DOCSLIB.ORG

Challanges of Domestic Prosecution of War Crimes with Special Attention to Criminal Justice Guarantees

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Challanges of Domestic Prosecution of War Crimes with Special Attention to Criminal Justice Guarantees Doktori értekezések 4. Réka Varga CHALLENGES OF DOMESTIC PROSECUTION OF WAR CRIMES WITH SPECIAL ATTENTION TO CRIMINAL JUSTICE GUARANTEES PÁZMÁNY PRESS Réka Varga Challenges of Domestic Prosecution of War Crimes with Special Attention to Criminal Justice Guarantees A PÁZMÁNY PÉTER KATOLIKUS EGYETEM JOG- ÉS ÁLLAMTUDOMÁNYI KARÁNAK KÖNYVEI DOKTORI ÉRTEKEZÉSEK 4. [PhD Thesis, Volume 4] Series editor: János Frivaldszky RÉKA VARGA CHALLENGES OF DOMESTIC PROSECUTION OF WAR CRIMES WITH SPECIAL ATTENTION TO CRIMINAL JUSTICE GUARANTEES PÁZMÁNY PRESS Budapest 2014 The publication of the book is supported by the project TÁMOP-4.2.2/B-10/1-2010-0014 (Supporting excellence at the PPCU) Lectured by Prof. Dr. Károly BÁRD and Dr. Eszter KIRS © Author, 2014 © Pázmány Péter Catholic University Faculty of Law and Political Sciences, 2014 ISSN 2064-1907 ISBN 978-963-308-173-0 Published by Pázmány Péter Catholic University Faculty of Law and Political Sciences 1088-Budapest, Szentkirályi str. 28. www.jak.ppke.hu Responsible publisher: Prof. Dr. András Zs. VARGA, dean Corrector: Anna RÉTI Printed and bound by Komáromi Nyomda és Kiadó Kft. www.komarominyomda.hu CONTENT List of abbrevations.......................................................................................... 7 Acknowledgements ........................................................................................... 9 1. Introduction ................................................................................................ 11 2. Evolution of international criminal jurisdiction, individual responsibility and the defi nition of war crimes; international obligations on repression of grave breaches and war crimes ................. 21 2.1. Evolution of international criminal jurisdiction .....................................21 2.2. Evolution of individual criminal responsibility and development of war crimes in international law ........................................................30 2.2.1. Development of war crimes in international law ................................33 2.2.2. Individual responsibility versus collective responsibility? ................. 37 2.3. Overview of international obligations to repress war crimes ................55 2.4. Development of the concept of universal jurisdiction with respect to grave breaches ..............................................................59 2.5. Law as a weapon ...................................................................................64 2.6. A parallel example of extraterritorial jurisdiction: the US Alian Tort Statute ......................................................................69 3. Legal problems around the application of international criminal law ...75 3.1. Problems inbuilt in international law .....................................................75 3.1.1. Sovereignty and penalization ............................................................76 3.1.2. Effects of international law on national lawmaking and national jurisprudence: the ICC complementarity principle ................81 3.1.3. Problems of direct applicability of international law ........................110 3.1.4. Specifi c problems related to universal jurisdiction ...........................127 3.2. Hurdles inbuilt in national law.............................................................133 3.2.1. Implementation: a confl ict with the legality principle? ......................133 3.2.2. Consequences of basing the case directly on the international treaty – direct application ..........................................141 3.2.3. Consequences of basing the case on ordinary crimes .......................144 3.2.4. Are there any controversies if national law punishes acts that are not war crimes? ................................................................149 3.2.5. Place of the norm in the hierarchy of national laws ..........................154 3.2.6. Could the application of universal jurisdiction be contrary to the principle of legality? .............................................................154 6 Content 3.3. Hurdles inbuilt in national jurisprudence / national application..........157 3.3.1. Are domestic courts ready to try war crimes cases? .........................158 3.3.2. Domestic courts’ attitude towards universal jurisdiction ..................165 4. Possible ways of overcoming the hurdles ............................................... 191 4.1. On the level of international jurisprudence: effects of jurisprudence of international tribunals on domestic war crimes procedures .........................................................................191 4.1.1. Substantive criminal law aspects .....................................................194 4.1.2. Criminal procedural law aspects ....................................................196 4.1.3. Effects of the functioning of international tribunals on national justice systems .............................................................198 4.2. On the level of internal legislation ......................................................204 4.2.1. The importance of effective implementation techniques ................... 