, to destroy all formulated by the ICBL to stockpiled APLs within 4 years oversee treaty compliance. of signing, and to eliminate all minefields “under their jurisdiction 2010 The Convention on or control” within 10 years of Cluster Munitions comes into signing. The treaty encouraged force. As of 2020, 121 states international cooperation in mine have committed to its goals. clearance and medical support. 2016 A rise of 150 percent is Most victims (71 percent) of anti- recorded for victims of anti- personnel mines are civilians. Children personnel mines, mostly as account for half of those. An injury that a result of ongoing conflicts. can be devastating for an adult is more often fatal for a child.

LAW IN THE MODERN AGE 289 See also: The Geneva Conventions 152–155 ■ The Universal Declaration of The Diana effect Human Rights 222–229 ■ The Chemical Weapons Convention 276–277 A number of high-profile Unexploded weaponry Later conflicts, in Africa campaigners have lent their of all types is a legacy of and Asia especially, support to the fight against APLs, including British actor World War II. see widespread use of Daniel Craig, a UN-appointed cheap landmines. advocate for mine removal, but none has influenced public Russia, China, and the US As deaths and injuries opinion more than Diana, offer support for the ban mount, so do calls to ban Princess of Wales. In January despite refusing to sign and destroy landmines. 1997, before the Ottawa Treaty had been adopted, as the Ottawa Treaty. patron of the HALO Trust (the world’s largest anti-mine A consensus emerges that the destruction of charity) and as a guest of the landmines is a humanitarian good. International Red Cross, she visited a minefield in Angola, The results have generally been menaced by its neighbor North just one of hundreds that encouraging. By 2014, 70 million Korea. In 2014, the US did pledge were planted during the APLs had been removed and more not to use such weapons anywhere country’s civil war. Reported than 1,544 sq miles (4,000 sq km) of except to protect South Korea, but in media headlines around the mined areas cleared. The numbers in early 2020, President Donald globe, Diana’s identification killed or injured fell by an estimated Trump’s administration lifted with—and very public support two-thirds, although there were the restriction on the deployment for—the victims of Angola’s still more than 130,000 casualties of anti-personnel landmines by landmines sparked the world’s between 1999 and 2018. And nearly American forces, saying that the outrage and helped build 20 civilians were still being killed ban could put US troops at a support for a ban on mines. or injured every day by landmines “severe disadvantage.” ■ In early August 1997, 3 weeks and other devices in 2018. before her death, she visited landmine survivors in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which was also littered with minefields. Nonsignatories Civilians should not Diana, Princess of Wales, visits Thirty-two nations have refused to be killed or maimed by a minefield in Angola. Her son, sign, including the US, China, and Prince Harry, is now the patron Russia—all permanent members weapons that strike of the HALO Trust. of the UN Security Council. India, blindly and senselessly. Iran, Syria, and Libya are also notable nonsignatories. Reasons Arms Control for not signing vary. The US, for Association example, has produced no APLs since 1997 and has donated almost $2 billion to mine-clearance programs, but it has always maintained that APLs are essential for the defense of South Korea,

290 NPAOTTIECNRTIMS,INALS THE PORTUGUESE DRUG STRATEGY (2000) IN CONTEXT I n 2000, Portugal passed 20th century, despite a succession legislation to decriminalize of international drug control treaties FOCUS the use of previously illegal and ever harsher national laws that Decriminalizing drug use drugs, such as heroin and cocaine. criminalized drug use as well as The aim was to tackle a spiraling drug trafficking, both continued BEFORE addiction problem by treating to proliferate worldwide. 1868 Under the UK’s Pharmacy rather than punishing drug users— Act, only qualified pharmacists a radical move in a nation famed Tackling the problem are allowed to buy and sell for its conservatism. Under the authoritarian regime dangerous drugs and poisons. of António de Oliveira Salazar, its During the 1800s, Western views prime minister from 1932 to 1968, 1912 The International of drug use had hardened as opium Portugal missed the explosion Opium Convention, the first addiction levels increased. Although in drug use that other countries international drug control in 1839 and 1856, the UK had twice experienced in the 1960s. In 1974, treaty, is adopted. It comes gone to war with China to protect 3 years after his death, the regime into force globally in 1919. the lucrative opium trade, it had collapsed in a bloodless revolution been the first country (in 1868) to that opened up the country to 1971 US president Richard pass a modern law restricting the international trade, and cannabis Nixon calls for a “war on drugs” sale of drugs and poisons. In the and heroin flooded in. to combat rising drug abuse. There is no correlation Portugal initially reacted with AFTER between the harshness a crackdown that punished drug 2012 Washington and of drug laws and the users and traffickers, but had little Colorado become the first two incidence of drug-taking. effect. In 1983, however, a new US states to decriminalize the law gave drug users the option personal use of cannabis. The Economist to accept treatment and suspend Leader, May 5, 2009 criminal punishment. In 1987, 2014 The World Health the Taipas Center, funded by the Organization calls for drug Ministry of Health and led by public use to be decriminalized. health campaigner Dr. João Castel- Branco Goulão, opened in Lisbon, 2019 Thirty-one UN agencies serving as a model for other endorse the decriminalization treatment centers across Portugal. of drug use. As drug use continued to rise, a 1998 government report backed

