CAN WAR CRIMES BE INTEGRATED INTO CRIMINAL/PENAL CODE SYSTEM?

Abstract

International Humanitarian law is a branch of public international law whose aim is to regulate the methods and means of warfare and protect the victims of armed conflict. War crimes are grave breaches to the rules governing the conduct of hostilities (war) and punishable within the international legal regimes created for this purpose. The focus of this paper is to explore the possibility of extending the legal regime on war crime to municipal jurisdictions through their integration into criminal/penal code systems of individual states. The possibility of such integration will help and assist criminal investigation arms of the government and the Courts in the municipal system in dealing with such crimes bordering on insurgency, mercenary and those involved in internal armed conflicts. This will be a good handshake between international and municipal laws in fostering peace and security in our present time.