204 4.2.2. Specifi c aspects of implementation of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court ........................................................ 205 4.2.3. Common characteristics of national legislation on universal jurisdiction in Central Europe ....................................................... 207 4.2.4. Criminalization techniques in Central Europe ................................ 209 4.3. On the level of internal jurisprudence ................................................ 222 4.3.1. When domestic courts are trying to solve the problem… ..................223 4.3.2. War crimes units ............................................................................228 4.3.3. Recommendations for Hungary ..................................................... 234 4.3.4. Role of the judiciary in exercising universal jurisdiction ..................237 4.3.5. National case law on universal jurisdiction .....................................238 5. Conclusions .................................................................................................243 Annex: Legislation related to the prosecution of war crimes in selected Central European countries ..................................................... 253 Bibliography ................................................................................................. 259 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS CAT Convention Against Torture ECHR European Convention on Human Rights ECtHR European Court of Human Rights IAC International armed confl ict ICC International Criminal Court ICCPR International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights ICJ International Court of Justice ICL international criminal law ICRC International Committee of the Red Cross ICTR International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda ICTY International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia IHL International humanitarian law NIAC Non-international armed confl ict OTP Offi ce of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court UK United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland US United States of America ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to offer my sincere gratitude to Dr. Balázs Gellér professor of criminal law at ELTE University and joint supervisor of my thesis.*1 As my university professor Dr Gellér kindled my interest in the subject of international criminal law and international humanitarian law, and encouraged me to move towards this fi eld. I would not have been able to get over the fi rst phase of the work without his guidance. I owe equally sincere gratitude to my supervisor Prof. Péter Kovács Head of the Department of International Law at Pázmány University and judge at the Constitutional Court of Hungary, who took the lion’s share in helping me structure, develop and complete the thesis. It was Prof. Kovács and Dr. Marcel Szabó who invited me to work at the Department of International Law (previously Department of International and European Law) at Pázmány University after the closure of the ICRC Regional Delegation. Prof. Károly Bárd Chair of the Human Rights Program at the Central European University and Dr. Eszter Kirs associate professor of international law at Miskolc University, lectors of this book have both provided me with invaluable support, well beyond their tasks as opponents or lectors. Their constructive criticisms and comments have enabled the study to become a complete work. They helped me not only with their professional advice but also with their moral support. The choice of the subject of the present work was dictated by my working experience as legal adviser to the International Committee of the Red Cross’ Regional Delegation for Central Europe. I owe special thanks to my lawyer colleagues: Yves Petermann, Tony Camen, Robert M. Young and Richard Desgagné for their patient training, their readiness to share their knowledge and experience, for interesting discussions and their support. I had the great honour of being in close working contact and eventually becoming friends with Amb. Árpád Prandler, ad litem judge at the ICTY. His *1 The present book is based on my doctoral thesis defended at the Pázmány Catholic University, Budapest, in February 2013. The scientifi c research was completed on 1 December 2012. 10 Acknowledgements wisdom, broad perspective and support have meant a great deal to me throughout my career, both with the ICRC and at the university. Finally, I would like to express my special thanks to
Load more

Recommended publications
  • From Prosecutorial to Reparatory: a Valuable Post-Conflict Change of Focus" (2015)
