Tracing the development of international humanitarian law especially since World War II, this volume focuses on the role of the international community in crafting international and mixed war crimes tribunals. It examines the cases of the former Yugoslavia, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Cambodia and East Timor. These tribunals are legal institutions embedded within a political environment in which the need for nation-state consensus can undermine their judicial effectiveness and ultimately the quest for justice. One of the principal themes examined is how the demands of state sovereignty and finance have contributed to the constant innovation of these tribunals. This is the only book available covering the breadth of cases and it places these institutions within the general development of international humanitarian law.
This book canvasses the autonomous position of victims before the International Criminal Court. It seeks to provide an objective and balanced perspective, and neither rejects the idea of victims’ participation nor seeks to extend it beyond the contours determined by the founders of the ICC. The author contributes to the existing debate in academia and in practice by delineating the core, most complex and contentious matters ensuing from the role assigned to victims. The scrupulously selected issues unveil and blueprint the essential characteristics that delimit the standing of victims as independent actors in the ICC’s arena, distinct from the parties and other non-party participants. As an integral part of the ICC’s synergy, victims converge and interact with its other components. Therefore, the position and role of victims are contemplated in the context of the Court’s procedural mechanism and the mission pursued by the parties and the Chamber. The philosophy underpinning the ICC’s design and the standing of victims therein also requires analysis from a wider perspective. Accordingly, the volume draws an in-depth parallel with relevant developments and trends at the international and domestic level. Close attention is paid to the legal instruments and jurisprudence of international(ized) criminal justice bodies, human rights institutions and non-criminal jurisdictions to the extent useful for shedding further light on the issues at hand. Recourse is also made to various national systems, whenever relevant.
Empirically the dissertation studies the creation of the International Criminal Court through the practices of institutional designers themselves, how they stabilize a set of power relationships via rules and norms in relation to the past and to the future. In particular, the dissertation discusses the role of legal experts by analyzing the historical development of the concept of international crime in the interwar period and the rising demand for international criminal jurisdiction in the wake of World War II that culminated in multilateral negotiations over an international criminal court. By focusing on the practices of international legal experts the dissertation demonstrates how the design of an institution is affected by the productive tension between politics, normative concerns (over goals, legitimacy, efficiency) and the requirements of international legality in the production of institutional rules, norms and decision making.
With the ad hoc tribunals completing their mandates and the International Criminal Court under significant pressure, today's international criminal jurisdictions are at a critical juncture. Their legitimacy cannot be taken for granted. This multidisciplinary volume investigates key issues pertaining to legitimacy: criminal accountability, normative development, truth-discovery, complementarity, regionalism, and judicial cooperation. The volume sheds new light on previously unexplored areas, including the significance of redacted judgements, prosecutors' opening statements, rehabilitative processes of international convicts, victim expectations, court financing, and NGO activism. The book's original contributions will appeal to researchers, practitioners, advocates, and students of international criminal justice, accountability for war crimes and the rule of law.
On August 21, 2013, chemical weapons were unleashed on the civilian population in Syria, killing another 1,400 people in a civil war that had already claimed the lives of more than 140,000. As is all too often the case, the innocent found themselves victims of a violent struggle for political power. Such events are why human rights activists have long pressed for institutions such as the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate and prosecute some of the world’s most severe crimes: genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity. While proponents extol the creation of the ICC as a transformative victory for principles of international humanitarian law, critics have often characterized it as either irrelevant or dangerous in a world dominated by power politics. Christopher Rudolph argues in Power and Principle that both perspectives are extreme. In contrast to prevailing scholarship, he shows how the interplay between power politics and international humanitarian law have shaped the institutional development of international criminal courts from Nuremberg to the ICC. Rudolph identifies the factors that drove the creation of international criminal courts, explains the politics behind their institutional design, and investigates the behavior of the ICC. Through the development and empirical testing of several theoretical frameworks, Power and Principle helps us better understand the factors that resulted in the emergence of international criminal courts and helps us determine the broader implications of their presence in society.
In the 1990s, the promise of justice for atrocity crimes was associated with the revival of international criminal tribunals (ICTs). More recently, however, there has been a renewed emphasis on domestic accountability for international crimes across the globe. In identifying a 'complementarity turn', a paradigm shift toward domestic accountability in the field of international criminal justice, this book investigates how the shadow of international criminal tribunals influences the treatment of serious crimes at the national level. Drawing on research and interviews in Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Sierra Leone, this book develops a tripartite framework to analyse how states and tribunals work with, despite, or against one another in the fight against impunity. While international prosecutors and judges use the principle of complementarity to foster cooperation and decrease tension with government actors, Patryk I. Labuda argues that too much deference by ICTs toward states reduces the likelihood of accountability and may enable national elites to consolidate authoritarian power. By interrogating how international accountability stakeholders relate to their domestic counterparts, International Criminal Tribunals and Domestic Accountability advocates improvements to ICTs' institutional design and more dynamic interactions with states to strengthen the enforcement of international criminal law.
