ABSTRACT
In recent decades, criminal investigations and prosecutions for conflict-related violations have increased. Cases have been pursued in international institutional venues such as ad hoc war crimes tribunals, hybrid courts and International Criminal Court (ICC), as well as by ordinary and special national courts, some domestic and others in foreign countries. Considerable legal activity pertains to repressive actions taken against protesters, in the course of mobilization against autocratic regimes that resulted in political transition, and election-related violence. This attention serves to reinforce the emergent applications of international criminal law in establishing and reinforcing democratic standards. General Yahya Khan took repressive military action in East Pakistan which caused an estimated 13 million deaths; a massive humanitarian crisis, sending approximately 10 million refugees across borders, primarily into India. In 2004, the Central African Republic (CAR) government referred its own situation to the ICC with respect to war crimes and crimes against humanity perpetrated in a period following a failed coup attempt in 2002.
