Since 1945, some major figures have been brought before domestic and international courts to answer to charges including genocide, corruption, and crimes against humanity. This timeline looks at global efforts to hold such leaders accountable and enforce the rule of law.

Thanks to a once-obscure law passed in 1789, foreign victims of foreign human rights abusers can use U.S. courts to sue their abusers. But the Supreme Court may soon ban such suits. That would be a shame, since they offer victims some measure of solace and give substance to underenforced human rights laws. The law should be upheld, and other countries should follow the U.S. lead.

Fatou Bensouda, the new prosecutor for the ICC, discusses her new role and the ICC as a body in general.

Fatou Bensouda, prosecutor for the International Criminal Court (ICC), discusses her vision for the ICC, her current caseload, and the court's role on the international stage.

This meeting is part of the David Rockefeller Lecture Series.

Fatou Bensouda, prosecutor for the International Criminal Court (ICC) discusses her vision for the ICC, her current caseload, and the court's role on the international stage.

This meeting is part of the David Rockefeller Lecture Series.

John B. Bellinger III argues that Congress should reconsider the International Criminal Court.

Ambassador David Scheffer and former State Department legal adviser John Bellinger discuss how international justice over the last two decades has affected international politics, including the U.S. role in assisting local war crimes prosecutions in Libya and elsewhere.

Ambassador David Scheffer and former State Department legal adviser John Bellinger discuss how international justice over the last two decades has affected international politics, including the U.S. role in assisting local war crimes prosecutions in Libya and elsewhere.

Ambassador David Scheffer and former State Department legal adviser John Bellinger discuss how international justice over the last two decades has affected international politics, including the U.S. role in assisting local war crimes prosecutions in Libya and elsewhere.

John B. Bellinger III argues that Libyans should be allowed to choose whether they want to try members of the Qaddafi regime in their own courts.

The Charter of the International Military Tribunal, also known as the the Charter of the Nuremberg Tribunal, was signed in London on August 8, 1945.

David Kaye, executive director of the international human rights program and director of the international justice clinic at the UCLA School of Law, discusses his Council Special Report, Justice Beyond the Hague, with students.

The International Criminal Court's warrants for the arrest of Libya's Qaddafi stir debate about whether they will facilitate or hinder his demise and about the effectiveness of the ICC itself.

Recognizing the limitations of current international systems based in The Hague, David A. Kaye provides a strategy for promoting national-level justice and accountability mechanisms to prosecute perpetrators of mass atrocity crimes.

Today's arrest of Radko Mladic, accused mastermind of the slaughter at Srebrenica, will help clear the way for Serbia's accession to the European Union and is a step forward for the region, says CFR's Charles Kupchan.

John B. Bellinger III and Vijay Padmanabhan examine the legal questions surrounding detention for states engaged in conflicts with nonstate groups.

James M. Lindsay argues that an indictment of Moammar Gadhafi by the International Criminal Court could actually make it harder to bring Libya's civil war to a quick end.

A decade on, the ICC is still trying to find its footing, thanks partly from the chief prosecutor's poor management and excessive ambition.