The Model Rules of Professional Conduct provides an up-to-date resource for information on legal ethics. Federal, state and local courts in all jurisdictions look to the Rules for guidance in solving lawyer malpractice cases, disciplinary actions, disqualification issues, sanctions questions and much more. In this volume, black-letter Rules of Professional Conduct are followed by numbered Comments that explain each Rule's purpose and provide suggestions for its practical application. The Rules will help you identify proper conduct in a variety of given situations, review those instances where discretionary action is possible, and define the nature of the relationship between you and your clients, colleagues and the courts.
In recent years a number of criminal tribunals have been established to investigate, prosecute and try individuals accused of serious violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law. These tribunals have been described as 'hybrid' or 'internationalised' tribunals as their structure and applicable law consist of both international and national elements. Six such tribunals are currently in operation: the Special Court for Sierra Leone, the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, the International Judges and Prosecutors Programme in Kosovo, the War Crimes Chamber for Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Iraqi High Tribunal and the Special Tribunal for Lebanon. The Special Panels for Serious Crimes in East Timor suspended operation in May 2005, although there continues to be some international involvement in investigation and prosecution of serious crimes. Suggestions have also been made that this model of tribunal would be appropriate for the prosecution of atrocities committed in, among others, Burundi, the Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya and Liberia, as well as for a wider range of international crimes, most recently piracy. The key aims of this book are: to place the model of hybrid and internationalised tribunals in the context of other mechanisms to try international crimes; to examine the increasing demand for the establishment of hybrid and internationalised judicial institutions and the factors driving such demand; to define the category of 'hybrid and internationalised tribunals' by examining the key features of the existing and proposed hybrid or internationalised tribunals, as well as the features of those institutions with international elements that are generally excluded from this category; to determine the legal and jurisdictional bases of existing hybrid and internationalised tribunals; to analyse how the legal and jurisdictional basis of a tribunal affects other issues, such as the applicable law, the application of amnesties and immunities and the relationship of the tribunal with the host state, third states, national courts and other international criminal tribunals. The book concentrates on the definitional, legal and jurisdictional aspects of hybrid and internationalised criminal tribunals as this has been the subject of some confusion in arguments before the tribunals and in the judgments of the tribunals. In its concluding section, the book examines the future role of internationalised and hybrid criminal tribunals, particularly in light of the establishment of the ICC, and the potential use of such tribunals in other contexts. It also assesses how hybrid and internationalised tribunals fit into a 'multi-layered framework' of international criminal law and transitional justice.
"There is wide awareness, though little true understanding, of the work of the international criminal tribunals. International prosecutions of high-ranking civilian and military leaders, including former heads of state, on charges of crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide, represent for many the ultimate condemnation of these individuals' past actions and a measure of their fall from power. Yet, despite the tribunals' grasp on the popular imagination, they are the subject of significant misconceptions and confusion. Much of the media coverage dedicated to their work remains superficial, at best, and largely muddles over key distinctions between various tribunals, past and present. Conversely, the more informed scholarship is largely confined to specialty publications that remain inaccessible to most. In truth, many lawyers and non-lawyers alike lack a clear understanding of the role and functioning of these increasingly-pivotal international institutions. This publication seeks to redress this knowledge gap by providing well-researched and accessible information for those wishing to more fully understand the international criminal tribunals and the conflicts over which they have jurisdiction. An informed public is an engaged public--and the issues that animate these tribunals, including delivering justice for victims of some of the world's worst atrocities, are too significant to be discussed solely by a small cadre of international criminal law specialists. Notably, this publication was created in partnership with graphic and information designers so as to reach a broader public. The designers' visualizations present information regarding the tribunals and their underlying conflicts in a direct and accessible manner to a wide range of viewers, including those without a legal background. Beyond this democratizing function, information visualization also serves to reveal important data and trends that might otherwise go unnoticed in a more conventional format. Ideally, the following information, which is current as of January 2013, would be integrated into a continually updated interactive webportal dedicated to engaging a global public on issues of international justice. In sum, this publication aims to facilitate a broader discussion of the international criminal tribunals' notable accomplishments, as well as ongoing shortcomings."--Why this publication?, page 4.