    College of William & Mary Law School William & Mary Law School Scholarship Repository Faculty Publications Faculty and Deans 2015 From Prosecutorial to Reparatory: A Valuable Post- Conflict Change of Focus Nancy Amoury Combs William & Mary Law School, [email protected] Repository Citation Combs, Nancy Amoury, "From Prosecutorial to Reparatory: A Valuable Post-Conflict Change of Focus" (2015). Faculty Publications. 1746. https://scholarship.law.wm.edu/facpubs/1746 Copyright c 2015 by the authors. This article is brought to you by the William & Mary Law School Scholarship Repository. https://scholarship.law.wm.edu/facpubs ARTICLES FROM PROSECUTORIAL TO REPARATORY: A VALUABLE POST-CONFLICT CHANGE OF FOCUS Nancy Amoury Combs* INTRODUCTION ................................................. 219 I. INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL PROSECUTIONS: THREE KEY CHALLENGES ........................................... 226 A. Obtaining Custody Over Defendants. 227 B. Finding Accurate Facts .............................. 234 C. Selectivity........................................... 238 D. Summary ........................................... 239 II. REPARATIONS AS A VIABLE ALTERNATIVE . 239 A. Obtaining Funds for Reparations . 243 B. Finding Accurate Facts .............................. 257 III. THE NORMATIVE CASE FOR SHIFTING FOCUS FROM THE PROSECUTORIAL TO THE REPARATORY . 262 A. The Benefits of Reparations: Victims’ Perspective . 263 B. Reducing Conflict Through Reparations . 266 C. Shifting to Save: The Precarious Present Position of International Criminal Justice .
    [Show full text]
  • A Critical Introduction to International Criminal Law
    Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. IP address: 170.106.40.219, on 28 Sep 2021 at 17:55:18, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/EFEDBED0B84359DFA281A9079047846F Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. IP address: 170.106.40.219, on 28 Sep 2021 at 17:55:18, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/EFEDBED0B84359DFA281A9079047846F A CRITICAL INTRODUCTION TO INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL LAW International criminal law has witnessed a rapid rise since the end of the Cold War. The United Nations refers to the birth of a new ‘age of accountability’, but certain historical objections, such as selectivity or victor’s justice, have never fully gone away, and many of the justice dimensions of international criminal law remain unexplored. Various critiques have emerged in sociolegal scholarship or globalization discourse, revealing that there is a stark discrepancy between reality and expectation. Linking discussion of legal theories, case law and practice to scholarship and opinion, A Critical Introduction to International Criminal Law explores these critiques through five main themes at the heart of contemporary dilemmas: • The shifting contours of criminality and international crimes • The tension between individual and collective responsibility • The challenges of domestic, international, hybrid and regional justice institutions • The foundations of justice procedures • Approaches towards punishment and reparation. The book is suitable for students, academics and professionals from multiple fields wishing to understand contemporary theories, practices and critiques of international criminal law.
    [Show full text]
  • Biases in Machine Learning Models and Big Data Analytics: the International Criminal and Humanitarian Law Implications Nema Milaninia*
    International Review of the Red Cross (2020), 102 (913), 199–234. Digital technologies and war doi:10.1017/S1816383121000096 Biases in machine learning models and big data analytics: The international criminal and humanitarian law implications Nema Milaninia* Abstract Advances in mobile phone technology and social media have created a world where the volume of information generated and shared is outpacing the ability of humans to review and use that data. Machine learning (ML) models and “big data” analytical tools have the power to ease that burden by making sense of this information and providing insights that might not otherwise exist. In the context of international criminal and human rights law, ML is being used for a variety of purposes, including to uncover mass graves in Mexico, find evidence of homes and schools destroyed in Darfur, detect fake videos and doctored evidence, predict the outcomes of judicial hearings at the European Court of Human Rights, and gather evidence of war crimes in Syria. ML models are also increasingly being incorporated by States into weapon systems in order to better enable targeting * The views expressed herein are those of the author alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of the ICC Office of the Prosecutor or Google. The author would like to thank Nasrina Bargzie, Alexa Koenig, Matthew Cross, Beth Van Schaack, María Sol Beker, Jérôme de Hemptinne, Nikki Ahmadi, Gayane Khechoomian, Yulia Nuzban, and the editors of the International Review of the Red Cross, Bruno Demeyere, Sai Venkatesh and Ash Stanley-Ryan, for their considerably important and insightful input and feedback.
