Sanctions are an integral part of every coherent legal system, and the threat of an effective sanction has a dissuasive effect. The culture of war - and the constant assault on the ethical norms and conventions of war - has produced a demand for justice among both combatants and non-combatants. This Review examines the part played by sanctions in obtaining greater respect for international humanitarian law and the form that citizens expect justice to take, i.e. what kind of punishment, what it should be based on and who should sit in judgment.