The International Criminal Court has significantly grown in importance and impact over the decade of its existence. This book assesses its impact, providing a comprehensive overview of its practice. It shows how the Court has contributed to major developments in international criminal law, and identifies the ways in which it is in need of reform.
The International Criminal Court is at a crossroads. In 1998, the Court was still a fiction. A decade later, it has become operational and faces its first challenges as a judicial institution. This volume examines this transition. It analyses the first jurisprudence and policies of the Court. It provides a systematic survey of the emerging law and practice in four main areas: the relationship of the Court to domestic jurisdictions, prosecutorial policy and practice, the treatment of the Courta (TM)s applicable law and the shaping of its procedure. It revisits major themes, such as jurisdiction, complementarity, cooperation, prosecutorial discretion, modes of liability, pre-trial, trial and appeals procedure and the treatment of victims and witnesses, as well as their criticisms. It also explores some of challenges and potential avenues for future reform.
International Criminal Procedure: Principles and Rules is a comprehensive study of international criminal proceedings written by over forty leading experts in the field. The book offers a systematic overview and detailed comparison of the standards governing the conduct of proceedings in all major international and internationalized criminal courts from the Nuremberg and Tokyo Tribunals to the recently established Cambodian Extraordinary Chambers and the Special Tribunal for Lebanon. Based on a major research project, the study covers all procedural phases from the initiation of investigation to the appeals process. It pays special attention to the crosscutting themes which shape the contemporary discourse on international criminal justice, including the law of evidence, the defence issues, the procedural role of victims, and negotiated dismissal of international crime cases. The book not only takes stock of the procedural legacy of the UN ad hoc Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda and the International Criminal Court, but also reflects on the future directions of international criminal procedure. Investigating the tribunals' procedural law and practice through the prism of human rights law, domestic legal traditions, and tribunals' special objectives, the expert group puts forth proposals on how the challenges facing international criminal jurisdictions can best be met. International Criminal Procedure will be an indispensable work for practitioners involved in the adjudication of serious crimes on both national and international level, as well as international law students and academics.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) is the first permanent international criminal tribunal, which has jurisdiction over the most serious crimes of concern to the international community as a whole: genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and crime of aggression. This book critically analyses the law and practice of the ICC and its contribution to the development of international criminal law and policy. The book focuses on the key procedural and substantive challenges faced by the ICC since its establishment. The critical analysis of the normative framework aims to elaborate ways in which the Court may resolve difficulties, which prevent it from reaching its declared objectives in particularly complex situations. Contributors to the book include leading experts in international criminal justice, and cover a range of topics including, inter alia, terrorism, modes of liability, ne bis in idem, victims reparations, the evidentiary threshold for the confirmation of charges, and sentencing. The book also considers the relationship between the ICC and States, and explores the impact that the new regime of international criminal justice has had on countries where the most serious crimes have been committed. In drawing together these discussions, the book provides a significant contribution in assessing how the ICC’s practice could be refined or improved in future cases. The book will be of great use and interest to international criminal law and public international law.
Why has the United States taken such a firm stance against the International Criminal Court (ICC) and expended such diplomatic goodwill in an attempt to dismantle a tribunal that poses no serious risk to its citizens? This book critiques causal ideologies such as American exceptionalism, state sovereignty and laissez-faire capitalism to show how U.S. opposition is driven by pervasive political, legal, historic, military and economic conditioning factors. It shows how U.S. attitudes transcend partisan politics and predicts how the U.S.-ICC relationship will be affected by the economic crisis, shifting international geopolitical power structures, the crisis in the U.S. military, unfolding international human rights law and the “politics of change” promised by the nascent Obama administration. “The United States has been at the centre of international criminal justice initiatives, from Nuremberg to the more recent ad hoc tribunals for the former Yugoslavia, Rwanda, Sierra Leone and Lebanon. But its position has been lukewarm and sometimes, in the darkest days of the Bush administration, outright hostile to the International Criminal Court. Filling a gap in the literature, Dr Mark Kielsgard reviews the history of American policy, analysing the factors that have driven it, making useful and practical suggestions aimed at greater engagement of the United States with the International Criminal Court.” Professor William A. Schabas
The papers presented in this volume deal with important aspects of how the ICC will consider significant areas of concern such as the participation of victims and witnesses, the financing of the Court, election of judges, and the immunity of the United Nations and its officials. All those concerned with how the new International Criminal Court will establish itself as a credible forum for dealing with a difficult docket of cases involving genocide, torture, mass displacement of peoples, and other crimes against humanity will find this volume of interest. Published under the Transnational Publishers imprint.
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.
Through the eyes of those who actually conducted the negotiations, each of the 28 chapters chapter focuses on how the Elements and Rules were negotiated, what the main issues were, why certain provisions were included, and why certain proposals were deliberately left out. In the absence of any official travaux preparatoires, this work facilitates a better understanding of the legislative intent and serves as a guide to future application of the Statute by the Court.
This systematic, contextual and practice-oriented account of complementarity explores the background and historical expectations associated with complementarity, its interpretation in prosecutorial policy and judicial practice, its context (ad hoc tribunals, universal jurisdiction, R2P) and its impact in specific situations (Colombia, Congo, Uganda, Central African Republic, Sudan and Kenya). Written by leading experts from inside and outside the Court and scholars from multiple disciplines, the essays combine theoretical inquiry with policy recommendations and the first-hand experience of practitioners. It is geared towards academics, lawyers and policy-makers who deal with the impact and application of international criminal justice and its interplay with peace and security, transitional justice and international relations.
The Rome Statute establishing the International Criminal Court (ICC or Court) entered into force on July 1, 2002. With the Court now established and developing a track record of engagement in situations, such as Darfur, that are of great interest to the United States, it seemed that there might be important ways in which the United States might engage and support the Court, whether joining it or short of joining it. This Task Force has undertaken such a review, hearing from more than a dozen experts and officials representing a variety of perspectives on the ICC. Our conclusion, detailed in the recommendations in this report, is that the United States should announce a policy of positive engagement with the Court, and that this policy should be reflected in concrete support for the Court's efforts and the elimination of legal and other obstacles to such support. The Task Force does not recommend U.S. ratification of the Rome Statute at this time. But it urges engagement with the ICC and the Assembly of States Parties in a manner that enables the United States to help further shape the Court into an effective accountability mechanism. The Task Force believes that such engagement will also facilitate future consideration of whether the United States should join the Court.
