Critical stasis and disruptive performances: ICJ and the Anwar R trial in Koblenz

Ethnographic Fieldwork ◽

Constitutive Process ◽

Syrian Conflict

This article explores the extraterritorial criminal court case against Anwar R, a high-ranking member of the Syrian regime on trial for crimes against humanity in Koblenz, Germany. Empirically anchored in ethnographic fieldwork conducted in Koblenz and with the Commission for International Justice and Accountability, the article illuminates the trial as a ‘disruptive performance’. The case against Anwar R punctuates two instances of negative stasis and unsettles two accounts of chronicity, namely, those of the Syrian conflict and of the field of international criminal justice. In order to illuminate the trial as a disruptive performance, the article empirically situates the Koblenz case both in relation to the Syrian war that it relates to, to the international criminal justice apparatus that it is a part of and to the underlying compilation of evidence that substantiates it. It thus clarifies both the symbolic potential and the constitutive process that has brought it into being.

“Rounding Up the Usual Suspects”: Exclusion, Selectivity, and Impunity in the Enforcement of International Criminal Justice and the African Union’s Emerging Resistance

African Journal of Legal Studies ◽

10.1163/170873811x567970 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 4 (1) ◽

pp. 51-84 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Ifeonu Eberechi

Keyword(s):

Criminal Justice ◽

International Criminal ◽

Criminal Court ◽

International Justice ◽

African Union ◽

The West ◽

Regime Complex

AbstractDespite the overwhelming ratification of the statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) by African states, recent attempts to prosecute the perpetrators of egregious crimes in the region have come under a sustained opposition from its regional body, the African Union (AU). In fact, the blunt accusation is that international criminal justice has become an instrument of colonization. Within the context of the AU’s claim, this article engages the question of selective enforcement of international criminal accountability, ironically beginning with the Nuremberg trial. Without necessarily justifying the senseless perpetration of heinous crimes in Africa, this article argues that an international justice regime complex that is perceived to be skewed in favour of the West engenders a crisis of legitimacy and ultimately robs it of the much needed cooperation from the region.

United States Visa Ban on Officials of the ICC: International Criminal Justice on Trial

The Journal of Social Sciences Research ◽

10.32861/jssr.64.468.475 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 468-475

Author(s):

James E. Archibong

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

Criminal Justice ◽

International Criminal ◽

The United States ◽

Criminal Court ◽

Crimes Against Humanity ◽

Un Peacekeeping ◽

The Us ◽

Court Proceedings

The isolation of the United States (US) from the International Criminal Court (ICC) treaty has dealt a heavy blow on the potency of the Court. By making efforts to frustrate the ICC’s activities and withholding support for United Nations (UN) peacekeeping unless United States (US) citizens are exempted from international enforcement arising out of such operations; and mandating other countries to sign treaties such as the "bilateral immunity agreements" that exempts the US citizens from Court proceedings as a criteria for rendering assistance or giving aids, the US makes it more difficult to enforce the laws prohibiting genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity. The recent decision by the US to deny officials of the ICC access to its territory, even to the UN headquarters places a further strain on the Court’s efforts to achieve international justice. This paper highlights the implications of the US antagonism to the ICC on international criminal justice.

Principles of International Criminal Law

10.1093/law/9780198826859.001.0001 ◽

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 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.

Trial and (Potential) Error: Conflicting Visions on Reparations Within the ICC System

International Criminal Justice Review ◽

10.1177/1057567718807542 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 29 (3) ◽

pp. 221-248 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Alina Balta ◽

Manon Bax ◽

Rianne Letschert

Keyword(s):

Criminal Justice ◽

Rome Statute ◽

International Criminal ◽

Criminal Court ◽

Court Decisions ◽

Criminal Trials ◽

Conflict Situations ◽

International Criminal Trials

Twenty years ago, the International Criminal Court (hereinafter ICC or the Court) was established holding the aim of placing victims at the heart of international criminal justice proceedings and delivering justice to them through, among others, reparations. Article 75 of the Rome Statute lays out the reparations regime, and, in practice, court-ordered reparations are a means of delivering such justice. Focusing on Court decisions on reparations, our analysis takes stock of all developments before the ICC and attempts to highlight the mismatch between characteristics inherent to the objectives of international criminal trials such as providing accountability and punishment of the accused and delivering justice for victims of mass crimes—the so-called procedural challenges. We also submit that the Court is facing conceptual challenges, related to an apparent misunderstanding of the various concepts at stake: reparations as such and the various modalities and channels of enforcing them. We conclude that although the ICC’s reparation regime may not be the best reparative response to provide justice to victims in conflict situations affected by mass victimization, we suggest that improving the ICC’s approach includes, at a minimum, tackling these challenges.

Africa Against Global Justice? Stakes for Building a Political Sociology on the Future of International Criminal Justice

The President on Trial ◽

10.1093/oso/9780198858621.003.0029 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 217-230

Author(s):

Sara Dezalay

Keyword(s):

Criminal Justice ◽

Global Justice ◽

International Criminal ◽

Weak Field ◽

Criminal Court ◽

African Continent ◽

New Haven ◽

Over Time

This chapter challenges current debates in global justice and the fight against impunity. Shifting the lens from the symbolism of global justice towards the structural conditions that have shaped international criminal justice as a field over time can help reposition the Habré success story not simply as an anomaly in a context of wider backlash against the International Criminal Court (ICC), but rather as a reflection of the structure of global justice as a weak field. The chapter then discusses the need to study systematically the evolution of legal markets on the African continent. In this, the project to institute a criminal chamber within the African Court of Justice and Human Rights has perhaps been too promptly dismissed as overly ambitious due to the lack of resources and state support within the African Union (AU). Interestingly, this project includes not only the crimes under the purview of the ICC, but also various other trans-border crimes such as trafficking, corruption, and the illicit exploitation of resources. The prominence taken in recent years by Africa as a new ‘mining frontier’—and with it, as a new haven for US and UK multinational corporate firms—underscores the timeliness of opening research paths on these ongoing transformations across the continent.

