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  • Published: 18 June 2024
  • ISBN: 9781802063240
  • Imprint: Penguin Press
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 1024
  • RRP: $50.00

Crimes Against Humanity

The Struggle For Global Justice




A freshly updated version of the definitive book on human rights law, now with a new chapter on war crimes in Ukraine

In a newly updated edition of Crimes Against Humanity, Geoffrey Robertson QC explains why we must hold political and military leaders accountable for genocide, torture and mass murder. He shows how human rights standards can be enforced against cruel governments, armies and multi-national corporations. This seminal work contains a critical perspective on events such as the invasion of Iraq, the abuses at Abu Ghraib, the killings in Darfur, the death of Milosevic and the trial of Saddam Hussein.

Cautiously optimistic about ending impunity, but unsparingly critical of diplomats, politicians, Bush lawyers and others who evade international rules, this book will provide further guidance to a movement which aims to make justice predominant in world affairs.

  • Published: 18 June 2024
  • ISBN: 9781802063240
  • Imprint: Penguin Press
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 1024
  • RRP: $50.00

About the author

Geoffrey Robertson

Geoffrey Robertson QC has had a distinguished career as a trial counsel and human rights advocate. He has been a UN war crimes judge, a counsel in many notable Old Bailey trials, has defended hundreds of men facing death sentences in the Caribbean, and has won landmark rulings on civil liberty from the highest courts in Britain, Europe and the Commonwealth. He is founder and head of Doughty Street Chambers, a Master of the Middle Temple, and a visiting professor at the New College of Humanities in London.

His book Crimes Against Humanity has been an inspiration for the global justice movement, his other books include Freedom, the Individual and the Law, The Tyrannicide Brief, The Statute of Liberty, Dreaming Too Loud and the acclaimed memoir The Justice Game. He has made many television and radio programmes, notably Geoffrey Robertson's Hypotheticals, and has won a Freedom of Information award for his writing and broadcasting. In 2011 he received the New York State Bar Association’s Award for ‘Distinction in International Law and Affairs’, and was Australian Humanitarian of the Year in 2014. In 2018 he was awarded an order of Australia (AO) for ‘his distinguished service to the law and the legal profession as an international human rights lawyer and advocate for global civil liberties’.

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Praise for Crimes Against Humanity

His arguments are exceptionally clear and comprehensible, and legal complexities are rendered into simple and lucid prose

Sunday Telegraph

His arguments are exceptionally clear ... simple and lucid prose.

Daily Telegraph

States are the biggest bullies in the world. In this book, Geoffrey Robertson shows how they can be tamed.

Mail on Sunday

A beacon of clear-sighted commitment to the humanitarian cause ... impassioned ... exemplary ... seminal.

Observer

A devastating critique of the inadequate response of the international community to violations of basic freedoms ... a formidable achievement.

Evening Standard

Millions will be reading his book in the century to come if we are serious in our intention to stop massacres.

Observer