Criminal Responsibility for Violations of Human Rights

2017 ◽  
pp. 281-302
Author(s):  
William A. Schabas
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Criminal Responsibility

scholarly journals Odpowiedzialność osób zarządzających w transnarodowych korporacjach w prawie karnym – aspekty międzynarodowe i transnarodowe

2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (4) ◽  
pp. 75-96
Author(s):  
Kamil Boczek
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Criminal Responsibility ◽  
Transnational Corporations ◽  
Crimes Against Humanity ◽  
Criminal Proceedings ◽  
Corporate Managers ◽  
Business Opportunity ◽  
The World ◽  
International Laws ◽  
Forced Labour

Owing to increasing globalisation, transnational corporations play an important role in international trade. Those wealthy and very complex entities have a major impact on reality and often engage in activities which involve illegal practices such as the environmental pollution, forced labour and other serious infringement of employees’ right or even crimes against humanity. Carrying on business which is primarily profit-oriented may result in violations of fundamental human rights, if this is required for a corporation to financially exploit a business opportunity. It is difficult in practice to hold these entities and their corporate directors to account. Regulations regarding criminal responsibility of managers of transnational corporations can be found in national and international laws. However, criminal proceedings do not give satisfactory results. The main problem lies in powers, flexibility and close links of those corporations with local authorities. The paper points to different solutions applied throughout the world, and describes the best-known criminal proceedings against corporate managers.

International Criminal Justice History Writing as Anachronism

2019 ◽  
pp. 72-89
Author(s):  
Frédéric Mégret
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Criminal Justice ◽  
International Law ◽  
Criminal Law ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
Criminal Responsibility ◽  
International Criminal Justice ◽  
History Writing ◽  
Long Time ◽  
Individual Accountability

This chapter focuses on the extent to which the contemporary project of international criminal justice cannot easily lay claim to what it imagines to be its past, because that past, despite superficial similarities, often exhibited fundamentally different concerns. It highlights three areas in which international criminal justice today is arguably dramatically different from how it was understood up to the 1990s. First, international criminal justice was for a long time much less obsessed with the criminalization of international law prohibitions specifically, and much more interested in the transnational dimensions of the criminal law. Second, it was much less committed to a strict model of individual accountability under international law and much more willing to see the state as the central pivot of international criminal responsibility. Third, it was intimately linked to peace projects whereas it has become intimately associated to the fight against atrocities and mass human rights violations.

The ‘Archives of Terror’

2020 ◽  
pp. 17-23
Author(s):  
Olivier Bercault
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Criminal Responsibility ◽  
Criminal Case ◽  
Truth Commission ◽  
Total Control ◽  
Made In

This chapter discusses the unlikely discovery of the abandoned archives documenting crimes of Hissène Habré and his regime by members of a Human Rights Watch (HRW) team. These were the lost archives of Habré's former political police, the Documentation and Security Directorate (DDS). It was a trove of evidence that would prove critical in Habré's eventual prosecution. The victims of Hissène Habré's regime started a criminal case against their former dictator in 1999–2000 based on hundreds of detailed testimonies, data gathered by the victims' organization and the conclusions of the 1992 Chadian Truth Commission. The recovery of the DDS archives proved to be decisive for the case. These archives corroborated the statements made in court and shed new light on the scale, pattern, and systematic organization of Habré's political police and ‘machine of repression’. The archives also helped to establish Hissène Habré's personal criminal responsibility. The DDS was directly subordinated to Habré, who was in total control over its structure and agents.

Just How Ill-treated Were You? An Investigation of Cross-fertilisation in the Interpretative Approaches to Torture at the European Court of Human Rights and in International Criminal Law

2015 ◽  
Vol 84 (3) ◽  
pp. 482-514 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michelle Farrell
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Criminal Law ◽  
Ad Hoc ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
Criminal Responsibility ◽  
Legal Reasoning ◽  
International Criminal Law ◽  
International Human Rights Law ◽  
Human Rights Law ◽  
Definition Of

The prohibition on torture in international human rights law seems a fairly straightforward candidate for productive use in international criminal law. The Convention against Torture contains an elaborate definition of torture and human rights institutions have developed substantial jurisprudence on the prohibition and definition of torture. Indeed, the ad hoc Tribunals and the drafters of the Rome Statute have employed the human rights law approach to torture to varying degrees. But the conception of torture reached by human rights bodies is problematic and unsuitable for usage where individual criminal responsibility is sought. It is unsuitable because the human rights law understanding of torture is subjective and victim-derived. Human rights bodies do not scrutinize intent, purpose and perpetration, central aspects of international criminal legal reasoning. The communication on torture between these bodies of law to date shows that cross-fertilisation, without detailed reasoning, is inappropriate - because rights are different to crimes.