    [Show full text]
  • The Victims' Court?
    2015 THE VICTIMS’ COURT? A Study of 622 Victim Participants at the International Criminal Court UGANDA DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO KENYA CÔTE D’IVOIRE THE VICTIMS’ COURT? A Study of 622 Victim Participants at the International Criminal Court UGANDA DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO KENYA CÔTE D’IVOIRE 2015 e Human Rights Center at the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law conducts research on war crimes and other serious violations of international humanitarian law and human rights. Using evidence- based methods and innovative technologies, we support eorts to hold perpetrators accountable and to protect vulnerable populations. We also train students and advocates to document human rights violations and turn this information into eective action. HUMAN RIGHTS CENTER University of California, Berkeley, School of Law Telegraph Avenue, Ste. , Berkeley, CA – Telephone: .. | Email: [email protected] Web: hrc.berkeley.edu | @HRCBerkeley Cover art: Stephen Smith Cody Design and graphics: Nicole Hayward CONTENTS ACRONYMS / v EXECUTIVE SUMMARY / 1 INTRODUCTION / 7 THE STUDY / 9 VICTIM PARTICIPATION AND PROCEDURAL JUSTICE / 12 VICTIM PARTICIPATION IN CRIMINAL TRIALS / 16 VICTIM PARTICIPATION AT THE INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT / 18 THE VICTIM PARTICIPATION PROCESS / 20 MODELS OF VICTIM PARTICIPATION / 26 UGANDA / 29 DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO / 38 KENYA / 47 CÔTE D’IVOIRE / 60 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS / 71 APPENDIX 1: AUTHORS AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS / 75 APPENDIX 2: VICTIM PARTICIPANT QUESTIONNAIRE / 76 ACRONYMS ASP Assembly of States
    [Show full text]
  • No. ICC-01/05-01/13 8 January 2014 Official Court Translation Original
    ICC-01/05-01/13-71-tENG 20-01-2014 1/21 NM PT Original: French No.: ICC-01/05-01/13 Date: 8 January 2014 PRE-TRIAL CHAMBER II Before: Judge Cuno Tarfusser, Single Judge SITUATION IN THE CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC IN THE CASE OF THE PROSECUTOR v. JEAN-PIERRE BEMBA GOMBO, AIMÉ KILOLO MUSAMBA, JEAN-JACQUES MANGENDA KABONGO, FIDÈLE BABALA WANDU AND NARCISSE ARIDO Public Document Application for release Source: Counsel for the Defence of Jean-Jacques Mangenda Kabongo No. ICC-01/05-01/13 1/21 8 January 2014 Official Court Translation ICC-01/05-01/13-71-tENG 20-01-2014 2/21 NM PT Document to be notified in accordance with regulation 31 of the Regulations of the Court to: Office of the Prosecutor Counsel for Jean-Jacques Mangenda Fatou Bensouda Kabongo James Stewart Jean Flamme Counsel for Jean-Pierre Bemba Gombo Nicholas Kaufman Counsel for Aimé Kilolo Musamba Jean-Pierre Kilenda Kakengi Basila Counsel for Fidèle Babala Wandu Prof Jean-Pierre Fofé Djofia Malewa Legal Representatives of Victims Legal Representatives of Applicants Legal Representatives of Victims Legal Representatives of Applicants Unrepresented Victims Unrepresented Applicants for Participation/Reparations Office of Public Counsel for Victims Office of Public Counsel for the Defence Xavier-Jean Keita States’ Representatives Amicus Curiae REGISTRY Registrar Defence Support Section Herman von Hebel Victims and Witnesses Unit Detention Section Victims Participation and Reparations Other Section No. ICC-01/05-01/13 2/21 8 January 2014 Official Court Translation ICC-01/05-01/13-71-tENG 20-01-2014 3/21 NM PT 1.
