International Criminal Law

[Alessandra Spadaro works as Assistant Professor in Public International Law at Utrecht University. She is conducting a three-year project titled “Business in and for war: the role and limits of international humanitarian law”, which is funded by the Dutch Research Council.] In a recent post on this blog, my colleague Jérôme de Hemptinne calls on (Western) international lawyers to engage with...

On June 25, the Secretary General of the Council of Europe (CoE) and the President of Ukraine signed an agreement to create a Special Tribunal for the Crime of Aggression Against Ukraine (STCoA). The tribunal, which will be based on Ukraine's territorial jurisdiction but will have a number of international elements -- and is thus properly categorised as a hybrid...

[Megan Hirst is ICC victims' representative in the Bangladesh/Myanmar and Afghanistan situations. Marie O'Leary is acting Principal Counsel for the ICC Office of Public Counsel for the Defence (OPCD). The views in this post are those of the author alone and do not reflect the views of the ICC. Valeria Babără is Legal Adviser at Women's Initiatives for Gender Justice. Danya Chaikel...

[Megan Hirst is ICC victims' representative in the Bangladesh/Myanmar and Afghanistan situations. Marie O'Leary is acting Principal Counsel for the ICC Office of Public Counsel for the Defence (OPCD). The views in this post are those of the author alone and do not reflect the views of the ICC. Valeria Babără is Legal Adviser at Women's Initiatives for Gender Justice. Danya Chaikel is the...

[Dr Alison Bisset is an Associate Professor in International Human Rights Law at the University of Reading School of Law] The Ljubljana-The Hague Convention on International Cooperation in the Investigation and Prosecution of the Crimes of Genocide, Crimes Against Humanity, War Crimes and Other International Crimes was adopted in May 2023, creating a previously lacking global framework for inter-state judicial cooperation on international...

[Isabelle Haßfurther is a senior legal advisor in the International Crimes and Accountability program at the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR). ECCHR has been supporting the reform process and is one of over 80 co-signatories of the Joint Civil Society Statement calling for harmonization of the ICC’s jurisdiction over the crime of aggression with jurisdiction over the other three core crimes.] In less...

[Dr Sarah Zarmsky is a Lecturer (Assistant Professor) at Queen’s University Belfast School of Law] Thank you to Professor Kevin Jon Heller for his helpful comments on an earlier version of this post. Introduction Yesterday, the Associated Press (AP) reported that a confidential report had been submitted to the International Criminal Court (ICC) which argues that the Russia-linked Wagner Group has committed international...

[Natasha Yvonne Barigye is an International Justice Fellow at Amnesty International and a lawyer specialising in international criminal law. Melissa Hendrickse is a Legal Advisor at Amnesty International, specialising in racial justice and international criminal law.  Vito Todeschini is a Legal Advisor at Amnesty International, where he advises on international humanitarian law, international criminal law and international human rights law.] Introduction In the last...

[Deniz Mykola Dirisu is an international OSINT consultant and co-founder of OSINT For Ukraine, with experience in building and leading diverse teams across borders within the context of digital investigations and justice. Manon-Catherine Balbinot serves as the War Crimes Task Force Leader at OSINT For Ukraine, leveraging OSINT techniques to uncover war crimes and bring perpetrators to justice. She is...

Introduction On 27 November 2024, Israel appealed two decisions of the Pre-Trial Chamber that were issued simultaneously with the arrest warrants for Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant. The first decision rejected Israel's claim that it was entitled to a new Art. 18 notification because the OTP's s investigation after October 7 was substantially different than the investigation the OTP opened...

[Terje Einarsen is Professor of International Law at the University of Bergen and Chairperson of the Norwegian Section of International Commission of Jurists]  Part I of this post discussed why the jurisdiction should be extended and the current proposal to amend Article 15bis. An Alternative Proposal: Amending Article 5 Against this background (see Part I), it would presumably be better and more effective...

[Terje Einarsen is Professor of International Law at the University of Bergen and Chairperson of the Norwegian Section of International Commission of Jurists] The Assembly of State Parties special session on the review of the amendments on the crime of aggression will be held at the United Nations, New York, 7 to 9 July 2025.  It comes with a challenging geopolitical...