Part A: Articles: International Criminal Courts: A Political View

1997 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-19 ◽  
Author(s):  
David P. Forsythe
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
Ad Hoc ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
Criminal Court ◽  
Third Party ◽  
Individual Responsibility ◽  
Criminal Courts ◽  
Political Leaders ◽  
Liberal Democracies ◽  
Final Evolution

This article addresses international criminal courts in the 1990s, against the background of a growth in third-party adjudication in international relations as a whole. Given lack of knowledge about the final evolution of three courts reviewed, the author is cautious in assessing whether the condition of international relations allows for successful criminal courts that achieve more good than bad. The UN ad hoc court for former Yugoslavia faced difficult obstacles during 1993–1996. The author believes Western parties were correct in not pressing for trials of certain political leaders, although the context could change. He is sceptical that the UN ad hoc court for Rwanda can break the cycle of ethnic violence in the Great Lakes region of Africa. He does not believe major military powers will actively support a UN standing criminal court, even should the General Assembly vote it into being. In conclusion, the author believes that States will continue to make inconsistent choices about what human rights policies, including support for criminal courts, should be pursued in different contexts. International relations, or even the community of liberal democracies, is not yet characterised by a situation in which systematic concern for individual responsibility under the rule of law trumps other policy considerations.

International legal immunities and privileges of the Рrosecutor amicus curiae

2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 55-63
Author(s):  
EKATERINA A. KOPYLOVA ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Ad Hoc ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
Legal Regulation ◽  
Criminal Court ◽  
International Treaties ◽  
Amicus Curiae ◽  
Criminal Courts ◽  
Criminal Proceedings ◽  
International Criminal Tribunals ◽  
Foreign Science

The article considers the international legal regime of immunities and privileges of amicus curiae prosecutors of international criminal courts which are intended to ensure independent and unhindered performance of their functions in prosecuting crimes against the administration of justice. Due to the lack of doctrinal research in this field, whether in the domestic or foreign science of international law, the study is characterized by scientific novelty. Its empirical basis is constituted of the provisions of international treaties governing the immunities and privileges of staff of the ad hoc international criminal tribunals and the International Criminal Court. It is noted that today the state of international legal regulation of immunities and privileges of amicus curiae prosecutors is not quite satisfactory as it contains significant gaps. Two possible approaches to determining the scope of the immunities and privileges of amicus curiae prosecutors are identified: the first based on their status and the second – on the functions they perform. Their critical analysis leads to the conclusion that the functional approach is more in line with the principle of equality of arms in international criminal proceedings. As a result of its application, the scope of the immunities and privileges of amicus curiae prosecutors coincides with the scope of the immunities and privileges granted to staff of the Offices of Prosecutors at the international criminal tribunals.

scholarly journals Pluralism in International Criminal Procedure

2019 ◽  
pp. 992-1017
Author(s):  
Jenia Iontcheva Turner
Keyword(s):  
Ad Hoc ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
Criminal Procedure ◽  
Criminal Court ◽  
Equal Treatment ◽  
Crimes Against Humanity ◽  
Criminal Courts ◽  
Criminal Proceedings ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
Proper Weight

This chapter examines the pluralistic nature of international criminal procedure. International criminal procedure refers to the procedures used at the international criminal courts and tribunals that were established to address war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide, and other serious offenses. The chapter begins with an overview of the evolution of modern international criminal procedure, first at the ad hoc tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda and then at hybrid courts and the International Criminal Court. It then discusses the goals pursued by international criminal procedure, such as: providing a fair trial, establishing the truth, enforcing criminal laws effectively, respecting human rights, and promoting the rule of law. Different views about the proper weight to be placed on each of these goals leads to diverse procedures across and within international criminal courts. The chapter considers two examples of pluralism in international criminal procedure: judicial management of criminal proceedings and involvement of victims in the proceedings. Finally, the chapter offers a normative assessment of pluralism in international criminal procedure. While diversity of procedures can help international criminal courts arrive at solutions that address the unique political and practical challenges of international criminal justice, divergent procedures within the same court raise concerns about predictability and equal treatment.