The Law and Economics of Humanitarian Law Violations in Internal Conflict

1999 ◽  
Vol 93 (2) ◽  
pp. 394-409 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeffrey L. Dunoff ◽  
Joel P. Trachtman
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
International Law ◽  
Law And Economics ◽  
Criminal Responsibility ◽  
Internal Conflict ◽  
Humanitarian Law ◽  
Legal Doctrine ◽  
Methodological Approaches ◽  
Domestic Law ◽  
Individual Criminal Responsibility

The problem of criminal responsibility for human rights atrocities committed in internal conflict provides an appropriate vehicle for examining various theoretical and methodological approaches to international law. The issues raised include the following: Does international law provide for individual criminal responsibility for such acts? How best can these atrocities be prevented? Should international law address these matters or are they better left to domestic law? Why does international legal doctrine distinguish between human rights violations committed in international conflict and the identical acts committed in internal conflict?

scholarly journals The Mexican General Law on the Forced Disappearance of Persons, Disappearances Committed by Individuals and the National Missing Persons System: How Many Steps Forward?

2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 125
Author(s):  
Salvador Leyva Morelos Zaragoza
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Criminal Responsibility ◽  
Next Of Kin ◽  
International Human Rights ◽  
Missing Persons ◽  
General Law ◽  
Human Rights Treaties ◽  
Chain Of Command ◽  
International Human ◽  
Human Rights Standards

In 2017, more than 40 years after some of the first documented cases of forced disappearance in Mexico, the General Law on the Forced Disappearance of Persons, Disappearances Committed by Individuals and the National Missing Persons System was published. The approval and enactment of the General Law constitutes a step toward ensuring the free and full enjoyment of human rights of victims of forced disappearance and their next of kin, in accordance with the international human rights standards concerning forced disappearances established by international human rights treaties, the Inter- American Court of Human Rights case law, the recommendations issued by the United Nations Committee and Working Group on Forced or Involuntary Disappearances, and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. The General Law introduces and modifies institutions, procedures and guidelines that contribute to ensuring the rights to justice, truth and reparation. However, the General Law does not fully comply with international human rights standards regarding military jurisdiction and criminal responsibility within the chain of command. Also, the proper and effective implementation of the General Law requires strong political will and sufficient material and human resources from the three levels of government. Otherwise, the General Law will simply be regarded as a piece of paper.

Unmasking the Challenges

2020 ◽  
pp. 359-392
Author(s):  
Gloria Gaggioli ◽  
Pavle Kilibarda
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
International Law ◽  
Criminal Responsibility ◽  
International Criminal Law ◽  
International Human Rights Law ◽  
Humanitarian Law ◽  
Criminal Courts ◽  
Law Enforcement Officials ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Mitigating Circumstances

International human rights law and international humanitarian law absolutely prohibit all forms of torture and cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment (CIDT) at all times and against anyone, even the worst of criminals. International criminal law moreover provides for the individual criminal responsibility of perpetrators. Nevertheless, there remains a number of legal and practical challenges to overcome in order to ensure the effectiveness of this prohibition. The most visible challenge pertains to the implementation of the prohibition not only in domestic law but also in the concrete practice of law enforcement officials and other State agents. Other—less visible and insufficiently discussed—challenges concern laws and practices that may indirectly impact the effectiveness of the prohibition of torture and CIDT and whose acceptability under public international law is not crystal clear. For instance, is the prohibition of using evidence obtained through torture/CIDT (so-called exclusionary rule) absolute and applicable in all cases? How far does the international law obligation to prosecute and punish torture/CIDT perpetrators go? To what extent may individual perpetrators of torture/CIDT invoke mitigating circumstances or even justifications to avoid or diminish punishment for the commission of such acts in extreme circumstances? Does the passing of lenient sentences upon individual perpetrators of ill-treatment entail the responsibility of the State as a failure to punish? The present chapter will discuss these issues in light of contemporary international practice of various human rights bodies (treaty bodies and UN special procedures) and international/mixed criminal courts and tribunals.