LAW IN THE MODERN AGE 291 See also: The Poor Laws 88–91 ■ INTERPOL 220–221 ■ Euthanasia 296–297 ■ The International Convention Against Doping in Sport 304 a comprehensive drug strategy, Drug-induced deaths per million in population: drawn up by Goulão, that focused on support for users rather than More than 40 10–40 Fewer than 10 continuing criminalization. Law 30, setting out the legal framework for Data unavailable the treatment of drug users and provision for their welfare, was List of countries: passed in the year 2000 and came into force in July 2001. 1. Portugal 17. Hungary 27 2. Spain 18. Slovakia The law decriminalized drug 3. Ireland 19. Poland 12 20 use but did not legalize it. Drug use remains an administrative violation 4. United Kingdom 20. Sweden 26 in Portugal, and distributing and 5. France 21. Greece selling drugs is still a serious crime. 6. Belgium 22. Bulgaria 7 11 25 But possession and use is seen as 7. Luxembourg 23. Romania 24 a public health problem, not a criminal offense. Anyone caught 8. Netherlands 24. Lithuania 3 48 19 with less than 10 days’ supply of 9. Italy 25. Latvia drugs is brought before a local 10. Germany 26. Estonia 6 10 16 commission and steered toward 11. Denmark 27. Finland 15 18 psychiatrists, health workers, and 12. Norway 28. Turkey 14 17 counselors—not the police. 13. Croatia 5 23 14. Slovenia Between 1999 and 2003, as more 15. Austria 9 drug treatment centers opened in Portugal, drug-related deaths more 13 22 28 than halved, rates of HIV/AIDS infection from contaminated 16. Czech Republic 12 21 needles fell dramatically, and far fewer teenagers were using hard © EMCDDA, 1995–2019 drugs. The trend has largely continued. Despite a small peak Drug-induced deaths—overdoses and poisonings directly attributed in drug-induced deaths in 2015, to taking illegal drugs—averaged 22.6 per million people in Europe and Turkey in 2017. Portugal had only four such deaths per million of its population. Of all 8,238 deaths recorded, 34 percent occurred in the UK. Portugal’s average has remained Portugal’s winning strategy seems lower than that of any other to have been its decision to back European country. decriminalization of all drug use with generous funding for initiatives An example to follow such as drop-in centers, syringe- The Netherlands, Germany, Italy, exchange schemes, and opioid the Czech Republic, and Spain had substitution programs. Lifting decriminalized some drug use by criminal sanctions for drug use has statute or in practice by the year freed up resources to treat users and 2000, and Estonia, Croatia, Poland, pursue dealers and traffickers. and Switzerland have since followed suit. However, Portugal was the first Globally, more than 20 nations European country to decriminalize now have some kind of drug-use all drug use, and it has seen a more decriminalization laws, as have the dramatic fall in drug-related deaths Virgin Islands, 18 US states, and than any of these countries. three Australian states. In 2019, representatives of 31 UN agencies Portuguese drug users wait beside all endorsed decriminalization of a treatment van in Lisbon to receive possession and use of drugs. While their daily doses of methadone. Two of criminalizing drug use is still the these vans operate each day in the city, status quo in most countries, more serving around 1,200 patients a year. now acknowledge that, like Portugal, they must find a better way. ■

