Posts tagged ‘icc’
Depoliticizing international criminal law
Realists frequently challenge the legitimacy of public international law as a bona fide legal discipline, contending that it is merely a political tool wielded by powerful states to enforce their diktats on the third-world. To Louis Henkin, “law is politics;”[1] elaborating on that theme, John Austin posited that international law is not really “law” because breaches do not engender legally-enforceable sanctions.[2] Such positions merit due attention, as they pose a serious challenge to efforts to promote adherence to international legal norms.
To respond effectively to Austin and Henkin, it is necessary to consider not only whether international law is possessed of “teeth”, but also the extent to which these teeth operate consistently and independently of political intervention. I will focus here on what I consider to be the two most significant developments in international criminal law over the last two decades: the creation of the International Criminal Court (ICC) through the Rome Statute of 1999, and the rise and fall of the doctrine of universal jurisdiction across various national legal systems. In many respects, both appear to have been rather successful in promoting individual accountability. For the first time, there exists a permanent and independent entity at the global level capable of prosecuting individuals charged with grave violations of international humanitarian law. Similarly, at the national level, many individual states have begun asserting the authority to prosecute such…
The duty to recognize Palestine
Last week, culminating two years of intensive state-building efforts, Palestine Liberation Organization Chairman Mahmoud Abbas formally applied to the United Nations for the admission of the state of Palestine as its newest member. While the outcome and consequences of this controversial bid are yet to be seen, I wish here to consider its legal implications and particularly the third-party obligations to which it gives rise.
The international community has repeatedly affirmed its commitment to Palestinian self-determination. In general terms, its normative obligations to the Palestinian people can be divided into three categories. First, there is a moral duty, arising both from humanitarian interest and from the international community’s exceptionally pronounced role in the protracted conflict between Israelis and Palestinians, to advance peace and reconciliation between the two parties. Second, there is a general legal duty, stemming from the preambles of the UN Charter and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights to promote respect for the Palestinians’ human rights, which have been recognized as including the collective right to self-determination.[1] Third, there is a specific legal duty, rooted in the Geneva Conventions, to protect the rights of Palestinians living under Israeli occupation by ensuring Israeli compliance with international humanitarian law (IHL).
Effects of UN recognition on the parties’ compliance with international law
Israeli settlements in the West Bank, often built on stolen private land,[2] have…
Sudan, Libya, and (Inter)national Criminal Punishment
At the national level, “courts and prosecutors are bound to serve the interests of society in general and, to some ambiguous and debated degree, the interests of victims.”[1] At the international level this complexity is even more pronounced, as at least one more injured party is introduced to the mix. By definition, the negative impact of international crime is felt not just by its immediate victims and the States in which it transpires, but also by the international community.
On 26 February 2011, the UN Security Council unanimously referred the situation in Libya to the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC).[2] Just under six years ago, the Security Council referred the situation in Sudan to the ICC.[3] Both referrals were made pursuant to Chapter VII of the UN Charter, that is, in response to a threat to international peace and security.[4] Neither Libya nor Sudan are States Parties to the Rome Statute, the ICC’s foundational document, and both retain and use the death penalty as a mode of criminal punishment.[5]
Both States’ retention of the death penalty, far more remarkable today than it would have been years ago, is markedly at odds with the ICC’s relatively lenient sentencing scheme, whose most severe punishment is a term of life imprisonment,[6] to be served under conditions “consistent with widely accepted international treaty standards governing treatment…
How I Learned to Stop Worrying About International Law and Love Toothless Inquiries
Increasingly in recent history, it has been the case that when egregious violations of international law occur resulting in thousands of deaths, the Western world will (afterwards) act to see justice done. Prominent examples include the activities of the International Criminal Court (ICC), the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, and, to an extent, the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. But what is the proper response when it is Westerners who egregiously violate international law, resulting in thousands of deaths? If you answered “something similar”, then you are wrong. Shame on you.
No, an example of the proper response can be seen in Britain today, where an inquiry into the decisions leading up to the Iraq war, headed by Sir John Chilcot, has been underway since July. As the inquiry’s website makes clear, this is not a criminal tribunal, and it is not placing anyone on trial. Rather its purpose is to accurately establish what happened, and to identify lessons that can be learned (though have no fear: if the inquiry finds that mistakes were made, “it will say so”).
Britain’s Iraq inquiry is a nice, typical piece of theatre, with a colourful cast of characters. Those gaining the most attention include Jack Straw, Foreign Minister in 2003; Lord Goldsmith, the former Attorney General; Sir Michael Wood, the Foreign Office’s most senior legal advisor; Wood’s deputy Elizabeth Wilmshurst;…
