International Humanitarian Law, War Criminality and Child Recruitment: The Special Court for Sierra Leone's Decision in Prosecutor v. Samuel Hinga Norman

2005 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 283-297 ◽  
Author(s):  
MATTHEW HAPPOLD
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Sierra Leone ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
Appeal Chamber ◽  
International Humanitarian Law ◽  
Humanitarian Law ◽  
International Criminal Tribunals ◽  
The Status ◽  
Insight Into

The recent decision of the Appeals Chamber of the Special Court for Sierra Leone in Prosecutor v. Samuel Hinga Norman not only addresses the status of child recruitment as a war crime, but also provides an insight into how international criminal tribunals determine what conduct is criminal in international law. However, the authority of the decision is weakened by the unconvincing evidence relied upon by the Appeal Chamber in coming to its conclusions and by a strong dissent from Justice Robertson. The decision's faults, however, merely reflect problems in the process whereby violations of international humanitarian law are criminalized.

The Eritrea-Ethiopia Claims Commission and Customary International Humanitarian Law

2013 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 296-314 ◽  
Author(s):  
Agnieszka Szpak
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
International Criminal Tribunal ◽  
Prisoners Of War ◽  
International Humanitarian Law ◽  
Humanitarian Law ◽  
Customary International Law ◽  
Geneva Conventions ◽  
The Status ◽  
Key Issues

The aim of the article is to highlight several issues concerning the customary international law status of a number of international humanitarian law (IHL) treaty provisions that arose during the proceedings of the Eritrea-Ethiopia Claims Commission. Specifically, two key issues will be analyzed, namely the Commission's findings that the Geneva Conventions and some provisions of Additional Protocol I reflected customary international law and that international landmine conventions create only treaty obligations and do not yet reflect customary international law. Also, some more detailed conclusions relating to particular problems, such as the issue of the customary nature of the ICRC’s right to visit prisoners of war and its binding character for non-parties to the Geneva Conventions, will be discussed. The 2005 ICRC Study on Customary International Humanitarian Law and the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia’s jurisprudence will also be included as a point of reference to identify the customary character of certain provisions. The main conclusion is that the Commission has significantly contributed to the emerging consensus regarding the status of certain norms of international humanitarian law as customary norms. Furthermore, it has identified lacunae in the existing standards of humanitarian law and suggested the development of new norms to fill those gaps.

The new International Criminal Court: A preliminary assessment

1998 ◽  
Vol 38 (325) ◽  
pp. 671-683 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marie-Claude Roberge
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
International Criminal Court ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
Criminal Court ◽  
International Humanitarian Law ◽  
Humanitarian Law ◽  
Major Step ◽  
International Crimes ◽  
Set Up ◽  
New Institutions

After years of relentless effort and five weeks of intense and difficult negotiations, the Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) was adopted and opened for signature in Rome on 17 July 1998. This historic event represents a major step forward in the battle against impunity and towards better respect for international humanitarian law. For too long it has been possible to commit atrocities with total impunity, a situation which has given perpetrators carte blanche to continue such practices. The system of repression established by international law clearly has its shortcomings, and the time has come to adopt new rules and set up new institutions to ensure the effective prosecution of international crimes. A criminal court, whether at the national or international level, does not put a stop to crime, but it may serve as a deterrent and, consequently, may help reduce the number of victims. The results achieved in Rome should thus be welcomed, in the hope that the new Court will be able to discharge its mandate to the full.

scholarly journals Le tribunal pénal international pour le Rwanda - La justice trahie (Note)

2005 ◽  
Vol 27 (4) ◽  
pp. 827-840
Author(s):  
John Philpot
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Ad Hoc ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
Military Intervention ◽  
International Criminal Tribunal ◽  
International Humanitarian Law ◽  
Humanitarian Law ◽  
Legal Requirements ◽  
Real Issue ◽  
Set Up

On November 8,1994, the Security Council of the United Nations adopted Resolution 955 creating an ad hoc international criminal tribunal to judge individuals responsible for violations of international humanitarian law committed in Rwanda between January 1, 1994 and December 31, 1994. In its form and structure, the Tribunal does not respect basic legal requirements required of a tribunal set up in international law. Us mandate - limited in time, in scope of potential indictment, and in jurisdiction to violations of international humanitarian law - mil prevent any light from being shed on the real issue raised by the Rwandan conflict, namely that of armed military intervention in Rwanda from Uganda. It will likely lead to the reinforcement of a one-sided view of the crisis in Rwanda and legitimate further unilateral interventionist policies in Africa and elsewhere. The Tribunal will institutionalize the de facto impunity for the members and supporters of the present government of Rwanda who undoubtedly committed many serious crimes between October 1, 1990 and the present.

Sources of International Humanitarian Law and International Criminal Law

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Raphaël van Steenberghe
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Criminal Law ◽  
Rome Statute ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
Criminal Court ◽  
International Criminal Law ◽  
International Humanitarian Law ◽  
Humanitarian Law ◽  
Armed Groups ◽  
The Impact

This chapter analyses the specific features which characterize the sources of international humanitarian law (IHL) and international criminal law (ICL). It first examines those which are claimed to characterize IHL and ICL sources in relation to the secondary norms regulating the classical sources of international law. The chapter then looks at the specific features of some IHL and ICL sources in relation to the others of the same field. Attention is given particularly to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court and the impact of its features on other ICL sources, as well as to the commitments made by armed groups, whose characteristics make them difficult to classify under any of the classical sources of international law. In general, this chapter shows how all those specific features derive from the specific fundamental principles and evolving concerns of these two fields of international law.

