Digital Commons Network^™

The Intenational Crimial Court (Icc) As A Mechanism For Global Justice And Rule Of Law, Paolo Davide Farah

Book Chapters

Throughout history, institutions have been the chosen platforms for governing and regulating society. However, in the twenty-first century, with unprecedented connectivity and interdependence, working toward multilateral solutions for global challenges, whether in climate change through the UNFCCC or in trade via the World Trade Organization, has become increasingly complex. This rise in complexity within the international landscape has not been met with proportional attention to cooperation, conflict resolution, and harmonizing human values.

It is relevant to highlight the intersection between the International Criminal Court (ICC) and broader questions within international humanitarian law, (IHL) its interconnections and intertwinement with International Criminal …

Relieved Of All Punishment By Human Hands: The Status Of International Criminal Convictions, Dorothy M. Canevari

William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice

No abstract provided.

The Human Dimension Of Peace And Aggression, Chiara Redaelli

International Law Studies

Since the adoption of the Charter of the United Nations, the current international legal framework has drastically changed. In its traditional understanding, aggression is “the supreme international crime” aimed at protecting sovereignty and the territorial integrity of states. On the other hand, the U.N. Charter endorses an understanding of peace in the negative sense, that is, as mere absence of war. As human rights have gained momentum, they have helped reshape the legal landscape, a phenomenon referred to as the humanization of international law. How do peace and aggression fit within the humanized legal framework? This article will investigate the …

Talking Foreign Policy: Responding To Rogue States, Paul Williams, Todd F. Buchwald, James Johnson, Michael P. Scharf, Milena Sterio

Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals

No abstract provided.

The Contribution Of The Special Court For Sierra Leone To The Law On Criminal Responsibility Of Children In International Criminal Law, Ana Paula Podcameni

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The revision of laws and the application of culpability to those most responsible for serious humanitarian law violations has functioned as a necessary condition for achieving peace in most post-war societies. However, there is an embarrassing silence when it comes to addressing the question of whether children are to be subjected to the principle of individual criminal responsibility. As morally controversial as it is, the question remains fundamental. Unfortunately, children have been involved in armed conflicts, as victims primarily, but not exclusively. Children are among those accused of having committed brutal and terrible international crimes in times of armed conflict …

Detention By Armed Groups Under International Law, Andrew Clapham

International Law Studies

Does international law entitle armed groups to detain people? And what obligations are imposed on such non-state actors when they do detain? This article sets out suggested obligations for armed groups related to the right to challenge the basis for any detention and considers some related issues of fair trial and punishment. The last part of this article briefly considers the legal framework governing state responsibility and individual criminal responsibility for those that assist armed groups that detain people in ways that violate international law.

Chemical Weapons And Other Atrocities: Contrasting Responses To The Syrian Crisis, Tim Mccormack

International Law Studies

Why has the use of chemical weapons in Syria engendered such a substantive multilateral response in stark contrast to almost every other egregious international law violation perpetrated against the civilian population? Various theories have been offered but the explanation has little to do with humanitarian concerns for Syrian victims and is more readily explicable by unusual (in the Syrian context) alignment of U.S. and Russian national interests. Bashar al-Assad was convinced to accede to the Chemical Weapons Convention, to surrender his stockpiles of chemical weapons and to co-operate with international investigators deployed under UN Security Council auspices amid a cacophony …

The Combatant’S Stance: Autonomous Weapons On The Battlefield, Jens David Ohlin

International Law Studies

Do Autonomous Weapon Systems (AWS) qualify as moral or rational agents? This paper argues that combatants on the battlefield are required by the demands of behavior interpretation to approach a sophisticated AWS with the “Combatant’s Stance”—the ascription of mental states required to understand the system’s strategic behavior on the battlefield. However, the fact that an AWS must be engaged with the combatant’s stance does not entail that other persons are relieved of criminal or moral responsibility for war crimes committed by autonomous weapons. This article argues that military commanders can and should be held responsible for perpetrating war crimes through …

Corporate Complicity In Human Rights Violations Under International Criminal Law, Danielle Olson

International Human Rights Law Journal

This paper examines the main legal elements of corporate criminal responsibility for involvement in serious human rights violations, focusing specifically on the mens rea, or mental element requirement of a crime. It analyzes in detail what it means for a business to be complicit, the degree of knowledge corporations and their officials must have to be implicated in accomplice liability, and a case study demonstrating the consequences of such liability on corporations.

