The Governance of International Courts and Tribunals

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Niels Blokker
Keyword(s):  
General Assembly ◽  
International Courts ◽  
National Courts ◽  
Organizational Choice ◽  
Governing Institutions ◽  
Do So

Niels Blokker addresses a central, common legitimacy challenge to the governance of international courts and tribunals (ICs) themselves. How can various international organs—such as the General Assembly or the Assembly of States Parties—serve to secure the ICs’ requisite independence whilst ensuring their accountability? The governing institutions must secure this balance in each case, but do so in different ways. Blokker demonstrates some of the dilemmas arising in the context of ICs in balancing independence and accountability. An important question is what would be the best organizational choice(s)—possibly with different answers for different ICs. He also raises the issues of what can be learnt from the international requirements as regards the governance of national courts.

The Role of the International Court of Justice in the Enforcement of Its Judicial Decisions

2002 ◽  
Vol 15 (4) ◽  
pp. 781-804 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mutlaq Al-Qahtani
Keyword(s):  
Security Council ◽  
General Assembly ◽  
International Court Of Justice ◽  
International Courts ◽  
Judicial Decisions ◽  
National Courts ◽  
Court Of Justice ◽  
International Court ◽  
The Icj

Together with the Security Council and the General Assembly, the International Court of Justice is one of the most important guarantors of peace, security and co-operation among states. The role of the ICJ in the enforcement of its decisions has received little attention in the existing literature. Although international courts, regional courts and national courts do not physically enforce their decisions, they have various levels of enforcement mechanism procedures. Nevertheless, it has been widely and mistakenly believed that it is not the business of the ICJ to enforce its decisions, but rather this is the business of other political bodies of the United Nations. It is argued in this paper that this proposition is not accurate and, instead, the ICJ has at its disposal various enforcement procedures and is, moreover, under statutory obligations to participate actively in policing and enforcing its decisions.

The Law of International Criminal Procedure and Domestic War Crimes Trials

2006 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 605-635 ◽  
Author(s):  
Göran Sluiter
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
Criminal Procedure ◽  
War Crimes ◽  
Specific Context ◽  
National Courts ◽  
International Criminal Tribunals ◽  
War Crimes Trials ◽  
The Law ◽  
Do So

AbstractThis article deals with the question of possible effect of the law of international criminal procedure for domestic war crimes trials. With the increasing number of national prosecutions for war crimes this question will gain in relevance.The article starts with an exploration of the origin and development of the law of international criminal procedure, to reach the conclusion that because of the lack of a strong foundation it is difficult to discern firmly established rules in this field. Next, two areas are examined where the law of international criminal procedure is capable of producing effect for national trials: human rights and rules that have developed in the specific context of war crimes prosecutions.Whether rules of international criminal procedure are formally effective in the domestic legal order remains to be seen. There is no clear obligation under international law to do so. Furthermore, the law of international criminal procedure may be difficult to harmonise with domestic inquisitorial systems.In spite of these difficulties, the article concludes that national courts will increasingly face similar procedural problems in complex war crimes trials as international criminal tribunals and will be happy to learn from their experiences.

Equity in Arbitration and in Judicial Settlement of Disputes

1993 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 323-329 ◽  
Author(s):  
Judge Manfred Lachs
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
General Assembly ◽  
Type I ◽  
International Courts ◽  
The Past ◽  
Un General Assembly ◽  
Similarities And Differences ◽  
Settlement Of Disputes ◽  
Recommended Action

Much has been written on the similarities and differences between arbitration tribunals and international courts; much more could and will certainly be written in the future. The purpose of my comments is to define similarities and differences in regard to the role of equity in both. However, I hope to enter the caveat at the very outset that in this paper I will focus solely on the role of equity in cases where the decision is to be based on international law. Accordingly, I will not here discuss cases of the type I had in mind when I pointed out in a speech delivered 34 years ago to the Legal Committee of the UN General Assembly that “[t]he arbitral solution has been applied in the past to a variety of problems, some of which were not judicial in character and did not raise issues of law”. Nor will I now discuss arbitrations in which the parties have agreed that the arbitrators need not be guided by law, or where the arbitral tribunal is expressly authorized by the parties to decide ex aequo et bono and thereby to settle the matter in a liberal spirit without regard to legal requirements and technicalities. Thus, cases in which the arbitrators have been empowered to seek mutual accommodations that would give offense to neither party are outside the scope of this discussion, as are cases where arbitrators recommended action by one of the parties as an act of grace.

In Defence of State Immunity: Why the UN: Convention on State Immunity is Important

2006 ◽  
Vol 55 (2) ◽  
pp. 399-406 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hazel Fox
Keyword(s):  
General Assembly ◽  
View Point ◽  
State Support ◽  
National Courts ◽  
State Immunity ◽  
Civil Proceedings ◽  
Un General Assembly

The Convention on State Immunity adopted by the UN General Assembly in 2004 represents in treaty form a finished product of some 22 years of work 1 It indicates a consensus of State support for the restrictive doctrine of State immunity in its application to civil proceedings relating to commercial matters in national courts. It is a considerable achievement from the view point of the specialist lawyers and diplomats who have steered the project to UN endorsement.