    [Show full text]
  • Vrije Universiteit Brussel the Idealist Advocate Meets the Legal
    Vrije Universiteit Brussel The Idealist Advocate Meets the Legal Positivist. Untangling Christine Van den Wyngaert’s Approach to Interpreting International Criminal Law Holvoet, Mathias; De Hert, Paul Published in: La CVDW. Liber Amicorum Chris Van den Wyngaert Publication date: 2017 Link to publication Citation for published version (APA): Holvoet, M., & De Hert, P. (2017). The Idealist Advocate Meets the Legal Positivist. Untangling Christine Van den Wyngaert’s Approach to Interpreting International Criminal Law. In S. Dewulf (Ed.), La CVDW. Liber Amicorum Chris Van den Wyngaert (pp. 239-256). Antwerp: Maklu. General rights Copyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the public portal are retained by the authors and/or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights. • Users may download and print one copy of any publication from the public portal for the purpose of private study or research. • You may not further distribute the material or use it for any profit-making activity or commercial gain • You may freely distribute the URL identifying the publication in the public portal Take down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. Download date: 08. Oct. 2021 The Idealist Advocate Meets the Legal Positivist U ntangling Chri stine Vøn den Wyngaer t' s þpro ach and C ontnbution to lnt er nati on ol Cnminal J u stic e Mer¡¡ns Holvosr Researcher Institute for European Studies VUBrussel PauL Ds HSRT Hoofddocent VUBrussel / Tilburg Universiry I Introduction: The l(atnngø and Ngudjolo Opiniors and Van den Wyngaert's legal thinking Judge Christine Van den Wyngaert is undoubtedly to be considered as a pioneer of International Criminal Law (ICL) as we know it today.
    [Show full text]
  • Paul De Hert
    Paul De Hert Contact Paul De Hert Law Science Technology & Society (LSTS) Building B, room 4B317 Vrije Universiteit Brussel Pleinlaan 2 B-1050 Brussels Belgium Phone secretary +32 2 629 24 60 direct fax +32 2 629 26 62 Email [email protected] Prof. Paul De Hert's work addresses problems in the area of privacy & technology, human rights and criminal law. Currently he is expanding his scope of interest including research on issues with regard to the human rights status of the elderly and the principle of neutrality in a democratic state. To satisfy his multiple curiosities de Hert teams up regularly with other authors. A human rights approach combined with a concern for theory is the common denominator of all his work. In his formative years, de Hert studied law, philosophy and religious sciences (1985-1992). After several books and articles in law and a productive decade of research for the Flemish Funds for Scientific Research, the Belgian Justice Department, the Department of Interior Affairs and the Brussels University Research Council in areas such as policing, video surveillance, international cooperation in criminal affairs and international exchange of police information, he broadened up his scope of interests and published a book on the European Convention on Human Rights (1998) and defended a doctorate in law in which he compared the constitutional strength of eighteenth and twentieth century constitutionalism in the light of contemporary social control practices ('Early Constitutionalism and Social Control. Liberal Democracy Hesitating between Rights Thinking and Liberty Thinking' (2000, Promoter: Prof. dr. Bart De Schutter (VUB)).
