{"blocks":[{"type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"Given my long-term interest in international affairs, I went to see the recently released movie, “Nuremberg,” to revisit the issue of how a court of law can be used to convict those guilty of war crimes. As a result, several parts of the film left me uneasy and looking for a better way to govern our world."}},{"type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"In the film, a statement by Hermann Goering, one of the most powerful leaders of Germany’s Nazi Party from 1933 to 1945, particularly struck me. He told the American psychologist whose job was to get to know him and keep him alive for the trial: “I am a prisoner because you won and we lost, not because you're morally superior.” Goering suggested that if the Germans won the war, the Americans could have been brought to trial for dropping two nuclear bombs on Japan in August 1945. "}},{"type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"Although, of course, Goering was a monster, his suggestion that the war’s victors were also responsible for war crimes has a disturbing element of truth to it. According to the The K=1 Project, Center for Nuclear, Studies at Columbia University, within the first few months after the atomic bombings between 150,000 and 246,000 people, most of whom were civilians, died in Hiroshima and Nagasaki due to the force and excruciating heat of the explosions as well as deaths caused by acute radiation exposure."}},{"type":"image","data":{"file":{"url":"https://hollywoodprogressive.com/.image/c_fit,h_600,w_600/MjE5ODY0NjczMTg3NTM4Nzk3/screenshot-2025-12-14-at-123419pm.png"},"caption":""}},{"type":"image","data":{"file":{"url":"https://hollywoodprogressive.com/.image/c_fit,h_600,w_600/MjE5ODY0NzE3MjEwOTUyNzc0/screenshot-2025-12-14-at-123249pm.png"},"caption":"Rami Malek and Lydia Peckham"}},{"type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"Indeed, the preparations for the Nuremberg war crimes trials were closely interwoven with the atomic bombings. The London Charter that created the International Military Tribunal for the prosecution of Nazi war criminals was signed on August 8, 1945―two days after the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and one day before the atomic bombing of Nagasaki."}},{"type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"It’s also worth pondering what would have happened to the war crimes trials of Nazi leaders if the four major Allied powers―the United States, the United Kingdom, France, and the Soviet Union—had not all agreed to them. Would the trials have occurred at all?"}},{"type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"In fact, the world lacked an institutional structure to hold an individual accountable for war crimes until the Rome Statute,an international treaty, was adopted at the Rome Conference on July 17 1998. Effective beginning July 1, 2002, the Rome Statute created the International Criminal Court (ICC). According to its website, the ICC “investigates and, where warranted, tries individuals charged with the gravest crimes of concern to the international community: genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and the crime of aggression. As a court of last resort, it seeks to complement, not replace, national Courts.” "}},{"type":"image","data":{"file":{"url":"https://hollywoodprogressive.com/.image/c_fit,h_600,w_600/MjE5ODY0NjcyOTE5MTAzMzQx/screenshot-2025-12-14-at-123313pm.png"},"caption":"Leo Woodall"}},{"type":"image","data":{"file":{"url":"https://hollywoodprogressive.com/.image/c_fit,h_600,w_600/MjE5ODY0NjcyOTE5MjM0NDEz/screenshot-2025-12-14-at-123339pm.png"},"caption":"Russell Crowe and Rami Malek"}},{"type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"Despite this breakthrough, the ICC is facing serious difficulties. Only 125 nations have ratified the Rome Statute, with the non-signers including China, Russia, Israel, India, Iran, and the United States. Furthermore, the U.S. government, under the presidency of Donald Trump, has recently imposed damaging economic sanctions against several members of the ICC. Meanwhile, Vladimir Putin has refused to surrender to the ICC for investigation of war crimes, while Benjamin Netanyahu, has refused to submit to the court’s authority in connection with war crimes and crimes against humanity"}},{"type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"Holding individuals accountable for the gravest crimes should be a high priority of our world. We should not accept a world in which individuals can commit genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and the crime of aggression with impunity. But officials of major powers continue to obstruct the operations of the ICC and to act with impunity."}},{"type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"How can we move forward to creating a world in which international law and its obligations receive proper respect?"}},{"type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"We can do so by looking back to San Francisco and the promises made there in 1945 during the creation of the United Nations (UN). As World War II was ending, representatives of 50 countries gathered in that city from April 25 to June 26 to draft and sign a Charter for the UN in the hopes of fostering international security and preventing another world war. There were many compromises made in the initial Charter, the biggest being the veto in the Security Council granted to the 5 permanent members. But this veto was balanced with a promise to revisit the Charter in no more than 10 years."}},{"id":"nlzs2bbs-wyua73it","type":"embed","data":{"service":"youtube","source":"https://www.youtube.com/embed/WvAy9C-bipY","embed":"https://www.youtube.com/embed/WvAy9C-bipY","caption":"","height":"auto","width":"100%"}},{"type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"Accordingly, Article 109, paragraph 3 of the Charter promised a vote in the UN General Assembly by 1955 on whether to hold a conference for all member states to review the Charter. This decision only requires a majority vote of the 193 members of the General Assembly and any seven members of the 15 member states in the Security Council. There is no possibility of a veto in connection with this vote, so it can pass even if all 5 permanent members oppose the conference."}},{"type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"Unfortunately, no such vote has ever been taken at the General Assembly. We are now 70 years past the promised date. The multi-dimensional crises facing our world, including our inability to hold individuals accountable for the gravest crimes against humanity, demand such a vote, followed by the strengthening of the UN Charter and the international law it is supposed to enforce. Our world should be governed using the rule of law, not military might. "}},{"type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"The recently formed Article 109 Coalition is now working towards a conference to review and strengthen the UN Charter. Concerned Americans should learn more about it and take action to support it. There is a better way to govern our world and to keep humanity safe and secure from military threats and crimes against humanity. Let’s move forward with it!"}}]}

Donna Park

From Nuremberg to Rome: Keeping Humanity Safe