In association with the International Commission of Jurists

International Criminal Law

07 Mar

[Stephen Rapp is a former US Ambassador-at-Large for Global Criminal Justice and former international prosecutor at Rwanda and Sierra Leone tribunals.] The Court of the Citizens of the World’ - a peoples tribunal - was organized by the Cinema for Peace Foundation, relating to the crime of aggression in Ukraine. The tribunal considered charges brought against Vladimir Putin for the crime...

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23 Feb

A few days ago, the European Law Institute published its final report on ecocide. The report not only provides a definition of ecocide, it also contains Model Rules for an EU Directive and a Council Decision that ELI hopes will both "contribute to the inter-institutional negotiations in the EU on the Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and...

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31 Jan

1 February marks the second anniversary of the coup d’état in Myanmar. In the past year, the situation for the population has only become more fraught and difficult. The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights estimates that 2,890 individuals have been killed, likely an underestimation, 16,000 have been detained on spurious charges, scores have been tortured, many have been sentenced to death,...

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27 Jan

[Maria Elena Vignoli is a senior international justice counsel at Human Rights Watch.] The events of 2022 brought renewed attention and support for accountability for serious international crimes. Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine brought images of mass burial sites and bombed-out cities back on the front pages, and the far-reaching impact of the conflict triggered a strong response from the international...

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19 Jan

[Ezequiel Jimenez is a PhD candidate at Middlesex University (United Kingdom). This blog arises from his thesis on the Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute. All comments and feedback welcome at ezejim@gmail.com.] From 5 to 10 December 2022, delegates from the 123 States Parties to the Rome Statute met at the World Forum in The Hague for its twenty-first Assembly session. By virtue of the...

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29 Nov

[Dr. Marta Bo is an Associate Senior Researcher on emerging military technologies at Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), Researcher in Public International Law at the University of Amsterdam- Asser Institute and Research Fellow at the Geneva Graduate Institute.] To hold an individual criminally responsible for committing an unlawful attack, it must be established that they launched the attack with some...

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28 Nov

[Fajri Matahati Muhammadin is an assistant professor at the Department of International Law, Faculty of Law, Universitas Gadjah Mada, Indonesia, and Director of Pusat Kajian Hukum Internasional Islam (Research Center for Islamic International Law).] Al-Mahdi: An Overlooked Question Before being brought to the ICC, Al-Mahdi made Islamic justifications for attacking shrines and a mosque (after actually previously being against it). His Al-Qaeda...

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22 Nov

The Sixth Committee of the United Nations adopted resolution A/C.6/77/L.4 on the Draft Convention on Prevention and Punishment of Crimes against Humanity on 18 November 2022. This draft convention was elaborated upon and adopted by the International Law Commission, and submitted by the ILC to the General Assembly for further consideration and action in 2019.  The resolution at the Sixth Committee was co-sponsored...

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15 Nov

[Sandra Cossart is the Executive Director of the French NGO Sherpa which fights new forms of impunity linked to globalization. Anna Kiefer is Advocacy and Litigation Officer at Sherpa. Cannelle Lavite is Co-Director of the Business and Human Rights program at the European Centre for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR). Claire Tixeire is a Senior Legal Advisor at the ECCHR.] “Knowingly paying several million dollars to an...

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14 Nov

[Dr Jonathan Kolieb is Senior Lecturer and Peace and Conflict Theme Lead, Business and Human Rights Centre, at RMIT University in Australia. Ann Letch is a PhD Candidate at RMIT University, Australia.] Another chapter in the pursuit of accountability for business people for committing heinous human rights abuses is (finally) unfolding in The Hague, Netherlands over the coming weeks. After 26...

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