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Articles 1 - 18 of 18
Full-Text Articles in Law
North Korea And The Madonna Of Czestochowa, Michael Donald Kirby The Honourable
North Korea And The Madonna Of Czestochowa, Michael Donald Kirby The Honourable
The University of Notre Dame Australia Law Review
No abstract provided.
Unpacking The Deterrent Effect Of The International Criminal Court: Lessons From Kenya, Yvonne M. Dutton, Tessa Alleblas
Unpacking The Deterrent Effect Of The International Criminal Court: Lessons From Kenya, Yvonne M. Dutton, Tessa Alleblas
St. John's Law Review
(Excerpt)
This Article proceeds as follows. Part I begins by explaining deterrence theory in more detail. It follows with an overview of the debate surrounding the ability of international criminal tribunals and the ICC to produce a deterrent effect.
In Part II, we advance our argument regarding the need to reframe the debate about the ICC’s potential to deter. We explain the reasons why the ICC’s deterrent effect must be unpacked and, in doing so, we describe several factors that influence whether and under what conditions the ICC should or should not be able to deter. In Part III, we …
How To Read International Criminal Law: Strict Construction And The Rome Statute Of The International Criminal Court, Caroline Davidson
How To Read International Criminal Law: Strict Construction And The Rome Statute Of The International Criminal Court, Caroline Davidson
St. John's Law Review
(Excerpt)
The Article proceeds in four parts. Part I introduces the Rome Statute’s provision on nullum crimen sine lege, focusing in particular on its requirements that judges strictly construe crime definitions, construe ambiguous provisions in favor of defendants, and avoid crime creation by analogy. It offers working definitions for relevant concepts and describes some of the difficulties in applying them, particularly in light of the Rome Statute’s provision setting out the sources of law the court is to consider. Part II asks whether strict construction makes sense in the context of international crimes. It assesses the values that undergird the …
Prosecuting Those Bearing 'Greatest Responsibility': The Lessons Of The Special Court For Sierra Leone, Charles Chernor Jalloh
Prosecuting Those Bearing 'Greatest Responsibility': The Lessons Of The Special Court For Sierra Leone, Charles Chernor Jalloh
Charles C. Jalloh
This Article examines the controversial article 1(1) of the Statute of the Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL) giving that tribunal the competence “to prosecute those who bear the greatest responsibility” for serious international and domestic crimes committed during the latter part of the notoriously brutal Sierra Leonean conflict. The debate that arose during the SCSL trials was whether this bare statement constituted a jurisdictional requirement that the prosecution must prove beyond a reasonable doubt or merely a type of guideline for the exercise of prosecutorial discretion. The judges of the court split on the issue. This paper is the …
Ending Impunity The Case For War Crimes Trials In Liberia, Charles Chernor Jalloh, Alhagi Marong
Ending Impunity The Case For War Crimes Trials In Liberia, Charles Chernor Jalloh, Alhagi Marong
Charles C. Jalloh
This paper argues that Liberia owes a duty under international law to investigate and prosecute the heinous crimes, including torture, rape and extra-judicial killings of innocent civilians, committed in that country by the various warring parties in the course of 14 years of brutal conflict. The authors evaluate the options for prosecution, starting with the possible use of Liberian courts. They argue that even if willing, the national courts are unable to render credible justice that protects the due process rights of the accused given the collapse of legal institutions and the paucity of financial, human and material resources in …
The International Criminal Court In Africa: Impartiality, Politics, Complementarity And Brexit, Bartram Brown
The International Criminal Court In Africa: Impartiality, Politics, Complementarity And Brexit, Bartram Brown
All Faculty Scholarship
I have known and been inspired by Henry J. Richardson III and his scholarship for many years. A hallmark of his work has been his focus upon African-American interests in international law and also upon the rights and interests of African states. In acknowledgement of that intellectual debt, it is my honor to dedicate the following article to this festschrift celebrating his life and work.
Fairness, Legitimacy, And Selection Decisions In International Criminal Law, Jonathan Hafetz
Fairness, Legitimacy, And Selection Decisions In International Criminal Law, Jonathan Hafetz
Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law
The selection of situations and cases remains one of the most vexing challenges facing the International Criminal Court (ICC) and other international criminal tribunals. Since Nuremberg, international criminal law (ICL) has experienced significant progress in developing procedural safeguards designed to protect the fair trial rights of the accused. But it continues to lag in the fairness of its selection decisions as measured against the norm of equal application of law, whether in the disproportionate focus on certain regions (as with the ICC's focus on Africa), the application of criminal responsibility only to one side of a conflict, or the continued …
The Persuasive Authority Of Internationalized Criminal Tribunals, Elena Baylis
The Persuasive Authority Of Internationalized Criminal Tribunals, Elena Baylis
Articles
After a period in which it seemed as though hybrid criminal tribunals were waning, proposals for such tribunals are proliferating again. The recent success of the Extraordinary African Chambers in trying Hisséne Habré highlights the resurgent trend toward ad hoc internationalized courts and chambers to try cases of genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity. The international community could make strategic choices in designing this new generation of tribunals to maximize their effectiveness. One way that international courts spread their influence is through their persuasive authority. Even if their decisions are not binding on the concerned national courts, by persuading …
In Re Akhbar Beirut & Al Amin, Monica Hakimi
In Re Akhbar Beirut & Al Amin, Monica Hakimi
Faculty Scholarship
On August 29, 2016, the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (Tribunal) sentenced a corporate media enterprise and one of its employees for contemptuously interfering with the Tribunal’s proceedings in Ayyash, a prosecution concerning the February 2005 terrorist attack that killed former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri.1 The contempt decision is significant for two reasons: (1) it adopts an expansive definition of the crime of contempt to restrict a journalist’s freedom of expression; and (2) it is the first international judicial decision to hold a corporate entity criminally responsible.
