This is the third edition of the pioneering work that has become the standard text in the field. The first edition was one of the earliest to establish that the newly-developing international law of human rights could be set down as any other branch of international law. It also incorporates the complementary fields of international humanitarian law and international criminal law, while addressing the problems associated with their interaction with human rights law. The book is more than a descriptive analysis of the field. It acknowledges areas of unclarity or where developments may be embryonic. Solutions are offered. Recent developments have confirmed the value of solutions proposed in this edition and the previous one. Central to most of the chapters is the human rights norm of most salience in the treatment of prisoners, namely, the prohibition of torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. The early chapters focus on the period of first detention, when detainees are most at risk of having information or confessions, however unreliable, extracted by unlawful means. Voices contemplating the legitimacy of such treatment to combat terrorism have been heard in the wake of the atrocities of 11 September 2001. The book finds that the evidence clearly suggests that the absolute prohibition of such treatment remains firm. Other chapters deal with problems of poor prison conditions and of certain extraordinary penalties, notably corporal and capital punishment. A chapter explores ethical codes for members of professions capable of inflicting or preventing the prohibited behaviour (police and medical and legal professionals). Chapters are also devoted to the extreme practice of enforced disappearance and the contribution of the new convention on this phenomenon, as well as to extra-legal executions.

"Published with the support of Austrian Science Fund (FWF): PUB 644-G."

"This report evaluates patterns of arrest and detention conditions in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, 25 years after the Oslo Accords granted Palestinians a degree of self-rule over these areas and more than a decade after Hamas seized effective control over the Gaza Strip. Human Rights Watch detailed more than two dozen cases of people detained for no clear reason beyond writing a critical article or Facebook post or belonging to the wrong student group or political movement."--Publisher website.

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Volume 1 deals with international crimes. It contains several significant contributions on the theoretical and doctrinal aspects of ICL which precede the five chapters addressing some of the major categories of international crimes. The first two chapters address: the sources and subjects of ICL and its substantive contents. The other five chapters address: Chapter 3: The Crime Against Peace and Aggression (The Crime Against Peace and Aggression: From its Origins to the ICC; The Crime of Aggression and the International Criminal Court); Chapter 4: War Crimes, Crimes Against Humanity & Genocide (Introduction to International Humanitarian Law; Penal Aspects of International Humanitarian Law; Non-International Armed Conflict and Guerilla Warfare; Mercenarism and Contracted Military Services; Customary International Law and Weapons Control; Genocide; Crimes Against Humanity; Overlaps, Gaps, and Ambiguities in Contemporary International Humanitarian Law, Genocide, and Crimes Against Humanity); Chapter 5: Crimes Against Fundamental Human Rights (Slavery, Slave-Related Practices, and Trafficking in Persons; Apartheid; International Prohibition of Torture; The Practice of Torture in the United States: September 11, 2001 to Present); Chapter 6: Crimes of Terror-Violence (International Terrorism; Kidnapping and Hostage Taking; Terrorism Financing; Piracy; International Maritime Navigation and Installations on the High Seas; International Civil Aviation); Chapter 7: Crimes Against Social Interest (International Control of Drugs; Challenges in the Development of International Criminal Law: The Negotiations of the United Nations Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime and the United Nations Convention Against Corruption; Transnational Organized Crime; Corruption of Foreign Public Officials; International Criminal Protection of Cultural Property; Criminalization of Environmental Protection).