Reaching the Kampala Compromise on Aggression: The Chair's Perspective

2010 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 883-887 ◽  
Author(s):  
CHRISTIAN WENAWESER
Keyword(s):  
Security Council ◽  
Criminal Law ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
International Criminal Law ◽  
Un Security Council ◽  
Significant Step

AbstractThis contribution sets out the path towards consensus at Kampala. Before the Review Conference, two main issues remained unresolved: the question whether some form of consent by the alleged aggressor state should be required, and the role of the UN Security Council. Few had expected a consensus on a comprehensive package. The outcome of Kampala reflects significant compromises, but also a significant step to advance international criminal law.

The Lasting Legacy of Double Standards: The International Criminal Court and the UN Security Council Referral Mechanism

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 251-284
Author(s):  
Gabriel M. Lentner
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
Security Council ◽  
Criminal Law ◽  
International Criminal Court ◽  
Structural Changes ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
Criminal Court ◽  
International Criminal Law ◽  
Double Standards ◽  
Un Security Council

Common narratives in international criminal law give the impression that the arc of international criminal law is long but bends towards justice. In this article, I wish to challenge this and show that we actually see more of the same. I adopt a consequentialist approach for analysing these issues: what are the real outcomes of the structural changes that happened via the involvement of the UN Security Council (unsc) and are they driven more by power or principle? Through case studies of the two existing referrals of the situations of Darfur and Libya I challenge the progress narrative often implied in international criminal law discourse. I show that through the institutional structure and limitations in practice, the unsc referral mechanism operates as a continuation of double standards by other means and that power influences accountability much more than principle even without direct unsc intervention.

The Contestation of Value-Based Norms: Confirmation or Erosion of International Law?

2019 ◽  
pp. 311-334
Author(s):  
Tiyanjana Maluwa
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Security Council ◽  
Criminal Law ◽  
International Criminal Court ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
Criminal Court ◽  
International Criminal Law ◽  
The Right ◽  
First Time ◽  
Normative Powers

The chapter discusses the concepts of shared values and value-based norms. It examines two areas of international law that provide illustrative examples of contestation of value-based norms: the fight against impunity under international criminal law and the debates about the responsibility to protect. It argues that the African Union’s (AU) difference of view with the International Criminal Court (ICC) over the indictment of Omar Al-Bashir is not a rejection of the non-impunity norm, but of the context and sequencing of its application. As regards the right of intervention codified in the Constitutive Act of the AU, Africans states responded to the failure of the Security Council to invoke its existing normative powers in the Rwanda situation by establishing a treaty-based norm of intervention, the first time that a regional international instrument had ever done so. Thus, in both cases one cannot speak of a decline of international law.

scholarly journals Sudan, Resolution 1593, and International Criminal Justice

2006 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 195-222 ◽  
Author(s):  
ROBERT CRYER
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Security Council ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
International System ◽  
Criminal Court ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
International Criminal Law ◽  
International Criminal Justice ◽  
Un Security Council ◽  
Incomplete Reaction

The UN Security Council has recently referred the situation in Darfur, Sudan, to the International Criminal Court. This has been hailed as a breakthrough in international criminal justice. However, aspects of the referral resolution can be criticized from the point of view of their consistency with both the Rome Statute and the UN Charter. The limitations of the referral with respect to whom the Court may investigate also raise issues with respect to the rule of law. In addition, Sudan has accused the Security Council of acting in a neo-colonial fashion by referring the situation in Darfur to the Court. This article investigates these criticisms against the background of the international system in which international criminal law operates, and concludes that although the referral cannot be considered neo-colonial in nature, the referral can be criticized as selective and as an incomplete reaction to the crisis in Darfur. The referral remains, however, a positive step.

The Historical Function of International Criminal Trials: Re-thinking International Criminal Law

2004 ◽  
Vol 73 (4) ◽  
pp. 461-484 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Joyce
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Law ◽  
Due Process ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
Criminal Court ◽  
International Criminal Law ◽  
Criminal Trials ◽  
Social Recovery ◽  
Historical Function ◽  
International Criminal Trials

AbstractThe establishment of the International Criminal Court provides an opportunity to re-think international criminal law and procedure, and to develop a more coherent theory of international criminal justice. This article argues that increasingly the demands placed upon international criminal trials go beyond the process of securing convictions. There is an increasing expectation that such trials will contribute to broader processes of social recovery and reconciliation. Claims are also made for their having a pedagogical and documentary role. To this end, the author proposes the recognition of an historical function of international criminal trials. This is suggested as best forming part of the variety of policy rationales which underpin the processes of international criminal law. It is conceded that overemphasising the role of history could be dangerous and infringe upon the rights of the accused, but it is argued that underemphasising the role of theory and history is unsatisfactory. The article concludes that recognition of an historical function for international criminal trials involves tensions, but will provide a framework and rationale for a more narrative-based and victimfocused system of international criminal law which might provide an important discursive beginning for victims and affected communities, whilst balancing due process concerns.

The Oxford Handbook of International Criminal Law

2020 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Law ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
International Criminal Law ◽  
Controversial Issues ◽  
Legal Scholarship ◽  
International Crimes ◽  
The Core ◽  
The Past ◽  
International Criminal Tribunals

In the past twenty years, international criminal law has become one of the main areas of international legal scholarship and practice. Most textbooks in the field describe the evolution of international criminal tribunals, the elements of the core international crimes, the applicable modes of liability and defences, and the role of states in prosecuting international crimes. This book, however, takes a theoretically informed and refreshingly critical look at the most controversial issues in international criminal law, challenging prevailing practices, orthodoxies, and received wisdoms. The book should fundamentally alter how international criminal law is understood.

scholarly journals The trial’s the thing: Performance and legitimacy in international criminal trials

2018 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 241-257
Author(s):  
Kate Leader
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Law ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
Criminal Court ◽  
International Criminal Law ◽  
Criminal Trials ◽  
And Performance ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
International Criminal Trials

This article explores the relationship between performance and legitimacy in international criminal trials through the lens of the International Criminal Court (ICC). I begin by analysing the deployment of theatrical tropes by different legal scholars, such as Hannah Arendt, and David Luban, arguing that such analogies serve as a policing mechanism for the author to distinguish what they perceive to be the ‘good’ or ‘bad’ theatre of the trial. I then move beyond analogy, drawing on legal sociology and performance theory to read the criminal trial as ritual-like, normative performance. Using the ICC as a case study, I will examine how performance is deployed to create, reinforce and naturalize the role of the ICC in international criminal law. Through focusing on issues of performance and community I offer a different way of looking at what may constitute legitimacy in international criminal law from that which is offered by other legal scholars.

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