292 IN CONTEXT MOSHPAEORNURLITADOGBEAELL FOCUS Civil rights SAME-SEX MARRIAGE (2000) BEFORE 1791 Revolutionary France declares homosexuality legal. 1969 The Stonewall Riots in New York highlight the plight of homosexuals in the US. 1996 The Defense of Marriage Act allows US states not to recognize same-sex marriages. AFTER 2004 The UK passes the Civil Partnership Act. 2015 The US Supreme Court upholds the right to same-sex marriage in every US state. 2017 Anti-homosexual purges are launched in the Russian republic of Chechnya. 2019 The Iranian Minister of Foreign Affairs openly defends execution for homosexuality. I n a blaze of publicity that included live television coverage, the world’s first legal same-sex marriages took place in the Netherlands on April 1, 2001, after legislation was passed in 2000 to allow them. The weddings of four couples—three male, one female— demonstrated a historic embrace of gay rights by one of the most tolerant countries in the world. The campaign for same-sex partnerships to be recognized in law reached a milestone in 1989, when Denmark became the first country to introduce civil unions. A civil union confers similar or identical rights as marriage in areas such as tax benefits, pensions, and inheritance,

LAW IN THE MODERN AGE 293 See also: The Representation of the People Act 188–189 ■ The Universal Declaration of Human Rights 222–229 ■ The Civil Rights Act 248–253 ■ The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights 256–257 ■ Roe v. Wade 260–263 From the 1960s, Acceptance of the gay rights becomes legal rights of gay a growing issue in couples accelerates: Why many parts of the West. should they be denied the legal protections of marriage? Same-sex Gay couples Civil unions for marriage is continue the campaign gay couples become legalized in many increasingly widespread countries. for their committed relationships but are seen as a compromised form to be granted the status of marriage. of marriage. although laws vary across different increasingly perceived to be a form However, the acceptance of countries, especially regarding the of abuse—as unreasonable as it is what has come to be known as adoption of children. But a civil self-defeating. The argument that LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and union lacks what might be called civil union implies a lesser status transgender) rights is an almost the spiritual status of marriage—its than marriage has gained ground, exclusively Western phenomenon. essence of profound commitment— and same-sex marriage has become Of the 29 countries where same- which is reflected in the fact that an indicator of cultural tolerance and sex marriage is legal, 16 are the ceremony cannot contain any progression. Gradually, other nations in Europe, 7 in Latin America, religious element, and no vows are have followed the Netherlands’ lead; 2 in North America, 2 in exchanged. Pointing to a range of by 2020, 29 countries had legalized Australasia, 1 in Africa, and 1 in ceremonial, legal, and constitutional gay marriage. Asia. Across the vast majority differences between civil unions and of the world, gay marriage—and marriages, campaigners for equal Marriage should be homosexuality—remains illegal. rights highlighted that imposing a between a spouse and separate arrangement on same-sex a spouse, not a gender Even in Europe, there is a clear couples treated them as inferior to split in attitudes, mostly along their heterosexual counterparts. and a gender. east–west lines. Public opinion polls This distinction was criticized as Hendrik Hertzberg in 2019 showed France, Germany, “separate but equal”—a reference Belgium, the Netherlands, the UK, to a doctrine in US constitutional American journalist (1943–) Italy, Spain, Portugal, and the Nordic law invoked in the 19th century countries to be resolutely in favor of to justify racial segregation. same-sex marriage, while Greece, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Poland, Cultural changes Latvia, Lithuania, and Slovakia were The struggle for gay rights has as resolutely opposed—despite an gathered pace since the 1960s, and EU ruling in 2018 that same-sex prejudice against homosexuality is marriages performed in one EU country must be recognized in EU ❯❯

