Abstract
Sovereigns must now think twice before inciting or committing crimes against humanity, war crimes or genocide, for recent trends are moving against them. Notions of state sovereignty , inviolability of borders and sovereign immunity are rapidly eroding on parallel tracks. Although certainly not irrelevant, the concept of nation-state sovereignty, gleaned from the 17th Century Westphalian system, is under considerable pressure from increasing numbers of secessionist groups within states either clamouring for or achieving independence. Moreover, just cause has emerged as a practically internationally recognized excuse for western powers to cross theoretically unbreachable frontiers to either capture sovereigns as in the case of Noriega in Panama , or otherwise affect government policy, as in the case of Serbia on behalf of Kosovo.