In my previous post, I defended the right of the Pre-Trial Chamber (PTC) to review the OTP's assessment of whether there were, to quote Art. 53(1)(c) of the Rome Statute, "substantial reasons to believe that an investigation would not serve the interests of justice." In this post, I want to explain why I think the PTC got that review completely,...
Dov Jacobs has a typically excellent post at Spreading the Jam on the PTC's decision to reject the Afghanistan investigation. I agree with nearly all of it, but I do take issue with this comment: First of all, and perhaps most importantly, the exercise that the Pre-Trial Chamber did is most likely ultra vires. Indeed, Article 53(1)(c) is very clear that...
I will write a longer post tonight criticising the PTC's understanding of the "interests of justice," but I thought I'd start by cutting to the legal chase: can the OTP appeal the PTC's decision to reject its request to investigate the situation in Afghanistan? As I read the Rome Statute, I don't think so. Here is the text of the relevant...
[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 second part of a two-part post. Part I can be found here.] Some important questions In the previous installment we raised some of the arguments in favor of creating...
[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...
[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...
At a time when the International Criminal Court is facing significant challenges, many are questioning the trajectory of the global international criminal justice project. However, universal jurisdiction presents refreshed avenues for justice, particularly in the case of the atrocities committed in Liberia during the civil war in 1989-2003. Last week, the Swiss Office of the Attorney General announced that former United...
Let me start this post with a short story, currently making headlines in my home country. In 2004, Swiss mining giant Xstrata won a public tender to develop one of the most ambitious mining projects in Peru’s history. “Las Bambas”, as the site was called, was supposed to be a model of sustainable development and human rights, featuring a new...
[Victor Kattan is a Senior Research Fellow of the Middle East Institute at the National University of Singapore where he heads the Transsystemic Law Cluster. He is also an Associate Fellow of NUS Law. This is the second part of a two-part post.] To understand how the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) could make a sovereignty claim before 1967, we need to rewind the clock to the last...
[Victor Kattan is a Senior Research Fellow of the Middle East Institute at the National University of Singapore where he heads the Transsystemic Law Cluster. He is also an Associate Fellow of NUS Law. This is the first part of a two-part post.] One of the concerns that arose from US President Donald Trump’s Proclamation recognising the occupied Golan Heights – captured from Syria in the June...
Events The Chinese (Taiwan) Society of International Law will hold the ILA-ASIL Asia-Pacific Research Forum on 17-18 May 2019 at Howard Civil Service International House in Taipei, Taiwan. The theme of the Research Forum is “International Law and Emerging Powers: New Policy Challenges in the Asia-Pacific.” The Research Forum will feature two keynote speakers: Dr Christopher Ward SC, President of...
Events The International Bar Association (IBA) is pleased to announce a conference on "The Next Big Questions for International Criminal Justice." This conference, presented by the IBA War Crimes Committee, will be held at the Peace Palace, The Hague, The Netherlands on 13 April 2019. Topics include: corporate accountability for war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide; private actors and investigations –...