Armless Giants: Cooperation, State Responsibility and Suggestions for the ICC Review Conference

2010 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 181-208 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexis Demirdjian

AbstractInternational criminal courts and tribunals regularly face difficulties in obtaining cooperation from States, a stumbling block that hinders the process of bringing criminals to justice and trying them before a court of law. In doing so, States can be held accountable under the rules of state responsibility. This possibility was raised in key decisions and scholarly texts on the issue. This paper seeks to expand the discussion on the matter and analyze the responsibility of States for their failure to cooperate with international courts. Additionally, this paper suggests amendments to the ICC Rome Statute to strengthen the judicial assistance regime, considering that this court is designed to become the permanent court dealing with war crimes and crimes against humanity and that a review of the Statute is to take place in May or June 2010.

Author(s):  
Matthew Gillett

This chapter examines the provisions of international criminal law applicable to serious environmental harm, particularly during non-international armed conflicts ('NIAC'). After describing incidents of serious environmental harm arising in armed conflicts, the analysis surveys the provisions of international criminal law applicable to environmental harm during NIACs, including war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide, and aggression. It then examines the basis for extending to NIACs the protection against military attacks causing excessive environmental harm (set out in Art. 8(2)(b)(iv) of the Rome Statute), which is currently only applicable in IACs. The examination of this possible amendment of the Rome Statute covers a broad range of instruments and laws forming part of international and national legal codes, all addressing grave environmental harm. Finally, the analysis turns to accountability for environmental harm as a facet of jus post bellum, emphasizing the interconnected nature of environmental harm and cycles of violence and atrocities.


2020 ◽  
Vol 114 (1) ◽  
pp. 103-109
Author(s):  
Angela Mudukuti

In 2009, the International Criminal Court (ICC) stepped into uncharted waters as it issued its first arrest warrant for a sitting head of state, then President of Sudan Omar Al-Bashir. Following the UN Security Council's referral of the situation in the Darfur region of Sudan to the ICC, Al-Bashir was charged by the Court with war crimes and crimes against humanity, and in 2010, he was also charged with genocide. As a consequence, all of the states parties to the Rome Statute had a duty to arrest Al-Bashir. Several states have nonetheless failed to arrest him during country visits, allowing Al-Bashir to evade the ICC. This has given rise to a number of cases before the ICC Chambers, including this Appeals Chamber judgment regarding the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.


2018 ◽  
Vol 112 ◽  
pp. 134-135
Author(s):  
Julian Nicholls

Investigation and prosecution at international criminal courts and tribunals of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide often present challenges which are less common in domestic judicial systems. These challenges may include conducting investigations many years after the crimes were committed, in faraway countries, in which much of the testimonial and other evidence is likely in a language not spoken by the majority of the lawyers and investigators on the team.


Author(s):  
Ian Freckelton ◽  
Magda Karagiannakis

This chapter analyses the international criminal law jurisprudence on fitness to stand trial. It examines the mental and physical disorders that have been asserted in international criminal proceedings for defendants accused of genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes. It exposes the processes by which fitness is determined and distils the legal standards that international courts have utilised and the consequences of unfitness by international courts. The chapter canvasses the introduction of more nuanced and psychiatrically informed criteria for fitness determinations. It also proposes the introduction of adequately resourced secure facilities for the confinement of persons found unfit to stand trial in order to reduce the incentives for the assertion of questionable unfitness claims, and encourages consideration of the introduction of special hearings for those found unfit in order to advance the overall aims of international criminal justice.


Author(s):  
Amrita Kapur

This chapter explores the opportunities present in the Rome Statute to promote justice for victims of sexual and gender-based violence in the International Criminal Court (ICC). It focuses on the concept of complementarity to show the ICC’s potential for reform and to catalyze the prosecution of international crimes (genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes). It then describes the ICC’s broader approach to sexual violence and gender, as well as the domestic impact of this jurisprudence. The chapter concludes by suggesting that the Rome Statute’s standards should be introduced into national law. This could create broader benefits for women and victims of sexual and gender-based violence beyond the prosecution of criminal perpetrators.