Illicit Exploitation Of Natural Resources - Art. 28l Bis Of The Malabo Protocol, James G. Stewart, Daniëlla Dam
Illicit Exploitation Of Natural Resources - Art. 28l Bis Of The Malabo Protocol, James G. Stewart, Daniëlla Dam
All Faculty Publications
Article 28A(1)(13) of the Protocol to the Statute of the African Court of Justice and Human Rights lists ‘Illicit exploitation of natural resources’ as a criminal offense within the Court’s jurisdiction. In conjunction with the new mandate of the African Court, which includes the exercise of jurisdiction over corporations for the first time in an international treaty, the prohibition of “illicit exploitation of natural resources” creates an offense with especially sharp teeth, for business people, their corporations, military actors and politicians. The crime constitutes an important innovation in international law, since it offers a distinct legal basis for prosecution of …
Al Mahdi Has Been Convicted Of A Crime He Did Not Commit, William Schabas
Al Mahdi Has Been Convicted Of A Crime He Did Not Commit, William Schabas
Case Western Reserve Journal of International Law
A closer look at the Rome Statute suggests that Al Mahdi did not commit the crime for which he was convicted.
Wrestling Tyrants: Do We Need An International Criminal Justice System?, Christopher L. Blakesley
Wrestling Tyrants: Do We Need An International Criminal Justice System?, Christopher L. Blakesley
Scholarly Works
Prof. Christopher L. Blakesley delivered this keynote address at the Crimes Without Borders: In Search of an International Justice System Symposium, held at the McGeorge School of Law in the spring of 2016.
The Icc's Role In Combatting The Destruction Of Cultural Heritage, Mark S. Ellis
The Icc's Role In Combatting The Destruction Of Cultural Heritage, Mark S. Ellis
Case Western Reserve Journal of International Law
However, the case’s firm grounding in international law, and the clear connection between a category of cultural-property crimes and attempts at cultural erasure, challenges the notion that these are second-rate crimes. The case reinforces the legal principle that attacks on culture, like attacks against people, constitute war crimes subject to international criminal prosecution. The Al Mahdi case will be significant in determining how the international community should best deal with such abhorrent attacks in the future.
Individual Criminal Responsibility For The Destruction Of Religious And Historic Buildings: The Al Mahdi Case, Milena Sterio
Individual Criminal Responsibility For The Destruction Of Religious And Historic Buildings: The Al Mahdi Case, Milena Sterio
Case Western Reserve Journal of International Law
Ahmad Al Faqi Al Mahdi, also known as Abon Tourab, was a member of the radical Islamic group Ansar Eddine, serving as one of four commanders during its brutal occupation of Timbuktu in 2012. The International Criminal Court (ICC) indicted Al Mahdi on several charges of war crimes, for intentional attacks against ten religious and historic buildings and monuments. All the buildings which Al Mahdi was charged with attacking had been under UNESCO protection, and most had been listed as world heritage sites. The case against Al Mahdi at the ICC unfolded relatively quickly and efficiently, from the official Malian …
Blood Antiquities: Addressing A Culture Of Impunity In The Antiquities Market, Paul R. Williams, Christin Coster
Blood Antiquities: Addressing A Culture Of Impunity In The Antiquities Market, Paul R. Williams, Christin Coster
Case Western Reserve Journal of International Law
For decades, parties to conflicts have used the cover of war to destroy and loot cultural property and antiquities for financial gain and symbolic victory. The "blood antiquities" excavated in conflict areas and sold mostly in western markets fuel not only continued conflict, but also (as in cases such as Syria and Iraq) terrorism that can reach around the world. The culture of impunity for both buyers and sellers of antiquities allows the blood-antiquities trade to thrive. A robust international legal framework does exist to ensure accountability for the destruction of cultural heritage. Because looting is a major cause of …
Third Report On Crimes Against Humanity, Sean D. Murphy
Third Report On Crimes Against Humanity, Sean D. Murphy
GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works
In July 2014, the U.N. International Law Commission placed the topic “Crimes against humanity” on its current program of work and appointed a Special Rapporteur. According to the topic proposal, the objective of the Commission is to draft articles for what could become a Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Crimes against Humanity.
In 2015, based on the Special Rapporteur’s First Report, the Commission provisionally adopted the first four draft articles with commentary. In 2016, based on the Special Rapporteur’s Second Report, the Commission provisionally adopted an addition six draft articles with commentary. In this Third Report, which will …
Opposing International Justice: Kenya’S Integrated Backlash Strategy Against The Icc, Laurence R. Helfer, Anne E. Showalter
Opposing International Justice: Kenya’S Integrated Backlash Strategy Against The Icc, Laurence R. Helfer, Anne E. Showalter
Faculty Scholarship
The government of Kenya has employed a wide range of strategies to undermine the recently-dismissed prosecutions of President Uhuru Kenyatta and Deputy President William Ruto before the International Criminal Court (ICC). This Article argues that these strategies are part of an integrated backlash campaign against the ICC, one that encompasses seemingly unrelated actions in multiple global, regional and national venues. We identify three overarching themes that connect these diverse measures— politicizing complementarity, regionalizing political opposition, and pairing instances of cooperation and condemnation to diffuse accusations of impunity. By linking its discrete acts of opposition to these three themes, the government …
The International Criminal Court In Africa: Impartiality, Politics, Complementarity And Brexit, Bartram Brown
The International Criminal Court In Africa: Impartiality, Politics, Complementarity And Brexit, Bartram Brown
Bartram Brown