    [Show full text]
  • Challenges of Domestic Prosecution of War Crimes with Special Attention to Criminal Justice Guarantees
    DOI 10.15774/PPKE.JAK.2013.002 Challenges of domestic prosecution of war crimes with special attention to criminal justice guarantees Varga Réka doktori értekezés Témavezető: Prof. Dr. habil. Kovács Péter egyetemi tanár Társ-témavezető: Dr. habil. Gellér Balázs József egyetemi docens Pázmány Péter Katolikus Egyetem Jog-és Államtudományi Doktori Iskola Budapest, 2012 1 DOI 10.15774/PPKE.JAK.2013.002 Köszönetnyilvánítás / Acknowledgement Hálás köszönettel tartozom Dr. Gellér Balázsnak, hogy egyetemi tanáromként felkeltette az érdeklődésemet a téma iránt és erre a szakterületre terelt. Szakmai irányítása és megjegyzései nélkül nem jutottam volna túl a dolgozat első fázisán. Hasonlóan hálás köszönet illeti Dr. Kovács Pétert, aki konstruktív észrevételeivel oroszlánrészt vállalt abban, hogy a dolgozatot kibővítsem, megfelelő szerkezetbe foglaljam és befejezzem. A dolgozat családi összefogás eredménye. Külön köszönettel tartozom ezért édesapámnak, hogy beszélgetéseinkkel hozzásegített ahhoz, hogy a témát tágabb összefüggéseiben is lássam. Hasonlóan hálás vagyok édesanyámnak és férjemnek, hogy a kisfiam körüli teendők átvállalásával időt adtak arra, hogy a dolgozattal foglalkozhassam. 2 DOI 10.15774/PPKE.JAK.2013.002 Table of contents I. Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 5 II. Evolution of international criminal jurisdiction, individual responsibility and the definition of war crimes; international obligations on repression of grave breaches
    [Show full text]
  • Thesis (Complete)
    UvA-DARE (Digital Academic Repository) The shared protection of human rights at the International Criminal Court Irving, E.-L. Publication date 2017 Document Version Final published version License Other Link to publication Citation for published version (APA): Irving, E-L. (2017). The shared protection of human rights at the International Criminal Court. General rights It is not permitted to download or to forward/distribute the text or part of it without the consent of the author(s) and/or copyright holder(s), other than for strictly personal, individual use, unless the work is under an open content license (like Creative Commons). Disclaimer/Complaints regulations If you believe that digital publication of certain material infringes any of your rights or (privacy) interests, please let the Library know, stating your reasons. In case of a legitimate complaint, the Library will make the material inaccessible and/or remove it from the website. Please Ask the Library: https://uba.uva.nl/en/contact, or a letter to: Library of the University of Amsterdam, Secretariat, Singel 425, 1012 WP Amsterdam, The Netherlands. You will be contacted as soon as possible. UvA-DARE is a service provided by the library of the University of Amsterdam (https://dare.uva.nl) Download date:02 Oct 2021 The Shared Protection of Human Rights at the International Criminal Court Emma Irving The Shared Protection of Human Rights at the International Criminal Court ACADEMISCH PROEFSCHRIFT ter verkrijging van de graad van doctor aan de Universiteit van Amsterdam op gezag van de Rector Magnicus prof. dr. ir. K.I.J. Maex ten overstaan van een door het College voor Promoties ingestelde commissie, in het openbaar te verdedigen in de Agnietenkapel op vrijdag 24 maart 2017, te 12:00 uur door Emma-Leigh Irving geboren te Peterborough, Verenigd Koninkrijk Promotiecommissie Promotores prof.
