Most international conventions on
human rights fall into the former category,
and the nation-state remains the ‘proximate
source of the rights that … individuals have’
(ibid: 115, italics in original). But monism
underpins important recent developments
in the international criminal law. The
Nuremberg trials held that it was irrelevant
whether war crimes ‘were lawful in Germany
at the time they were committed. They were
unlawful under international law, irrespective
of their status in German law’ (ibid:
116, italics in original). Monism is also
evident in the principles governing the International
Tribunal which is authorised to
prosecute persons responsible for serious
violations of humanitarian law in the former
Yugoslavia.