| General note |
The importance of this study lies in the nature of the topic it is dealing with. The use of force within a country poses negative effects on its national unity. Consequently, the use of force at the international level to resolve conflicts may lead to negative effects on international peace and security. The focus of this research is on the existence of countries that resort to force on others under the pretext of legitimate right to self-defense in order to resolve conflicts, to occupy the land of other countries and to evade accountabilities either on the government on individual level for the possible harms inflicted on others. The objectives of this study are to highlight the nature of accountability on the part of government and individuals on the harms and crimes done, in the perspective of civil and criminal laws and to identify the viewpoints of international and Malaysian law regarding the use of force. The methodologies used in this research are inductive approach to gather the views of experts, historical approach to relate historical events pertaining to the research topic and, analysis and comparative approaches for comparing the Malaysian and the international laws in dealing with the subject matter. This study finds that previous societies regardless of their advanced civilization resorted to the use strength and force even for trivial matters. This study finds that even though there were agreements and efforts being made to implement rules and regulations at time of wars, violations of these agreements occurred and still prevail until the present day. In addition, this research finds that most of the countries studied violated war regulations and international conventions which resulted in the loss of civilian lives especially children, women and elderly persons. This study concludes that the legitimacy of using force in carrying out the right of self defense must be subjected to prescribed conditions and, since each individual is considered an international citizen, he therefore bears full responsibility for his actions in the eyes of international laws. This study also concludes that there are still obstacles in present situations for government to arrest war criminals and to bring them to justice.
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