When a perpetrator of an international crime argues in his defence that he did not realise that he had violated the law, is this a reason not to punish him? International crimes constitute serious offences and it could be argued that he who commits such an offence must know his act is punishable. After all, everyone is presumed to know the law. However, convicting someone who is mistaken about the wrongfulness of his act may be in violation of the principle ‘no punishment without guilt’. This book investigates when 'mistake of law' should be a reason to exculpate the perpetrator of an international crime. It demonstrates that the issue of 'mistake of law' goes to the heart of individual criminal responsibility and therewith contributes to the development of a more systematic approach toward the structure of international offences. Valuable for academics and practitioners in the field of International Criminal Law.
This book enquires into the counter-hegemonic capacity of international criminal justice. It highlights perspectives and themes that have thus far often been neglected in the scholarship on (critical approaches to) international criminal justice. Can international criminal justice be viewed as a ‘counter-hegemonic’ project? And if so, under what conditions? In response to these questions, scholars and practitioners from the Global South and North reflect inter alia on the engagement with international criminal justice in the context of Ukraine, Palestine, and minorities in South-Asia while also highlighting the hegemonic tendencies built into the institutional structure of the International Criminal Court on the axes of gender and language. Florian Jeßberger is Professor of Criminal Law and Director of the Franz von Liszt Institute for International Criminal Justice, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Germany. Leonie Steinl is a Senior Lecturer in Criminal Law at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Germany. Kalika Mehta is an Associate Researcher at the Franz von Liszt Institute for International Criminal Justice, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Germany.
This course investigates the relationships between international criminal law and other branches of international law. It begins by examining four issues of general international law: the principal sources of international law, jurisdiction and immunities, State responsibility, and use of force. It then explores internationalhumanitarian law, focusing on definitions of war crimes and difficulties in linking IHL and ICL. Next, it examines refugee law, paying particular attention to the exclusion of war criminals from refugee protection and to international crimes that may be related to the rights and treatment of refugees. The final chapter explores the relationship between ICL and human rights law, examining the position of human rights within the Rome Statute of the ICC, as well as the human rights aspects of genocide, crimes against humanity, various procedural rights relating to fair international trials and the contribution of human rights fact-finding mechanisms.
Watch the interview with William Shabas on Relationships Between International Criminal Law and Other Branches of International LawThis course investigates the relationships between international criminal law and other branches of ...
International crimes, such as genocide and crimes against humanity, are complex and difficult to prove, so their prosecutions are costly and time-consuming. As a consequence, international tribunals and domestic bodies have recently made greater use of guilty pleas, many of which have been secured through plea bargaining. This book examines those guilty pleas and the methods used to obtain them, presenting analyses of practices in Sierra Leone, East Timor, Cambodia, Argentina, Bosnia, and Rwanda. Although current plea bargaining practices may be theoretically unsupportable and can give rise to severe victim dissatisfaction, the author argues that the practice is justified as a means of increasing the proportion of international offenders who can be prosecuted. She then incorporates principles drawn from the domestic practice of restorative justice to construct a model guilty plea system to be used for international crimes.
Nancy Combs provides the most thorough treatment we have of it. This is a thoughtful book that exposes the paradoxes in the way rule of law policies work out.
Restorative Justice and the Rights of Victims in the International Criminal Court
The study focuses on the right of victims to participation and to reparations under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. The author argues that the ICC offers an opportunity for the entrenchment of the concerns of victims in the international criminal process. However, he suggests that this depends on what framework of justice the Court adopts. The author further argues that previous international criminal tribunals operated on retributive and utilitarian theories of criminal justice that are exclusionary of and inimical to specific concerns of victims of international crimes. The largely retributive and utilitarian objects driving these systems limited victims to a peripheral status in the process and failed to address fully the harm occasioned to victims.The author proposes restorative justice as the best paradigm of giving effect to the said rights of victims while meeting the law enforcement functions of the prosecutor and protecting defence rights in the ICC.
Lessons and legacies of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia
This volume examines the legacy of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), which was created under Chapter VII of the UN Charter as a mechanism explicitly aimed at the restoration and maintenance of international peace and security. As the ICTY has now entered its twentieth year, this volume reflects on the record and practices of the Tribunal. Since it was established, it has had enormous impact on the procedural, jurisprudential and institutional development of international criminal law, as well as the international criminal justice project. This will be its international legacy, but its legacy in the region where the crimes under its jurisdiction took place is less clear; research has shown that reactions to the ICTY have been mixed among the communities most affected by its work. Bringing together a range of key thinkers in the field, Prosecuting War Crimes explores these findings and discusses why many feel that the ICTY has failed to fully engage with people’s experiences and meet their expectations. This book will be of much interest to students of war crimes, international criminal law, Central and East European politics, human rights, and peace and conflict studies.
This volume examines the legacy of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), which was created under Chapter VII of the UN Charter as a mechanism explicitly aimed at the restoration and maintenance of ...
This book evaluates the resting pulse of national and international criminal justice in conjunction with the actual definition of the truth which burdens prosecutors. Prosecutors have several valuable, yet inconspicuous tasks which are significant to criminal procedure. In criminal justice, the conscience of justice is based on the pursuit of the truth by using evidence. As a rule of genuine judgment, we seek to discuss the principle of truth and its enforcement in the proceedings of criminal justice. The visual perception of moral law and its imperative function governing the theory of ethical obligations, responsibilities, and duties of the prosecutor in the criminal jurisdiction therefore represents the primary starting point for all of our judgments. Prosecutors should actively ensure that both powerful and powerless criminals are brought to justice. The main objective of the statute of the permanent International Criminal Court (ICC) claims to uphold the high moral precedent which must be set by the Office of the Prosecutor. However, the actual practice of the ICC has instead led to millions of deaths, including those of innocent children, as well as the destruction of countries whose protection is not considered to be in "the interest of justice". If the ICC wishes to establish justice for victims, then the deterrence of impunity for any criminal should be its priority. The ICC should not become a pawn of the political superpowers or the platform through which the prosecutor can misuse classified documents to serve their personal interests. The ultimate nature of justice cannot be comprehensive if impartial validity is not the permanent foundation of the core pillars in all criminal proceedings. This book is recommended to anyone who concerns themselves with legal questions of criminal justice and its efficacy.
This book evaluates the resting pulse of national and international criminal justice in conjunction with the actual definition of the truth which burdens prosecutors.
