O
n October 1, 1946, the International Military Tribunal (IMT) at Nuremberg delivered its verdict, sentencing several high-ranking Nazi officials for conspiracy, crimes against peace, war crimes and crimes against humanity. The United States was present: An American judge sat alongside Russian, British and French judges. The role of prosecutor Robert Jackson was pivotal, both in organizing the trial and in the conduct of the proceedings.
At the same time, Eleanor Roosevelt, wife of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, chaired the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, tasked with drafting what would become the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted on December 10, 1948. And on the eve of that, December 9, 1948, the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide was signed. The US was among its signatories.
On May 25, 1993, the United Nations Security Council created the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and then, on November 8, 1994, the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. Both tribunals were tasked with prosecuting and trying war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide committed during the conflicts in those two countries. The US was again involved in the various bodies of these tribunals, where it played a major role, and two Americans even presided over the ICTY for several years.