It is all in the Process: Reflections on the Relation between International Criminal Trials and International Humanitarian Law

2009 ◽  
Vol 78 (4) ◽  
pp. 469-480
Author(s):  
Frederik Harhoff
Keyword(s):  
International Criminal ◽  
Substantial Contribution ◽  
International Humanitarian Law ◽  
Humanitarian Law ◽  
Criminal Trials ◽  
Law System ◽  
International Criminal Tribunals ◽  
Civil Law System ◽  
Real Challenge ◽  
International Criminal Trials

AbstractWhile much attention has been drawn all along to the substantial contribution by the jurisprudence of the international criminal tribunals to the development of international humanitarian law, the criminal legal procedural aspect of the tribunals' jurisprudence has been less prominent. The present article seeks to highlight the material importance of this much neglected aspect of the tribunal's jurisprudence. It illustrates the delicate interplay between the common law system and the civil law system and demonstrates how the latter is better suited to control very complex trials. It also explains why international criminal trials are inherently lengthier than criminal trials in domestic courts. Ultimately, the author argues, it is not sufficient to just agree on the crimes and how to define them; the real challenge lies in how you apply the evidence to these definitions.

THE PROBLEM OF “CLIMATE REFUGEES” IN VIEW OF INTERNATIONAL HUMANITARIAN LAW – SELECTED ISSUES

2018 ◽  
Vol VIII (z. 2) ◽  
pp. 157-172
Author(s):  
Przemysław Osóbka
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
International Law ◽  
International Humanitarian Law ◽  
Humanitarian Law ◽  
Sea Levels ◽  
Exclusive Economic Zones ◽  
The Status ◽  
Rising Sea Levels ◽  
Economic Zones ◽  
Climate Refugees

The article is an attempt to respond to the need to find international legal solutions, extremely important for people living in the countries threatened by the consequences of climate change, among others, the effects of rising sea levels in the seas and oceans. I try to direct attention to the still underestimated in the international law problem of the so-called "climate refugees". Behind the concept that defies the classic definitions of "refugees", there are hundreds of thousands today, and soon perhaps millions of people whose lives, health and property will be threatened by the forces of nature. The originality of the approach presented in the article is an attempt to consider whether appropriate legal solutions that protect vulnerable populations can be sought on the basis of international humanitarian law, since so far no other branch of international law seemed adequate to take up this challenge. The urgent and important dimension of the problems discussed in the article completes the necessity of searching for and finding answers to questions about the relationship between climate change and public international law. These are the legal consequences of climate deterritorialisation of sovereign states, such as the status of the population of the state without land territory, the loss of territories by archipelago states, the change of the sea borders, territorial waters, exclusive economic zones, and finally the responsibility of states for climate change. In the context of 'climate refugees', there is still no binding legal act that would meet the needs of thousands of people affected by climate change. This causes dissonance because, beyond any doubt, the situation in which these people find themselves raises a lot of fears - for their own lives, safety, health, etc. Today, entire communities and even countries face the problem of progressing deterritorialisation in face of climate threats. climate change, they face the risk of a non-culpable threat to their sovereignty.

International criminal justice: tightening up the rules of the game

2006 ◽  
Vol 88 (861) ◽  
pp. 133-144 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luc Côté
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Justice ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
International Humanitarian Law ◽  
International Criminal Justice ◽  
Humanitarian Law ◽  
International Criminal Tribunals ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
Per Se ◽  
Rules Of The Game ◽  
Discretionary Powers

Although much has been said and written about the creation of the international criminal tribunals and their contribution to the development of international humanitarian law, there have been very few studies of the international prosecutor per se. In this article the author briefly surveys recent developments in the international criminal justice institutions, focusing particularly on the limits recently imposed on the discretionary powers of international prosecutors.

Assistance, direction and control: Untangling international judicial opinion on individual and State responsibility for war crimes by non-State actors

2014 ◽  
Vol 96 (893) ◽  
pp. 243-273 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shane Darcy
Keyword(s):  
International Criminal ◽  
International Criminal Tribunal ◽  
War Crimes ◽  
International Humanitarian Law ◽  
State Responsibility ◽  
Humanitarian Law ◽  
International Criminal Tribunals ◽  
Specific Direction ◽  
Significant Disagreement ◽  
State Actors

AbstractDespite the general consistency in the treatment of international humanitarian law by international courts and tribunals, recent decisions have seen significant disagreement regarding the scope of indirect responsibility for individuals and States for the provision of aid or assistance to non-State actors that perpetrate war crimes. The divisions at the international criminal tribunals with regard to the “specific direction” element of aiding and abetting are reminiscent of the divergence between the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia on the question of State responsibility for supporting or assisting non-State actors that engage in violations of international law. This article analyzes this jurisprudence on individual and State responsibility for the provision of support to non-State actors that breach international humanitarian law, and considers the interaction and interrelationship between these related but distinct forms of responsibility.

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