Author(s):  
Laura Ausserladscheider Jonas ◽  
Dire Tladi

War crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide and the crime of aggression could not be perpetrated without those who finance them. This article examines the basis for criminal liability in international criminal law (ICL) for persons who finance entities that perpetrate core crimes. Despite the need for clear rules, neither international courts nor scholars agree upon (i) whether liability exists for individuals who finance entities that perpetrate core crimes; and (ii) if so, the circumstances under which such liability exists. This article argues that an individual who finances an entity that perpetrates a core crime should be held criminally liable under customary international criminal law as an aider and abettor. The objective of this article is to clarify the rules that would enable international courts and tribunals to identify the extent to which individual criminal liability attaches to the financing of core crimes, as well as the legal basis for such liability. By clarifying the criminal accountability of individuals who finance entities that perpetrate core crimes, this article also seeks to clarify the mental elements of the mode of liability of aiding and abetting.


2000 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. 273-288
Author(s):  
Herman von Hebel ◽  
Maria Kelt

On 30 June 2000, the Preparatory Commission for the International Criminal Court (ICC) adopted by consensus the draft Elements of Crimes for the crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes, as defined in Articles 6, 7 and 8 of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (the Statute). Herewith, the Preparatory Commission fulfilled its mandate to elaborate such elements in accordance with the time-limit set out in resolution F of the Final Act, adopted by the Rome Conference on 17 July 1988.


2013 ◽  
Vol 52 (2) ◽  
pp. 417-439 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruth Frolich

On May 30, 2012, the Appeals Chamber (Chamber) of the International Criminal Court (ICC) voted unanimously to dismiss the appeal of the Prosecution against the decision of the Pre-Trial Chamber not to confirm the charges against the alleged Congolese warlord Callixte Mbarushimana. The Prosecution had alleged Mbarushimana was criminally responsible under Article 25(3)(d) of the Rome Statute (Statute) for crimes against humanity and war crimes committed by members of the Forces Démocratiques de Libération du Rwanda (FDLR) in the Kivu provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The Prosecution had appealed the Pre-Trial Chamber’s decision on three separate issues, all of which were rejected.


2019 ◽  
Vol 66 (2) ◽  
pp. 287-311
Author(s):  
Eki Yemisi Omorogbe

Abstract This article considers the African Union’s (AU) proposal for a regional court for international crimes under the Malabo Protocol 2014 (Protocol). It places that within the AU’s rejection of the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) arrest warrants for African Heads of States that are not party to the Rome Statute and a more general protection of incumbents. It argues that the enthusiasm for establishing a regional criminal court, which lacks jurisdiction to prosecute incumbents, has not been sustained and African states remain committed to the ICC. It shows that nevertheless the Protocol’s provisions on genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes, although imperfect, better address the specific character of armed conflicts in Africa than current international law, including the Rome Statute of the ICC. It concludes that the regional court for international crimes is unlikely to be established unless the ICC takes further action against incumbent leaders but that the Protocol’s provisions could be used in the development of a more Africa-centric international law.


2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-12
Author(s):  
Dewi Bunga ◽  
Dewi Bunga

The globalization of crime incised a social reality where crimes can be committed across national borders and have an impact not only on the people of a country, but on the international community. Theoretically, there are several terms that are known to describe acts which are called crimes under international law, namely international crimes, transnational crimes, and national crimes with international dimensions. International crimes are crimes that threaten both directly and indirectly to international peace and security, affect many countries and have universal jurisdiction. The qualification of international crimes refers to crimes regulated in the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (Rome Statute circulated as document A / CONF.183 / 9 of 17 July 1998), namely crimes of genocide; crimes against humanity; war crimes; and crime of aggression. Transnational crimes are transnational crimes regulated in international conventions.


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