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

The Oxford Handbook of International Criminal Law ◽

10.1093/law/9780198825203.003.0010 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Gur-Arye Miriam ◽

Harel Alon

Keyword(s):

Criminal Justice ◽

Criminal Law ◽

International Institutions ◽

International Criminal ◽

International Justice ◽

International Criminal Law ◽

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.

Rome’s Legacy: Negotiating the Reparations Mandate of the International Criminal Court

International Criminal Law Review ◽

10.1163/15718123-01702002 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 17 (2) ◽

pp. 351-377 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Christoph Sperfeldt

Keyword(s):

Criminal Justice ◽

Rome Statute ◽

International Criminal ◽

Legal Framework ◽

Criminal Court ◽

Fresh Perspective ◽

Rules Of Procedure ◽

Victim Reparations

This article examines the negotiations that led to the incorporation of reparations provisions into the legal framework of the International Criminal Court (icc). Building upon a review of the travaux préparatoires and interviews, it traces the actors and main debates during the lead-up to the Rome Conference and the drafting of the Rules of Procedure and Evidence, explaining how and why reparations were included into the Rome Statute. In doing so, the article shows how the reparations mandate was produced at the intersection of a set of different agendas and actors. From this account, it identifies a number of key themes that were at the centre of the negotiations and often galvanised contestations among delegations or with ngos. The article concludes with a fresh perspective on the origin of victim reparations in the Rome Statute and its relevance for understanding many of today’s debates around reparations in international criminal justice.

International Criminal Justice from the Bottom Up

Proceedings of the ASIL Annual Meeting ◽

10.1017/amp.2019.30 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 112 ◽

pp. 293-300

Author(s):

Stephen Rapp

Keyword(s):

Criminal Justice ◽

International Criminal ◽

Crimes Against Humanity ◽

Bottom Up

Thank you, Lucinda, for that kind introduction. Congratulations to Sean Murphy on your election as the new ASIL president and on the success of the initiative for a crimes against humanity convention. And thanks so much to Mark Agrast for this great program.

Strengthening States’ and the International Community’s Responsibility to Protect Civilians: Revisiting the Prosecution of War Crimes Committed in Africa by the International Criminal Court (ICC)

African Journal of Legal Studies ◽

10.1163/17087384-12340029 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 11 (1) ◽

pp. 92-115

Author(s):

Seun Bamidele

Keyword(s):

Criminal Justice ◽

International Criminal ◽

War Crimes ◽

Criminal Court ◽

Responsibility To Protect ◽

War Criminals ◽

Intrastate War ◽

New Thinking

AbstractThe silhouette of International Criminal Justice (ICJ) is fast changing across the globe. The change and transformation are connected to the criminalization of war, which has complicated the attraction of and engagement in the war for war-mongers. At least, the last few years had seen remarkable prosecution of war criminals in Africa. This is related to a relatively new thinking that informed the establishment of International Criminal Court (ICC) and global re-enforcement of war crime-related charges. Since the genocide in Rwanda, the establishment of the ICC has led to the prosecution of warlords. Also, the ICC has issued thirteen public warrants of arrest on war charges to actors and perpetrators in more than four African states. The case of President of Sudan, whose warrant of arrest had been issued regarding the crisis in Darfur, demonstrated that African leaders and war-mongers would be held responsible for their actions and atrocities they have committed. The lesson from the ICC is clear, war-mongers would be made to pay for their criminality. This article intends to examine the actions of the ICC on intra-state civil war crimes in Africa and assess whether ICC can act as deterrence on for intrastate war mongers in Africa.

The Crimes Against Humanity Convention, (Overlooked) African Lessons, and the Delicate Dance of Immunity

Journal of International Criminal Justice ◽

10.1093/jicj/mqz010 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 17 (1) ◽

pp. 1-12

Author(s):

Max du Plessis

Keyword(s):

Criminal Justice ◽

South African ◽

Rome Statute ◽

International Criminal ◽

Crimes Against Humanity ◽

Special Issue ◽

Draft Convention ◽

National Systems ◽

Realist Perspective

Abstract In a foreword to a special issue of this Journal on the proposed Crimes Against Humanity Convention (CAHC), important questions were raised, including whether such a convention is truly needed, whether such a convention is politically feasible and whether any provisions in the draft articles should be modified. In this piece, the author considers the questions raised, and poses answers from an African and realist perspective, having litigated some of the international criminal justice cases before South African courts. The author contends that the drafters of the Convention would do well to take meaningful account of the domestication of international criminal justice, and the lessons to be learned from national systems that have found themselves at the forefront of the very debates that have animated the drafters of the CAHC, and the Rome Statute before it. If those lessons are to be taken seriously — including the lessons generated by African states and their courts — then the draft Convention might well be improved and some of its most animating provisions sharpened.