    [Show full text]
  • Individual Criminal Liability for the International Crime of Aggression
    Individual criminal liability for the international crime of aggression Gerhard Kemp Dissertation presented for the Degree of Doctor of Law at Stellenbosch University Promoter: Prof MG Erasmus Co-promoter: Prof SE van der Merwe March 2008 Declaration By submitting this dissertation electronically, I declare that the entirety of the work contained therein is my own, original work, that I am the owner of the copyright thereof (unless to the extent explicitly otherwise stated) and that I have not previously in its entirety or in part submitted it for obtaining any qualification. Date: 19 February 2008 Copyright © 2008 Stellenbosch University All rights reserved ii Summary Aggression is regarded as one of the core crimes under customary international law, but the definition of aggression is still contentious. At present there is no international instrument that provides for effective individual criminal liability for the crime of aggression. The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) provides for the inclusion of the crime of aggression within the court’s jurisdiction, but the Statute needs to be amended to include a definition of aggression and conditions for the exercise of jurisdiction by the ICC. This dissertation seeks to identify the elements of the international crime of aggression, for purposes of individual criminal liability. It is submitted that the creation of the ICC provides the international community with an historic opportunity to establish effective jurisdiction over the crime of aggression. Part A puts the research problem in its proper context. The international political and legal system, based on state sovereignty, provides the background to the analysis.
    [Show full text]
  • The Quest for International Criminal Liability with Regard to Corporations
    Faculty of Law Ghent University 2011 – 2012 The Quest for International Criminal Liability with regard to Corporations A Master’s Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master in Law By Lynn Verrydt (00705157) Promotor: Prof. Dr. Tom Vander Beken. Commissioner: Prof. Dr. Gert Vermeulen Acknowledgements The author would like to express her sincere gratitude to the following people, without whose kindness, support, advice and/or patience, the process of writing this master’s thesis could not have been completed. First and foremost, my kind-hearted parents, whose limitless love and support I cannot even describe, for not only encouraging me, but most of all for providing me with the oportunity of an education, which I never have and never will take for granted. Secondly, Karel Vincent, who couragesly weathered each moment of despair and whose calming personality I have come to love. Thirdly, I would like to preserve a special thanks for Ilona Truyts, Liesbeth Haak, Charlotte Jacobs and Valerie Demedts, for their kind support, willing suggestions and most of all for their vallued friendships. Furthermore, I wish to express my deep gratitude to Judge Chris Van Den Wyngaert, for providing me with an eyeopening interview, as well as a peek inside the International Criminal Court. And last but not least, particular acknowledgment is due to Prof. Dr. Tom Vander Beken, for his guidance and insight, to soon to be Doctor Wendy De Bondt, whose valuable advise leaves me indebted to her and Prof. Dr. Gert Vermeulen, whose enthusiasm is simply contagious. 1 Table of Contents Acknowledgements ...............................................................................................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Prosecuting Crimes of International Concern: Islamic State at the ICC? Cóman Kenny*
    UTRECHT JOURNAL OF Cóman Kenny, ‘Prosecuting Crimes of International Concern: Islamic INTERNATIONAL AND EUROPEAN LAW State at the ICC?’ (2017) 33(84) Utrecht Journal of International and European Law, pp. 120-145 DOI: https://doi.org/10.5334/ ujiel.364 RESEARCH ARTICLE Prosecuting Crimes of International Concern: Islamic State at the ICC? Cóman Kenny* The rise of Islamic State (IS) has fundamentally altered the conception of terrorism, a development which international criminal law is arguably unprepared for. Given the scale and gravity of the group’s crimes, questions abound as to how those responsible will be held accountable. In the absence of significant domestic prosecutions and short of the establishment of a dedicated accountability mechanism, the International Criminal Court (ICC) stands as the forum of last resort in which IS members could stand trial. Such a proposition is not without significant challenges, however. This article addresses some key issues facing any potential prosecutions from the perspective of: (i) jurisdiction; (ii) applicable crimes; and (iii) modes of liability. First, as Syria, Iraq, and Libya are not States Parties to the Rome Statute, the available avenues for asserting jurisdiction will be assessed, namely: a Security Council referral; jurisdiction over so called ‘foreign fighters’ who are State Party nationals; and jurisdiction over attacks on the territory of a State Party and whether they could be considered part of a broader series of criminal acts in IS held territory. Second, as there is no crime of terrorism in the Rome Statute, the question of prosecuting acts encapsulated in a systematic campaign of terror through existing provisions will be assessed.
    [Show full text]