294 SAME-SEX MARRIAGE countries where they are not legal. Russia, too, is a particular opponent of gay rights, despite decriminalizing homosexual acts in 1993. North America matter, dismissing it “for want of The first same-sex couple to marry The subject of gay rights also a substantial federal question.” A legally in the US, Marcia Kadish (left) proved deeply divisive in the United series of later cases were no more and Tanya McCloskey exchanged States. In Canada, homosexuality illuminating, but a decisive moment rings at the city hall in Cambridge, was decriminalized in 1969 and appeared to have been reached Massachusetts, on May 17, 2004. same-sex marriage made legal in in 1996, with the passing of the 2005, but in the US, the issue Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). Clarity came with two further exposed a cultural rift. The country This was the product of a series Supreme Court rulings. In 2013, in became both a hotbed of gay rights of state-initiated actions that United States v. Windsor, the Court activism and a bastion of traditional collectively made clear that any US decreed that much of the DOMA values, with some determined to state had the right “not to recognize was unconstitutional. Those states outlaw homosexuality as an offense same-sex marriages.” Even as he that had already declared same-sex against God and America itself. signed it into law, US president Bill marriage to be legal (Massachusetts In 1962, homosexuality—defined Clinton described the DOMA as was the first) were joined by a flood by law as sodomy—was illegal in “divisive and unnecessary.” of others. In 2015, in Obergefell v. every US state except Illinois. By 2003, it was still illegal in 13 states; in Idaho, it carried a sentence of life imprisonment. American gay rights campaigners, whether in California or New York, faced an unforgiving Middle America. Legal precedents Same-sex marriage was a peculiarly unstable legal minefield in the US. As early as 1971, the US Supreme Court had refused to rule on the The Sexual Offences Act Roy Jenkins, the British home In 1885, the UK Parliament passed outcry. It was not until the mid- secretary in 1967, championed the the Criminal Law Amendment Act, 1960s that a cross-party initiative Sexual Offences Act as part of reforms which made all homosexual acts was launched to decriminalize of what he called “civilized society.” between men illegal. But by the homosexuality. mid-1950s, despite continued social prejudice against homosexuality, In 1967, the reform became there was increasing recognition law with the passing of the that its criminalization was an Sexual Offences Act. Tellingly, anachronism. The Wolfenden however, the homosexual age Report of 1957, commissioned by of consent was set at 21: only in the government, stated that what 2000 was it lowered to 16, the consenting adults did in private same as for heterosexual consent. was “not the law’s business.” But The Act applied only to England the report was sidelined by the and Wales. Homosexuality finally government, which feared a public became legal in Scotland in 1981, and in Northern Ireland in 1982.

LAW IN THE MODERN AGE 295 Hodges, the Supreme Court, citing Marriage as a union of man gender. A biological male can the Fourteenth Amendment, obliged and woman uniquely involving identify as a female, and a biological all states to perform and recognize the procreating and rearing of female can identify as a male. This same-sex marriages. At a stroke, idea rests on the belief that societies gay marriage, with every legal right children within the family is too readily force boys and girls into and obligation enjoyed by and as old as the Book of Genesis. predetermined gender-based roles, conferred on heterosexual marriage, resulting in alienation and confusion had become a fact of American life. Minnesota Supreme for some individuals. But the concept It was a fundamental shift. In 1996, Court, 1971 left the rest of the world bemused, only 27 percent of Americans were and some westerners thought it in favor of same-sex marriage; in 1997, in India it was decriminalized was pushing the liberated sexual 2019, the figure was 61 percent. only in 2018. In both cases, almost agenda too far. Even some stalwart no other civil rights were extended defenders of women’s rights drew Religious objections to homosexuals. South Africa is the the line: in 2015, Germaine Greer, While progressive attitudes to gay only African country to have made Australian intellectual and author rights and same-sex marriage same-sex marriage legal (in 2006), of The Female Eunuch, said that in appeared to represent a new norm while Taiwan is the only country her opinion, transgender women in the West, in reality, they were in Asia to have done so (in 2019). were “not women.” outliers. In 2005, Pope John-Paul II, an otherwise noted champion of Trans rights Human values human freedoms, claimed that Since at least 2000, many in the A core truth has remained. For homosexual marriages were part of West have also embraced a belief in all that the championing of “a new ideology of evil … insidiously transgender rights: that a person’s nonheterosexual rights has been a threatening society.” “Homosexual biological gender is less important near-exclusively Western concern, acts,” he stated in 2000, “go against than their identification with either the principle that drove it was a natural law.” defense of the values that inform humanity as a whole. Any human Catholic teaching found its most being has the right to be judged ready ally in the Muslim world. In on their own terms. Sexuality can 2019, Iran may have been extreme never be dismissed; it remains a in still declaring homosexuality to fundamental of human existence. be punishable by death, but in most But it is no guide to the morality Muslim countries, it remained illegal. of any person. ■ The extent to which gay people were persecuted varied across the Islamic world, but the essential point was the same: homosexuality was a deviance from Sharia law. The persecutions of homosexuals in Chechnya from 2017 were not unrepresentative in presuming homosexuality to be a perversion. Across much of Africa and Asia, homosexuality remained a more or less unmentionable subject. While it was decriminalized in China in Campaigners for same-sex marriage celebrated outside the US Supreme Court on June 26, 2015—the day it ruled that same-sex marriages were legal across the entire United States.

