‘Cosmopolitan Citizenship’, Territorial Borders, and Bringing Denationalized Terrorists to Justice

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew Seet
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Justice ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
International Criminal Law ◽  
International Criminal Justice ◽  
International Crimes ◽  
Territorial State ◽  
International Obligations ◽  
Cosmopolitan Citizenship ◽  
Globalized World

Abstract This article challenges scholarly claims that a post-national ‘cosmopolitan citizenship’ — an expanded and less territorially bounded belonging of ‘humanity’ — has been emerging in the international criminal justice context. In examining the contemporary denationalization of terrorists from the under-explored angle of criminal justice, this article argues that states’ territorial borders prevent denationalized terrorists — deemed enemies of ‘humanity’ — from being brought to justice. Some states strip citizenship from terrorists without holding them accountable for terrorist offences and international crimes, subsequently deporting them to — or leaving them stranded in — states which are, according to international criminal law, ‘unable’ or ‘unwilling’ to prosecute. As such, states’ territorial borders serve as a ‘shield’ which not only enable denationalized terrorists to avoid accountability for their terrorist offences and international crimes, but which also enable states to avoid their international obligations to bring terrorists to justice. This case study of denationalized terrorists not only demonstrates the enduring relevance of territoriality to international criminal justice but also broadly demonstrates how post-national ‘citizenship’ remains tied to the territorial state in a globalized world.

scholarly journals Jus cogens standards and erga omnes commitments in international criminal justice

Legal Ukraine ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 72-78
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Justice ◽  
International Law ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
International Crime ◽  
Legal Framework ◽  
Criminal Court ◽  
International Criminal Law ◽  
International Criminal Justice ◽  
International Crimes ◽  
Jus Cogens

The article analyzes the application of jus cogens and erga omnes obligations in international criminal justice. The main ideas that were the basis of the concept of jus cogens norms and the concept of obligations erga omnes are investigated. The modern doctrines of jus cogens and erga omnes are analyzed. Imperative norms, which have a special legal force, is one of the characteristic features of modern international law. These rules are a set that determines the nature of international law, its goals and principles and in general its main content. The norms of jus cogens include the principles and norms of international law prohibiting aggression, war crimes, crimes against humanity, the crime of genocide and other international crimes. These crimes are of concern to the entire international community and oblige states to counter these horrific phenomena. Ensuring mandatory norms in the field of combating international crime requires the introduction of an effective international legal mechanism, an important element of which are the relevant international courts. In case of violation of imperative norms, there are universal legal relations of responsibility. The point is that not only the directly affected state, but also any other state has the right to raise the issue of the offender’s liability, in particular in the case of international crimes. This is similar to the Roman rule «actio popularis», according to which every member of society had a legal right to protect public interests. With this in mind, jus cogens and erga omnes are at the heart of the legal framework of international criminal courts and are an important area of research in international criminal law. Key words: jus cogens norms, erga omnes obligations, international crimes, international criminal court.

Principles of International Criminal Law

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Werle Gerhard ◽  
Jeßberger Florian
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Criminal Law ◽  
Systematic Approach ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
War Crimes ◽  
Criminal Court ◽  
International Criminal Law ◽  
Crimes Against Humanity ◽  
International Criminal Justice ◽  
International Crimes

This book is one of the most influential textbooks in the field of international criminal justice. It offers a systematic and comprehensive analysis of the foundations and general principles of substantive international criminal law, including thorough discussion of its core crimes. It provides a detailed understanding of the general principles, sources, and evolution of international criminal law, demonstrating how it has developed, and how its application has changed. After establishing the general principles, the book assesses the four key international crimes as defined by the statute of the International Criminal Court: genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression. This new edition revises and updates the work with developments in international criminal justice since 2014. The book retains its systematic approach and consistent methodology, making it essential reading for both students and scholars of international criminal law, as well as for practitioners and judges working in the field.

Bridging the Gap between Criminological Theory and Penal Theory within the International Criminal Justice System

2014 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 249-279 ◽  
Author(s):  
Athanasios Chouliaras
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Criminal Justice System ◽  
Criminal Law ◽  
Justice System ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
State Crime ◽  
Criminological Theory ◽  
International Criminal Law ◽  
International Criminal Justice ◽  
International Crimes

The main objective of this article is to put forward a critical analysis of the emergent international criminal justice system, epitomized by the creation of the permanent International Criminal Court (icc). Such an endeavour is warranted on the assertion that international criminal justice scholarship has entered into a ‘reflective’ phase, the hallmark of which lies in the re-evaluation of the institutions of international criminal law in the light of the distinctive traits of international criminality derived from the combination of the criminological theory of state crime and the rising theory of international crime in the domain of international criminal law. In this context, the article summarizes the basic points and the epistemological premises of the criminological theory of state crime, while seeks to delimit the subject matter by alluding to the concept of core international crimes arising from the normative system of the icc. The core aim of such a combined approach is not to downplay the existing differences between the criminological concept of state crime and the penal concept of core international crimes, but to highlight common points in order to draw tentative conclusions and make some preliminary suggestions from a criminal policy perspective.