Victims as a Third Party

2020 ◽  
pp. 309-322
Author(s):  
Liesbeth Zegveld
Keyword(s):  
International Criminal Court ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
Criminal Court ◽  
Humanitarian Assistance ◽  
Third Party ◽  
Criminal Courts ◽  
Criminal Trials ◽  
Legal Principle ◽  
The Individual ◽  
International Criminal Trials

This chapter explores and challenges the promise of victim participation before the International Criminal Court (ICC). Victims are a key reason for international criminal trials. Indeed, trials are said to be held because of the great numbers of victims the crimes have created. Perpetrators are prosecuted so victims can see justice being done. Yet when it comes to victims who want to claim their own rights before international criminal courts, the picture is less clear. International courts have struggled with how to deal with victims. Responses to victims’ participation in criminal trials have ranged from outright opposition, to reluctant acceptance, to apparent embrace. Even when there seems to be embrace, though, under the surface victims struggle to have their suffering and damage recognized. Victims are merely third-parties in the criminal trial. The charges are not their charges; they may not fit their damage. What is more, courts deal with victims collectively, denying them the individual attention their claims may demand. To make things worse, rather than applying the legal principle of accountability to victims' claims for damage, courts have a tendency to address victims' damage as a humanitarian problem that can be solved through humanitarian assistance.

The International Criminal Court’s Ad Hoc Jurisdiction Revisited

2005 ◽  
Vol 99 (2) ◽  
pp. 421-431 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carsten Stahn ◽  
Mohamed M. El Zeidy ◽  
Héctor Olásolo
Keyword(s):  
International Criminal Court ◽  
Ivory Coast ◽  
Rome Statute ◽  
Ad Hoc ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
Criminal Court ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Third Party ◽  
International Theory

Article 12(3) of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC), which allows a state that is not a party to the Statute to “accept the exercise of jurisdiction by the Court” by way of a declaration lodged with the registrar, is one of the Statute's most inconspicuous provisions. It has attracted only brief notice either in the general literature on the jurisdiction of the ICC or in the particular context of the debate over U.S. objections to the Court's third-party jurisdiction. Few writers have looked closely at the provision's construction and procedural regime, and the first declaration made by a state under this provision—by the Ivory Coast in February 2005—has gone almost unnoticed in international theory and practice.

International Criminal Court and Ad Hoc Tribunals

2018 ◽  
pp. 566-582
Author(s):  
Richard Goldstone
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
International Criminal Court ◽  
Ad Hoc ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
Criminal Court ◽  
East Timor ◽  
Criminal Courts ◽  
World War ◽  
International Criminal Tribunals ◽  
War Criminals

This chapter traces the growth of international criminal courts since World War II. The trials of Nazi war criminals at Nuremberg in 1944 led, after a lapse of almost half a century, to decisions by the UN Security Council to establish two ad hoc international criminal tribunals for the former Yugoslavia (1993) and for Rwanda (1994). UN-mandated courts followed in East Timor, Kosovo, and Bosnia and Herzegovina; and by state-requested courts, so-called ‘mixed’ or ‘hybrid’ criminal tribunals, in partnership with the UN, in Sierra Leone, Cambodia, and Lebanon. In terms of the Rome Statute of 1998, the International Criminal Court became effective in July 2002 and will likely become the only international criminal court.

scholarly journals The International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia in contemporary diplomacy

2002 ◽  
Vol 54 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 48-72 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aleksandar Fatic
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
Political System ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
International Criminal Tribunal ◽  
Criminal Court ◽  
Former Yugoslavia ◽  
Criminal Courts ◽  
Chief Prosecutor ◽  
Further Development ◽  
Political Scene

The issue of cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia is characterized by two seemingly very different aspects namely the legal, and the diplomatic (or 'political'). It is often argued that the diplomatic aspect is justifiably subject to deviation from the traditional legal criteria in international relations, such as are the principles of legality, reciprocity, etc. The author argues here that any 'pragmatism' that infringes the principles of legality in international relations, and in the internal political system, short lived, and that in the mid-term it emerges as counter-productive. The author is of the opinion that the Tribunal has resorted to such pragmatist steps, and has consequently been turned into a lobby, whose goal has been to influence the internal political scene of Serbia. By such action, the Tribunal, and primarily its Chief Prosecutor, have stepped out of the domain of legitimate action of a criminal court, and the destructive consequences of such 'relativisation' of the standards of legitimacy are yet to become clear in the further development of international criminal courts.

