Backed by strong international support, the formation of a permanent International Criminal Court (ICC) will soon replace the use of ad hoc tribunals such as those for Yugoslavia and Rwanda. The United States, originally a proponent of the ICC treaty negotiated in Rome in 1998, now stands with the small minority opposing the ICC. With the court likely to come into existence, the terms of U.S. participation in the treaty are now a vital question.

Podcast: A veteran reporter discusses a war crimes tribunal trying members of Cambodia's Khmer Rouge regime.

Foreign ministers from the G8 nations declared "rape and other forms of serious sexual violence in armed conflict are war crimes," violate the Geneva Conventions, and are a priority to address. Adopted on April 11, 2013, the declaration outlines how to investigate and prosecute rape and provide services for victims.

In 2009 the NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Center of Excellence (NATO CCD COE) asked a panel of international law experts to "apply standards of international law to a virtual battlefield." The panel released this report on March 28, 2013, as "an expression of opinions of a group of independent experts acting solely in their personal capacity."

UN Special Rapporteur on Human rights and Counterterrorism Ben Emmerson released this statement on March 14, 2013, following his meetings in Pakistan with victims of drone strikes.

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange gave these remarks at the Ecuadoran Embassy in London on August 19, 2012. This transcript was published in The Independent.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) issued this statement on ASEAN's Six-Point Principles on the South China Sea on July 20, 2012.

The Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry presented this report in November 23, 2011, with final revisions made by December 10, 2011. The report investigates potential human rights abuses in Bahrain during the protests that took place in February 2011, part of the Arab Uprisings across the Middle East. In Bahrain, the report is known as the Bassiouni Commission, as it was led by Professor M. Cherif Bassiouni, who investigated war crimes in Bosnia and Libya for the United Nations.

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.

The Premier of Greenland and representatives of Canada, Denmark, Norway, the Russia, and the United States held a conference on May 28, 2008 in Ilulissat, Greenland. They agreed upon this declaration about the sovereignty of the Arctic region and how the five nations bordering the Arctic Ocean can address the effects of climate change in the region.