296 NCOOTMPAACSRSIIMOEN IS EUTHANASIA (2001) IN CONTEXT E uthanasia remains one of the stop the suffering of those it keeps most contentious issues of alive. For patients who hope only FOCUS the 21st century. Many ask if for an end to their agonies, why Criminal law the deliberate taking of a human life should their desire for the right to is ever justified. Medical ethics are die be overridden by the scruples BEFORE intended to preserve human life, not of others? The point is thrown into 1997 Oregon becomes the to end it, and almost every religion is sharper relief when the means to a first US state to legalize similarly opposed to so-called mercy painless, medically administered assisted suicide. killings. There is also concern that death are so readily available. legalized euthanasia could lead to 1998 Dignitas, the world’s first sanctioned killing of the elderly, Clarifying the debate provider of euthanasia services, disabled, and vulnerable without Definitions are key in understanding opens in Switzerland. their consent. On the other hand, the debate. Euthanasia is when a there are circumstances of such doctor is legally able to bring about AFTER incurable suffering that extending the death of a patient who is 2002 Belgium follows the life amounts to a form of torture. suffering from an incurable or Dutch by legalizing euthanasia terminal disease. It is subdivided and assisted suicide. At the center of this debate is into voluntary euthanasia, which is modern medical science, which carried out with the consent of the 2005 France’s Leonetti law can sustain life but cannot always patient, and nonvoluntary, where allows limitation of treatment the patient is being kept alive for patients at the end of life. Reject the temptation … artificially on life support and is to use medicine to support unable to give their consent, so a 2017 Belgium reports 2,309 third party—invariably a close legal deaths from euthanasia— a possible willingness family member—provides consent. two of which are of minors. of the patient to die. Pope Francis, 2019 Euthanasia can be either active— 2019 Italy’s highest court rules brought about by the doctor by that assisted suicide is not means of an injection—or passive, always a crime. in that life-sustaining medicines are withheld. The latter is not to be 2019 The controversial case of confused with palliative sedation, Vincent Lambert ends with the when terminally ill patients are French court ruling that his life kept under sedation until they die. support can be turned off. In contrast to euthanasia, assisted