How Leadership In International Criminal Law Is Shifting From The United States To Europe And Asia: An Analysis Of Spending On And Contributions To International Criminal Courts, 55 St. Louis U. L.J. 953 (2011), Stuart K. Ford

Stuart Ford

No abstract provided.

Fairness And Politics At The Icty: Evidence From The Indictments, 39 N.C. J. Int'l L. & Com. Reg. 45 (2013), Stuart K. Ford

Stuart Ford

No abstract provided.

The International Criminal Court And Proximity To The Scene Of The Crime: Does The Rome Statute Permit All Of The Icc's Trials To Take Place At Local Or Regional Chambers?, 43 J. Marshall L. Rev. 715 (2010), Stuart K. Ford

Stuart Ford

No abstract provided.

A Social Psychology Model Of The Perceived Legitimacy Of International Criminal Courts: Implications For The Success Of Transitional Justice Mechanisms, 45 Vand. J. Transnat'l L. 405 (2012), Stuart K. Ford

Stuart Ford

There is a large body of literature arguing that positive perceived legitimacy is a critical factor in the success of international criminal courts, and that courts can be engineered in such a way that they will be positively perceived by adjusting factors such as their institutional structure and outreach efforts. But in many situations the perceived legitimacy of international criminal courts has almost nothing to do with these factors. This Article takes the latest research in social psychology and applies it to survey data about perceptions of international criminal courts in order to understand how affected populations form attitudes about …

Should Domestic Courts Prosecute Genocide? Examining The Trial Of Efrain Rios Montt, Jillian Blake

Jillian Blake

In a highly publicized 2013 case, Efraín Ríos Montt, the de facto leader of Guatemala from 1982–1983, was ordered to stand trial for genocide in Guatemala for the deaths of at least 1771 Ixil Mayan people during the most violent period of the country’s thirty-six-year-long civil war. The trial was historic; Ríos Montt became the first former head of state to be tried for genocide in his home country. This Article, using the Guatemalan trial as an example, asks: should domestic courts prosecute genocide? The Article argues that domestic prosecution of genocide is not inherently negative or positive, but could …

Litigating For Justice: Defense Work At The International Criminal Tribunal For Rwanda (Ictr), Beth S. Lyons

Beth S. Lyons

Fair trial issues are usually a key part of any defense strategy – at trial or on appeal – but they serve an additional function at the international tribunals. They provide a “lever” for finding the truth. Fair trial guarantees – such as full disclosure of exculpatory material and other principles - make for truth telling; and they mitigate against the writing/re-writing history through judgments. Where there are fair trial violations, the likelihood of an accurate historical account, based on the evidence, is virtually non-existent. Hence, the struggle for fairness is a struggle for the truths.

Belligerent Targeting And The Invalidity Of A Least Harmful Means Rule, Geoffrey S. Corn, Laurie R. Blank, Chris Jenks, Eric Talbot Jensen

International Law Studies

No abstract provided.

The Seizure Of Abu Anas Al-Libi: An International Law Assessment, Gordon Modarai, David O'Connell, Timothy Kelly, James Farrant

International Law Studies

No abstract provided.

