scholarly journals Reforming the International Criminal Court (ICC): Progress, Perils and Pitfalls Post the ICC Review Process

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 7-42
Author(s):  
Jeremy Julian Sarkin
Keyword(s):  
International Criminal Court ◽  
Review Process ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
Criminal Court ◽  
Core Theme ◽  
Role Players ◽  
To Come ◽  
State Cooperation

Summary The International Criminal Court is a very controversial institution. It is extensively criticised by both its critics and its supporters. This article examines what steps have been taken to reform the Court. It considers issues such as the need for better communications and messaging by the Court. The paper takes up how and why the Court needs to engage better and in more far-reaching ways with a host of role players that affect the terrain in which the Court operates. It is argued that more reform is needed in how the Court is lead, how it operates, and who the judges and staff are. It is argued that greater diversity is needed at the Court. Also taken up are how the reach of the Court can be increased beyond only prosecutions, how the Court can assist states to prosecute more cases themselves, and how the Court can become more victim centred. A core theme is how state cooperation can be enhanced. A range of suggestions are made so as to enhance the role of the Court in the years to come.

China, the Crime of Aggression, and the International Criminal Court

2014 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 94-122 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dan ZHU
Keyword(s):  
International Criminal Court ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
Criminal Court ◽  
Policy Preference ◽  
State Party ◽  
Legal Perspective ◽  
To Come ◽  
Definition Of

At the Kampala Review Conference in 2010, the adoption of the amendments to the Rome Statute laid the groundwork for the eventual prosecution of the crime of aggression. China, a non-State Party to the International Criminal Court, has articulated its concerns regarding the Court's jurisdiction over the crime of aggression in legal terms. This paper examines the Chinese concerns regarding the role of the Security Council in the determination of an act of aggression and the definition of aggression primarily from a legal perspective. It argues that China has hovered back and forth between two conflicting legal positions on these issues during different periods in history according to its policy preference. This paper also considers the concerns of China from a policy perspective before concluding that the crime of aggression should not be regarded as an insurmountable barrier preventing China's accession to the ICC in years to come.

Law and contestation in international negotiations

2020 ◽  
Vol 46 (5) ◽  
pp. 672-690
Author(s):  
Kyle Rapp
Keyword(s):  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
International Relations ◽  
International Law ◽  
International Criminal Court ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
Criminal Court ◽  
International Negotiations ◽  
The Us ◽  
Legal Grounds

AbstractWhat is the role of rhetoric and argumentation in international relations? Some argue that it is little more than ‘cheap talk’, while others say that it may play a role in persuasion or coordination. However, why states deploy certain arguments, and why these arguments succeed or fail, is less well understood. I argue that, in international negotiations, certain types of legal frames are particularly useful for creating winning arguments. When a state bases its arguments on constitutive legal claims, opponents are more likely to become trapped by the law: unable to develop sustainable rebuttals or advance their preferred policy. To evaluate this theory, I apply qualitative discourse analysis to the US arguments on the crime of aggression at the Kampala Review Conference of the International Criminal Court – where the US advanced numerous arguments intended to reshape the crime to align with US interests. The analysis supports the theoretical propositions – arguments framed on codified legal grounds had greater success, while arguments framed on more political grounds were less sustainable, failing to achieve the desired outcomes. These findings further develop our understanding of the use of international law in rhetoric, argumentation, and negotiation.

The Role of UN Documentation in Shaping Narratives at the International Criminal Court and the Implications for the Rights of the Accused

2022 ◽  
pp. 1-26
Author(s):  
Anne Herzberg
Keyword(s):  
United Nations ◽  
International Criminal Court ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
International Community ◽  
Criminal Court ◽  
Close Cooperation ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
Primary Basis

Abstract The International Criminal Court (icc) is an independent treaty-based international organisation acting in close cooperation with the United Nations (UN). To that end, organs of the Court have extensively relied on UN documentation in proceedings. These materials have been used to support grounds for the exercise of jurisdiction, demonstrate legal elements of crimes, and prove matters of fact. In recent practice, including in the situations of Palestine, Bangladesh/Myanmar, and Mali, UN materials have been used to establish legal and factual matters on the primary basis that they represent the ‘views of the international community’. This paper examines the ways in which Court organs rely on UN documentation in icc proceedings. It assesses the interplay of such information with rights of the accused. The paper concludes that in order to safeguard its credibility and the fairness of the proceedings, the Court should adopt specific guidelines relating to the evaluation of and admissibility of UN materials.

Translating Rights

Reified Life ◽  
2018 ◽  
pp. 148-174
Author(s):  
J. Paul Narkunas
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
International Criminal Court ◽  
Power Relations ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
Criminal Court ◽  
Natural Rights ◽  
Political Aesthetics ◽  
The Creation

This chapter describes how English and French as the de jure languages of human rights at the International Criminal Court. As a result, populations who do not adhere to Western Enlightenment notions of rights can be declared terrorists or “enemies of humankind.” By tracing the workings of translation in the ICC through the Thomas Lubanga trial, the author discusses how translation can deny human status to those brought before the ICC. It also provides, however, the means to challenge the legitimacy of the court as merely another sign of universalizing western justice, solidified by the fact that all people brought before the ICC come from the continent of Africa. By focusing on how language produces reality, the creation of natural rights claims allow for new forms of political protection in the chasm between differing legal orders. Consequently, thinking the role of translation as metaphor and practice for world making and the production of agency is an inchoate form of political aesthetics. Translation may offer, thus, a way to reconceive the human and its attendant rights due to language’s role in world making, subject production, and power relations. This indicates a form of ahuman agency.

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