Coherence in International Criminal Justice: A Victimological Perspective

2015 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 339-368 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Pemberton ◽  
R.M. Letschert ◽  
A.-M. de Brouwer ◽  
R.H. Haveman
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Justice ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
Government Agencies ◽  
International Criminal Justice ◽  
International Crimes ◽  
Large Numbers

This article develops a victimological perspective on international criminal justice, based on a review of the main victimological characteristics of international crimes: the complicity of government agencies, the large numbers of victims involved and the peculiar position of victims of international crimes, who at the time of the commission of the crimes are viewed as perpetrators and/or beyond the moral sphere, rather than as victims. Key elements of the framework concern the external coherence of the criminal justice reaction – the interlinking of criminal justice with other reparative efforts – as well as its internal coherence – the extent to which the procedures of international criminal justice are aligned with what it realistically can and should achieve. This latter aspect of coherence is used in an examination of victims’ rights in international criminal justice procedures.

Victimological Imaginations

2019 ◽  
pp. 155-185
Author(s):  
Kjersti Lohne
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Justice ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
Moral Authority ◽  
International Criminal Justice ◽  
Gender Based Violence ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
International Crimes ◽  
Global North ◽  
Gender Based ◽  
And Gender

The figure of the victim is the sine qua non of the fight against impunity for international crimes. Engaging the victimological imagination of international criminal justice, the chapter shows how victims are represented, and how justice for victims is imagined. The first part focuses on imaginations of ‘justice for victims’, and argues that the ICC represents a form of hybrid justice by incorporating ‘restorative’ and ‘transformative’ rationales for justice. Unlike ordinary courts, the ICC incorporates what can be thought of as both ‘punitive’ and ‘reparative’ arms. Part of the latter is the Rome Statute’s provisions for victims’ rights to participation and reparation. However, a closer look at the implementation of these processes reveal a conspicuous discrepancy between ideologies and realities. The second part of the chapter situates victims as a source of moral authority, and one that is claimed in representational practices by both human rights NGOs and international criminal justice generally. The chapter explores suffering as a type of ‘currency’, both on an individual level for victims’ advocates, as their source of ‘purpose’, and on a broader cultural level as the source of ‘global’ moral outcry. The chapter demonstrates how the victim is culturally represented through imaginations from the global North and becomes universalized as a symbol of humanity, of which the gendered and racialized victim of sexual and gender-based violence provides particularly powerful victim imagery. In this way, the image of the victim of international crimes is characterized by her essential ‘otherness’: it is humanity that suffers.

Can We Be Friends? Offering an Amicus Curiae Brief on Sexual Violence to the EAC

2020 ◽  
pp. 134-141
Author(s):  
Kim Thuy Seelinger ◽  
Naomi Fenwick ◽  
Khaled Alrabe
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Sexual Violence ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
International Criminal Justice ◽  
Amicus Curiae ◽  
Sexual Slavery ◽  
Sexual Crimes ◽  
International Crimes ◽  
Life Sentence ◽  
Game Changer

This chapter details the preparation and submission of the amicus curiae brief on sexual violence to the Extraordinary African Chambers (EAC). The amicus curiae brief offered by over a dozen experts on the prosecution of sexual violence under international law may have been a game changer for the Hissène Habré trial, both in terms of its relevance as a mechanism of international criminal justice, as well as in highlighting the EAC's power to address crimes of sexual violence despite their omission from original charges. Among other international crimes, Habré had been convicted of rape and sexual slavery as a crime against humanity and as a form of torture. The affirmation of Habré's life sentence for massive sexual violence committed by his Documentation and Security Directorate (DDS) agents was hailed as a tremendous victory for international criminal justice and the rights of sexual violence survivors. However, the conviction for sexual crimes was not complete and its path was not linear.

s.III Rationales, Ch.9 Taking Internationalism Seriously: Why International Criminal Law Matters

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gur-Arye Miriam ◽  
Harel Alon
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Criminal Law ◽  
International Institutions ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
International Justice ◽  
International Criminal Law ◽  
International Criminal Justice ◽  
Penal Institutions ◽  
Traditional Institutions ◽  
Domestic Level

This chapter focuses on why international criminal law (ICL) matters, by generating a distinctive philosophical vision for the project of international criminal justice. Specifically, this chapter rejects the notion that ICL is simply a gap-filler for ineffective penal institutions at the domestic level. So much of the literature is characterized by an assumption, buttressed by the International Criminal Court’s complementarity principle, that international tribunals simply spring into action to resolve the lacunae in domestic legal processes when armed conflict or other disruptions dismantle traditional institutions for criminal enforcement. In contrast, the chapter argues that the goods of ICL and the values it promotes can only be provided by international entities. In that respect, international justice is not a second-best alternative to domestic justice but is, rather, necessarily international because international institutions are specifically designed to redress wrongs that harm the interests of the international community as a whole.

scholarly journals Constructing International Criminal Justice across Time and Space

2018 ◽  
Vol 18 (6) ◽  
pp. 958-987
Author(s):  
Emma Lauren Palmer
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Rome Statute ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
International Criminal Law ◽  
International Criminal Justice ◽  
Spatial Awareness ◽  
International Treaties ◽  
Time And Space ◽  
Temporal Aspect ◽  
Primary Measure

Scholars have suggested that ratifying international treaties and implementing them within national legal systems can lead to the acceptance and (eventually) internalisation of international norms. Likewise, failing to ratify might suggest that states reject such norms. Similarly, ratifying the Rome Statute can be promoted as the primary measure to give effect to the norms protected by international criminal law. This perspective of the diffusion of international criminal justice involves at least three characteristics. First, a temporal aspect, in that states are expected to progress from rejecting international criminal justice toward acceptance over time. Second, it reveals a spatial awareness, including by distinguishing between international and ‘local’ norms and actors. Third, this approach includes assumptions about the movement of ideas across both time and space, or directionality. This article challenges temporal, spatial, and directional assumptions about how states engage with international criminal justice with reference to experiences in Southeast Asia.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document