Part IV The Right to Reparation/Guarantees of Non-Recurrence, A The Right to Reparation, Principle 33 Publicizing Reparation Procedures

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laplante Lisa J
Keyword(s):  
United Nations ◽  
Ad Hoc ◽  
Legal Framework ◽  
Historical Background ◽  
Not Given ◽  
International Courts ◽  
Specific Practice ◽  
The Right ◽  
Country Specific ◽  
Do So

Principle 33 focuses on the obligation of the State to publicize ‘ad hoc procedures’ for the distribution of reparations. The ‘publicity principle’ assures the right to compensation, restitution, non-material, symbolic reparations and other remedies and places the onus on policymakers to implement outreach campaigns that inform victims of these right and how to access them. Principle 33 emanates from the idea that ‘a reparation mechanism has little practical value if potentially eligible victims are not aware of the opportunity to make claims or are not given timely information on how to do so in a language they can understand’. After providing a contextual and historical background on Principle 33, this chapter discusses its legal framework and practice, with emphasis on United Nations guidelines and principles; international mass claims processes; international courts, commissions and committees; and country specific practice.

Community Interests in International Adjudication

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eyal Benvenisti
Keyword(s):  
Crucial Role ◽  
Recursive Function ◽  
Dispute Settlement ◽  
Ad Hoc ◽  
Focal Points ◽  
International Courts ◽  
Legal Obligations ◽  
International Adjudication ◽  
Do So

The chapter examines the extent to which international courts and tribunals can take community interests into consideration and develop community obligations. It explores the significance of this distinction between the ad hoc dispute-settlement tribunals and standing courts with jurisdiction to adjudicate multiple cases, and argues that the recursive function transforms international courts into global lawmakers that weave together a system of norms with secondary rules of recognition. International tribunals serve a crucial role of coordinating the behavior of state and nonstate actors by creating focal points that define the parties’ legal obligations and stabilize expectations. Moreover, the chapter argues that because of this function international courts are uniquely situated to take community interests into account, and they often, if not always, do so. This implies that if properly insulated from pressures and prejudices, international adjudicators are institutionally inclined to promote community obligations.

National Courts—the Powerhouse of Community Law

2003 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
pp. 1-13 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Edward
Keyword(s):  
Community Law ◽  
National Courts ◽  
Do So

It is always an honour to be invited to give a named lecture and especially to be invited to do so in this University. But it is an added privilege and also a pleasure to be invited to do so when one has known the person in whose honour the lecture has been named. It is particularly delightful to be able to do so with Lady Mackenzie-Stuart among us.

Punishing for Humanity

2020 ◽  
pp. 391-404
Author(s):  
Margaret M. deGuzman
Keyword(s):  
Former Yugoslavia ◽  
Foreseeable Future ◽  
International Courts ◽  
Harsh Punishment ◽  
National Courts ◽  
Global Norms

In determining sentences, the ICTY chose to develop global norms rather than adhere to, or even be strongly guided by, the sentencing norms of the former Yugoslavia. Although the ICTY Statute required the judges to consult national practices in determining sentences, they interpreted this requirement loosely, reserving to themselves a wide discretion that enabled them to identify a range of global sentencing objectives and factors to apply in pursuit of those objectives. The global norms the ICTY developed included norms rejecting harsh punishment, applying consequentialist punishment rationales, privileging gravity as the central sentencing factor, and endorsing broad judicial sentencing discretion. In developing these norms, the ICTY helped to build a foundation that other international courts, and perhaps some national courts, are likely to rely on for the foreseeable future.

Knockin’ on heaven’s door: The burden of proof before international courts

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 111-133
Author(s):  
Ekaterina Diyachenko
Keyword(s):  
Burden Of Proof ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Legal Doctrine ◽  
International Courts ◽  
National Courts ◽  
Court Of Justice ◽  
European Court ◽  
Separate Object ◽  
Object Of Study ◽  
Onus Probandi

The issues of proof and determining the party upon which the corresponding burden rests are key to the administration of justice as the determination of the facts of the case is a compulsory stage prior the application of the legal norm. In the Russian legal doctrine the issue of proof has been extensively developed with regard to proceedings before national courts, but not enough in relation to the activity of international courts, except for the European court of human rights. This article explores the theoretical aspects of proof in international courts, analyses the approaches of the International Court of Justice and the Court of Justice of the European Union regarding the distribution of the burden of proof. A separate object of study is the legal findings of the Court of the Eurasian Economic Union with regard to the issue of proof. The findings of the study show that the universal rule onus probandi actori incumbit has evolved with the development of the international courts’ case law in the direction of a cooperation between the courts and the parties in the collection of evidence and the placement of the burden of proving the validity of acts, actions (failure to act) on the institutions vested with the corresponding powers.

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