In association with the International Commission of Jurists

Courts & Tribunals

10 Apr

[Kingsley Abbott is the International Commission of Jurists' Senior Legal Adviser for Global Redress and Accountability & Saman Zia-Zarifi is the Secretary General of the International Commission of Jurists. This is the first part of a two-part post.] Introduction The International Independent Investigative Mechanism for Syria and the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar are recent examples of States responding to situations where...

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10 Apr

[Christopher “Kip” Hale currently serves a legal advisor on atrocity crime investigations in conflict zones. Previously, Kip has worked at the American Bar Association, Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, and the UN-International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. Santiago Vargas Niño is a Legal Officer at the Tribunal for Peace of the Special Jurisdiction for Peace, Colombia. The...

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01 Apr

Well, that was predictable. The Ntaganda defence has filed two motions relating to the news that the ICC's judges have permitted Judge Ozaki to simultaneously serve as a judge in the case and as Japan's ambassador to Estonia. The first, directed to the Presidency, is styled "Request for Disclosure Concerning the Decision of the Plenary of Judges on the Judicial Independence...

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29 Mar

This is truly scandalous -- even by the ICC's standards. Thomas Verfuss explains: The Hague Judge Kuniko Ozaki wants to leave her position as a full-time judge of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague to become the ambassador of Japan in Estonia in April. Her departure from fulltime engagement at the ICC comes before she and two of her colleagues...

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28 Mar

[Mark Ellis is Executive Director of the International Bar Association, London.] On March 24, 2016, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (“ICTY”) convicted Radovan Karadžić of genocide, crimes against humanity, and violations of the laws or customs of war. Almost exactly three years later, on March 20, 2019, the Appeals Chamber of the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals...

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25 Mar

Last week, the excellent lawyers at The Guernica Group, led by my friend Toby Cadman, filed an Article 15 communication with the Office of the Prosecutor (OTP) arguing that the ICC should open an investigation into the deportation of civilians from Syria to Jordan. The communication itself is not public, so what we know of TGG's legal argument comes from their...

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23 Mar

[Mark Drumbl is Professor at Washington and Lee University, School of Law. His research and teaching interests include public international law, global environmental governance, international criminal law, post-conflict justice, and transnational legal process. This contribution was originally posted at legalsightseeing.org. ] International judges get so very few monuments in their honor. One such judge, however, has two. This judge is Radhabinod Pal, from India....

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13 Mar

The Philippines' withdrawal from the ICC becomes effective this Saturday, March 17. There are domestic legal proceedings underway that have the potential to nullify the withdrawal. But if the withdrawal goes forward, we are faced with an important question: what happens to the OTP's preliminary examination? This is, of course, Burundi redux. In that case, the OTP preserved its ability to...

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12 Mar

Jean-Pierre Bemba, recently finally acquitted by the Appeals Chamber, dropped quite the legal bombshell last night on the ICC: he is demanding nearly €70,000,000 from the Court -- €22,000,000 in compensation for the 10 years he spent in detention; €4,000,000 in legal fees; and €42,400,000 for the economic loss he has suffered as a result of the Court's mismanagement of property it...

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07 Mar

[Alexandra Lily Kather is a Legal Advisor at ECCHR’s International Crimes and Accountability Program. Anne Schroeter is a Legal Advisor at ECCHR’s International Crimes and Accountability Program. This post represents the personal views of the authors and does not necessarily reflect the views of the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights. This is Part II of a two-part post.] This change of course...

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07 Mar

[Alexandra Lily Kather is a Legal Advisor at ECCHR’s International Crimes and Accountability Program. Anne Schroeter is a Legal Advisor at ECCHR’s International Crimes and Accountability Program. This post represents the personal views of the authors and does not necessarily reflect the views of the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights. This is Part I of a two-part post.] With ISIL’s territorial control...

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