The Potential Role of International Criminal Tribunals in the Suppression of State Organized Crime

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Henri Decoeur
Keyword(s):  
Organized Crime ◽  
Potential Role ◽  
Ad Hoc ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
Criminal Court ◽  
Criminal Courts ◽  
Advantages And Disadvantages ◽  
International Criminal Tribunals ◽  
Court Of Justice

Chapter 8 outlines the potential merits and challenges of prosecuting individuals suspected of being involved in state organized crime before international criminal courts and tribunals. It identifies potential advantages common to international criminal courts and tribunals, namely the unavailability of jurisdictional immunities as a procedural bar, the greater likelihood of a genuine investigation, the existence of formal rules to deal with concurrent claims of jurisdiction, the capacity to address complex cases of system criminality, and the expressive potential of international criminal courts and tribunals. It then considers the respective advantages and disadvantages of different institutional mechanisms that could be used or adapted for the prosecution of state organized crime, examining in turn the International Criminal Court, ad hoc tribunals, and the future criminal chamber of the African Court of Justice and Human Rights.

State Co-operation and International Criminal Court Bargaining Influence in the Arrest and the Surrender of Suspects

2008 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 457-476 ◽  
Author(s):  
STEVEN D. ROPER ◽  
LILIAN A. BARRIA
Keyword(s):  
International Criminal Court ◽  
Ad Hoc ◽  
Classification Scheme ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
Criminal Court ◽  
The State ◽  
Criminal Courts ◽  
History Of ◽  
International Tribunals

AbstractWhile much has been written about the formation of the International Criminal Court (ICC), less attention has been focused on the enforcement capability of the Court. As demonstrated by the history of the ad hoc international tribunals, one of the most pressing problems for international criminal courts is the arrest and the surrender of suspects, which often requires substantial bargaining between the court and the state in which the suspect resides. We develop a classification of the issues which have the greatest impact on the bargaining influence of the ICC to secure the arrest of indictees, and apply this classification scheme to a study of the four ongoing situations at the ICC in order to explore the bargaining environment in which the ICC operates. While many of the cases have features which should assist the ICC in bargaining with the state, the situation in Sudan represents the greatest challenge for the Court.

scholarly journals A New Influence of Legal Scholars? The Use of Academic Writings at International Criminal Courts and Tribunals

2018 ◽  
Vol 31 (4) ◽  
pp. 963-980 ◽  
Author(s):  
NORA STAPPERT
Keyword(s):  
Ad Hoc ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
Qualitative Interviews ◽  
Criminal Court ◽  
International Criminal Law ◽  
Criminal Courts ◽  
International Courts ◽  
Mixed Methods Approach ◽  
Citation Practices

AbstractWhat role have international legal scholars played in the development of international criminal law? Building on recent studies of the citation practices of international courts, the article provides an empirical assessment of the use and functions of citations to scholarly writings in the judgments of international criminal courts and tribunals. Using a mixed-methods approach, the article combines: a) a quantitative analysis of judgments interpreting the law of war crimes across four international and hybrid courts; with b) qualitative interviews with judges and legal officers at the International Criminal Court (ICC), the ad hoc Tribunals, and the Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL). The article argues that scholarly writings have been strikingly visible in the judgments of international criminal courts and tribunals, and especially at the ICC, which entails significant implications for the functions of academic writings and the role of international legal scholars.

scholarly journals Judicial Witness Assessments at the ICTY, ICTR and ICC

2020 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 185-210
Author(s):  
Gabrielė Chlevickaitė ◽  
Barbora Holá ◽  
Catrien Bijleveld
Keyword(s):  
International Criminal Court ◽  
Ad Hoc ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
State Of The Art ◽  
International Criminal Tribunal ◽  
Criminal Court ◽  
Criminal Courts ◽  
Scientific Validity ◽  
Judicial Practice ◽  
Fact Finding

Abstract Accurate assessment of witness testimonies underpins judicial fact-finding at international criminal courts and tribunals (ICCTs). However, the lack of formal assessment criteria and uncoordinated methods, coupled with advances in the scientific understanding of the psychology of witnessing, calls for a re-examination of the judicial practice. This study critically evaluates the state of the art of witness assessments at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), and the International Criminal Court (ICC), based on all the trial judgments issued in 1996–2019. The analysis results in a consolidation of this ad hoc, constantly evolving jurisprudence, into a framework that has been in development since the 1990s. The authors reflect upon the scientific validity of the criteria used throughout the analysis, based on up-to-date findings from psychology and criminology, and identify the areas that would most benefit from standardized procedures.

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