LAW IN THE MODERN AGE 297 See also: The Universal Declaration of Human Rights 222–229 ■ The European Convention on Human Rights 230–233 ■ Roe v. Wade 260–263 ■ The Dickey–Wicker Amendment 284 suicide (sometimes called physician- British author Terry Pratchett, assisted suicide or assisted dying) best known for his fantasy novels means deliberately offering help to such as the Discworld series, became someone who wants to kill him- or an advocate for assisted dying after herself—for example, when a he was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. physician gives the patient lethal drugs to take. Some see the term euthanasia and assisted suicide, “assisted dying” as different, the patient must be suffering from because it specifies that the patient “an incurable disorder,” they must must have a terminal illness and be “conscious and competent,” be in the last 6 months of life, but in and they must supply a written practice, the two phrases tend request. If death is not imminent, to be used interchangeably. there must be a second medical opinion to back the original Moves to legalization is prohibited in Switzerland, the decision in favor of euthanasia, Opinion in the West has begun country has allowed assisted and there must be a delay of at least to tilt in favor of euthanasia. The suicide since 1942 and is unique 1 month between the formal Netherlands was the first country in that it offers assisted suicide request and the act itself. Almost to legalize it, in 2001, with effect to foreign nationals. In each of exactly the same conditions are from 2002, followed by Belgium these countries where it is legal, in place in the Netherlands. in 2002 and by Luxembourg and permitted circumstances vary Colombia in 2020. Assisted suicide widely, such as the condition of the Public opinion was legalized in Canada in 2016; patient and the age requirement. In Euthanasia remains illegal in most in nine US states and Washington, 2014, for example, Belgium dropped Western nations, but in Britain, DC, between 1997 and 2020; and all age restrictions. where it is also a crime, public in the Australian states of Victoria opinion polls in 2019 showed a and Western Australia in 2019. Further guidelines shift in support for euthanasia The Netherlands, Belgium, and In all cases, strict legal guidelines at 84 percent. Medical opinion, Luxembourg all made assisted have been put in place. In Belgium, however, remains divided over suicide legal at the same time as for example, which permits both a legal means of ending life for euthanasia. Although euthanasia those in intolerable pain. ■ Fabiano Antoniani If an adult who is suffering Almost no case more exactly age of 40, he died from assisted and dying has requested highlighted the arguments over suicide. Cappato was then euthanasia, why should others assisted suicide than that of charged with complicity in have the right to deny them? Italian DJ and music producer Antoniani’s death, facing 12 Fabiano Antoniani. In 2014, years in prison. In September Carmenza Ochoa a car crash left him tetraplegic 2019, Italy’s highest court and blind—in essence, physically declared him not guilty, saying Right to a Dignified Death helpless but still mentally alert. that, in certain circumstances, Foundation, 2015 His case was taken up by Italy’s anyone who “facilitates the leading campaigner for assisted suicidal intention … of a patient suicide, Marco Cappato. In 2017, kept alive by life-support Cappato arranged for Antoniani treatments and suffering from to be taken to Switzerland, an irreversible pathology” where, on February 27, at the should not be punished.

OTHFE CAAULSLE HUMANITY THE INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT (2002)



300 THE INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT IN CONTEXT The ICC’s logo is clearly visible on a a treaty known as the Rome Statute glass wall in front of its headquarters of the International Criminal Court FOCUS in The Hague, the Netherlands. This, was adopted and, as of 2019, it had International law the Court’s first permanent premises, 123 signatories. The International was opened in 2015. Criminal Court (ICC) opened in BEFORE The Hague in 2002 and issued its 1950 The Fourth Geneva war. But these tribunals were not first indictments in 2005. Convention becomes the permanent, and after they had foundation of global delivered their final judgments, The ICC deals with four types humanitarian law. they ceased to operate. of international crime, all of which are contained in the Rome Statute: 1998 The Rome Statute During the Cold War, tensions war crimes, crimes against creates the International between the Soviet Union (USSR) humanity, genocide, and the crime Criminal Court (ICC). and the United States meant that of aggression. The Rome Statute there was no consensus at the also clarifies how trials are to be AFTER United Nations (UN) on tackling conducted, the rights of defendants 2005 The ICC issues its first international crimes. It was only in ICC trials, and other aspects of indictment against three after the end of the Cold War in the Court’s administration. Ugandan rebel commanders 1991 that the idea of a permanent for war crimes and crimes international criminal court was International crimes against humanity. examined. The outbreak of civil War crimes relate to the conduct wars in which horrific crimes were of armed hostilities either between 2009 The trial begins of committed in the former Yugoslavia states or in situations where there Thomas Lubanga, a rebel and Rwanda led to the creation of are organized armed groups of fighter in the Democratic war crimes tribunals (1993–2017, rebels fighting the government Republic of Congo. He is later Yugoslavia; 1994–2015, Rwanda) to of a state. War crimes originated convicted of war crimes, the deal with those specific conflicts. with the 1899 and 1907 Hague ICC’s first conviction. In the late 1990s, the UN General Conventions relating to the Assembly set up a series of meetings methods of permissible warfare and 2019 The ICC authorizes an to create a new international court. were later developed in the Geneva investigation into alleged At the final meeting in Rome in 1998, Conventions, which regulate both crimes against humanity in Myanmar (Burma). T he idea of an international tribunal to prosecute war crimes dates back to the period after World War I and arguments over trying Kaiser Wilhelm for starting the conflict. It wasn’t until after World War II, however, that the world’s first international criminal tribunal was created. The Nuremberg and Tokyo tribunals prosecuted the senior political and military leaders of Germany and Japan for the actions of their troops during the war, the Holocaust, and their responsibility for starting the