International Criminal Justice, The Gotovina Judgment And The Making Of Refugees, Gregor Noll, Rosemary Byrne

Gregor Noll

In this paper, we shall present two interlocking arguments, both drawing on a distinction between formal and substantive models of justice. In a first step, we depart from the accepted presumptions about the formal delivery of international criminal justice and its capacities to deliver peace and security, to consider how alternative views on the legitimacy of international criminal tribunals and retributive justice present some far more unsettling perspectives about the performance and promise of these nascent courts. If these issues are taken seriously, then one should reconsider whether international trials are able to deliver the broader forms of substantive justice …

Panel Iv: Challenges To Proving Cases Of Torture Before The Committee Against Torture, Juan E. Mendez

Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals

No abstract provided.

A Janus Look At International Criminal Justice, Diane Marie Amann

Scholarly Works

Invoking the name of Janus, the Roman god who looked simultaneously at the past and the future, this article examines international criminal justice at a watershed moment, when a number of 20-year-old ad hoc tribunals were winding down even as the International Criminal Court was entering its teen years. First explored are challenges posed by politics – that is, the need to secure cooperation from states and from the U.N. Security Council – and economics – that is, the need to work within budgetary constraints. The article then surveys significant developments in each of a half-dozen international criminal courts and …

Mapping Expansive Uses Of Human Dignity In International Criminal Law, J.Benton Heath

J.Benton Heath

International criminal law (ICL) makes frequent reference to the concept of human dignity, which also plays a central role in human rights law. While many of these invocations occur in the context of torture and cruel treatment, a handful of cases have used human dignity more expansively to justify punishment for hate speech and other crimes. In this chapter, I argue that such expansive invocations of human dignity fill gaps in substantive criminal law, motivate tribunals toward broad interpretations of the law, may serve to 'trump' competing claims, and provide an argument for overcoming strict applications of the principle of …

Rule Of Law Capacity Building In Iraq, Richard Pregent

International Law Studies

No abstract provided.

Defending International Sentencing: Past Criticism To The Promise Of The Icc, Marisa R. Bassett

Human Rights Brief

No abstract provided.

Starting From Here, Ashley R. Deeks

International Law Studies

No abstract provided.

The Treatment Of Detainees And The "Global War On Terror": Selected Legal Issues, David Turns

International Law Studies

No abstract provided.

One Step Forward, Two Step Backwards: Addressing Objections To The Icc’S Prescriptive And Adjudicative Powers , Nema Milaninia

ExpressO

The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) permits the ICC to exercise subject-matter jurisdiction over individuals who engage in war crimes, genocide, crimes against humanity, and crimes of aggression. However, under Article 13, the ICC may only exercise personal jurisdiction over persons referred by the Security Council under Chapter VII, or over nationals of a state party, or persons whose alleged criminal conduct occurred on the territory of a state party

This article evaluates the interplay between principles of public international law and international criminal law in determining whether the ICC’s grant of jurisdiction under the Rome Statute …

Cultural Relativism In International War Crimes Prosecutions: The International Criminal Tribunal For Rwanda, Ida L. Bostian

ExpressO

The tension between universalism and cultural relativism lies at the heart of war crimes and war crimes prosecutions. While cultural relativism arguments should never be the basis for ignoring war crimes outside of the West (particularly in Africa), neither should the international community adopt a radical universalist approach that ignores the unique circumstances underlying each war crimes prosecution. The establishment of the ICTR, over the objection of the post-genocide Rwandan government, probably erred on the side of universalism by ignoring the legitimate needs of the Rwandan people. Nevertheless, the ICTR has appropriately adopted a “mild” cultural relativist approach in its …

The Final Balance Sheet? The International Criminal Court’S Challenges And Concessions To The Westphalian Model, Jackson N. Maogoto

Jackson Nyamuya Maogoto

This Article examines the organization and operating principles of the Court. Many aspects of the Rome Statute challenge fundamental tenets of the structure of international law existing heretofore. No analysis could address all the aspects of this new international institution and the Article seeks to focus attention on some of its major features impacting on State sovereignty--the focus of this Article. Part II of the Article explores the structure and competence of the Court and in particular the powers of the prosecutor, general principles underlying the jurisdiction of the Court, the formulation of the complementarity principle in the Court’s Statute, …