"International criminal justice has evolved from Nuremberg to Rwanda to Gaza, yet enforcement remains selective." Critically examine, with reference to the role of UN Commissions of Inquiry.

International criminal justice rests on one idea: individuals, not just states, must answer for atrocity crimes. Its norms have deepened from Nuremberg to the Rwanda tribunal to the UN Commission of Inquiry (COI) on Gaza. But whether they are enforced still depends on who the accused is and who protects them.

Evolution: norms have strengthened

• Nuremberg (1945–46): established individual criminal responsibility. "Obeying orders" was no defence.
• Rwanda (ICTR): Prosecutor v. Akayesu (1998) was the first genocide conviction by an international court. It also recognised rape as an act of genocide [1].
• Gaza (COI): in September 2025 it found that Israel committed four of the five genocidal acts in the 1948 Genocide Convention. It applied the strict "only reasonable inference" test [2].
• Navi Pillay chaired the COI. Her 2026 Nobel Peace Prize credits her with ensuring that genocide and war crimes are prosecuted [3].

Role of COIs: strengths

• Evidence bank: chair S. Muralidhar says the findings "will feed into some adjudicatory system" [4].
• Norm-setting: it urged all states to suspend arms transfers and jet fuel that could aid genocidal acts [5].
• Wider accountability: it urges states to support the ICC and use universal jurisdiction [6].

Limits: why enforcement stays selective

• Fact-finding, not a court: there is no trial and no cross-examination. A COI finds but cannot convict. Israel dismissed the report as a "libelous rant" [7].
• Power decides the forum: Nuremberg tried the defeated, and Rwanda got a tribunal with real powers. Gaza has no such court.
• Binding orders ignored: the COI found that Israel "flagrantly disregarded" three 2024 ICJ provisional-measures orders [5].
• Suppliers shielded: in Nicaragua v. Germany (April 2024), the ICJ declined provisional measures against Germany's arms supplies [8].
• Ground reality: in June 2026 the COI chair reported Gaza's "most devastating attack" since 1948 [9].
• Security Council vetoes let powerful patrons block referrals to tribunals.

The law has moved from victors' justice to universal norms, but enforcement has not kept pace. The way forward is for states to honour the Convention's duty to prevent, for ICC membership and universal jurisdiction to widen, and for COI evidence to reach courts. Only then can "never again" apply everywhere, in line with SDG 16's promise of justice for all.