THEORETICAL AND PRACTICAL ASPECTS OF APPLYING THE PRINCIPLE OF NON BIS IN IDEM IN CRIMINAL PROCEEDINGS RIGHT UKRAINE

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Petro Olishchuk ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Law Enforcement ◽  
Criminal Law ◽  
Criminal Responsibility ◽  
Criminal Code ◽  
Legal Responsibility ◽  
Criminal Prosecution ◽  
Criminal Proceedings ◽  
Judicial Decisions ◽  
European Court

The article analyzes the principle of non bis in idem in the context of the criminal legislation of Ukraine, as well as the identification of cases of violations of this principle by law enforcement bodies during the qualification of criminal offences and during the issue of judicial decisions. It is noted that criminal law is a branch of law that is connected with the establishment of a ban on committing a certain act under the threat of the application by the state of measures of coercion of a criminal nature. The establishment of such a ban and the determination of measures of criminal-legal coercion, as a consequence, for its violation, is potentially related to the restriction of human rights. Obviously, the restriction of these rights cannot be arbitrary and chaotic, but must be subject to certain rules, ideas, which reflect the general development of society. These include the principles of criminal law, in particular the principle of criminal law, enshrined in art. Article 61 of the Constitution of Ukraine states: “No one can be brought to legal responsibility twice for the same type of offence”. According to Article 2 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, “no one may be brought to criminal responsibility for the same criminal offence more than once”. The article highlights the characteristic features of the investigated principle. It is stated that its role is extremely important for the internal construction of the field of law, as well as the correct normalisation and law enforcement. There are cases of violations of this principle by law enforcement bodies during the qualification of criminal offences and during the issue of judicial decisions, on examples of the practice of the European Court of Human Rights and Ukrainian judicial proceedings. The European Court of Human Rights’s case-law on the application of Article 4 of the Convention is inconsistent and, in some cases, even contradictory. The principle of non bis in idem in the resolution of the question of the inadmissibility of double incrimination ensures the observance of the rights of the person during the implementation of criminal prosecution, as well as ensures the completeness of criminal legal qualification, the individualization of criminal responsibility and punishment.

The ICJ Armed Activity Case – Reflections on States' Obligation to Investigate and Prosecute Individuals for Serious Human Rights Violations and Grave Breaches of the Geneva Conventions

2009 ◽  
Vol 78 (4) ◽  
pp. 581-598 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thordis Ingadottir
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Criminal Responsibility ◽  
National Level ◽  
Human Rights Violations ◽  
International Court Of Justice ◽  
Geneva Conventions ◽  
Court Of Justice ◽  
International Court ◽  
Human Rights Treaties ◽  
Individual Criminal Responsibility

AbstractIn the Armed Activity Case, the International Court of Justice, found Uganda in breach of various international obligations. In establishing the state responsibility of Uganda, the Court concluded that in the Democratic Republic of Congo the country's troops committed, among other offences, grave breaches of international humanitarian law, as well as serious human rights violations, including torture. According to the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and human rights treaties, these acts should also entail individual criminal responsibility. Furthermore, states have undertaken an obligation to investigate and prosecute individuals for these heinous acts. However,enforcement of that obligation has always been problematic; states have been very reluctant to prosecute their own forces. And without an effective enforcement mechanism at the international level, states have largely gottenaway with this bad practice. In light of the importance of having a state's responsibility support the enforcement of individual criminal responsibility at the national level, the article briefly reflects on the case's impact on individual criminal responsibility. It addresses the issue in two ways. Firstly, it examines a state's obligation to prosecute individuals as a secondary obligation, i.e., inherent in a state's obligation to make reparations for an international wrongful act. Secondly, it explores a state's obligation to prosecute individuals as a primary obligation, undertaken in the Geneva Conventions and human rights treaties. The article concludes thatdespite the clear obligation of a state to enforce individual criminal responsibility for the acts at hand in the Armed Activity Case, and the rear occurrence of having a case of this nature reaching the jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice, where the opportunity to address it and enforce it was largely missed. The nature and submissions in other recent cases at the International Court of Justice indicate that in the near future the Court will have a larger role in enforcing states' obligation to investigate and prosecute serious crimes at the national level.

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