Search: palestine icc
27 Jun Admissibility Challenge in The Prosecutor v. Saif Al-Islam Gaddafi: Take Two
...another court. The Court has used a ‘substantially the same conduct’ test, which means that the domestic authorities and the ICC are prosecuting the ‘same conduct’ where there is substantial overlap between the incidents investigated by the domestic authorities and the ICC or where the investigation by the domestic authorities covers the crux of the ICC’s case or the most serious aspects thereof (Gaddafi, Appeals Chamber, para 72). Gaddafi’s admissibility challenge raises the question of whether the ‘substantially the same conduct’ test also applies to ne bis in idem in...
17 Aug States of Justice Symposium: Interrogating States of Justice–The Politics of the International Criminal Court
[ Melissa L. Simms is currently a Legal Officer with the United Nations and formerly with the International Criminal Court. The views expressed in this post are those of the author and do not reflect the views of the United Nations or the ICC.] Oumar Ba, Assistant Professor of Political Science at Morehouse College in Atlanta, United States has certainly stoked interest in his publication just by its provocative title, “States of Justice: The Politics of the International Criminal Court (ICC).” The title itself encapsulates an issue that has bedeviled...
29 Sep Constructing a Case against Myanmar: New Developments and a Question on Evidence
though it is unclear whether they are at the hands of the ICC or the Dutch government – see here and here. It is as yet unclear whether ICC OTP officials have had opportunity to question the soldiers. Whither the ICJ and ICC proceedings? With cases in full swing before the ICJ and ICC, it is worth examining the legal implications of this crucial development. It is rare that more than one set of international proceedings concerning the same subject matter are conducted parallel to one another. The scope of...19 Feb The ICC Is Not Shying Away from the Georgian Challenge
Even so, the Prosecutor could not lay charges for the crime of aggression with regard to the issue of South Ossetia due to the non-retroactive nature of the Court’s jurisdiction. The ICC´s decision to open an investigation in Georgia is significant because it is the first investigation into a situation outside the African continent. The ICC focus on Africa has led to accusations that the Court has been biased. However, a majority of ICC investigations have been opened at the request of African governments, even if these investigations can be...19 Jul The Most Distressing Paragraph in the Comoros Review Decision
of affairs in Gaza? I would assume that if the ICC prosecutor launched a formal probe against Israeli officials, and it went into a formal trial phase, the Israeli defense may mention this among its arguments. "If they are part of the illegal situation that Comoros or Palestine have referred to the Court, then the Prosecutor should follow the facts and evidence where they lead, and indict those who are responsible. A tu quoque argument would not preclude investigation or prosecution of Israeli officials." It would if the ICC is...18 Sep Should the U.S. Accept the ICC’s “Invitation” to Illegally Arrest Bashir?
An ICC chamber, at the request of the ICC Prosecutor, has issued a decision “remind[ing]” U.S. authorities of the two Arrest Warrants issued by the ICC, and “invit[ing]” U.S. authorities to apprehend Bashir and turn him over to the ICC. This is not exactly surprising. Still, it is worth noting that the ICC chamber reviews the legal landscape and it concludes (rightly in my view) that the U.S. has no legal obligation to arrest Bashir if he comes to the U.S. This is true both because the U.S. is a...15 May Guest Post: The End of the Road for Ngudjolo and the Stacked Odds Against ICC Acquitted
Ngudjolo provided details as to his position in the militia hierarchy. The Dutch authorities then used this information, combined with other reports about the conflict, to invoke Article 1F. For reasons that the ICC has kept confidential, Ngudjolo was also excluded from ICC witness protection. He was therefore stuck in a lose-lose situation: give evidence in his own defence but have nowhere to go if acquitted, or do not give evidence and increase the chance of conviction. Then there was the inaction on the part of the ICC. The dilemma...17 Jul The Pre-Trial Chamber’s Dangerous Comoros Review Decision
...are no procedures in place that require its judicial organs to advise the Prosecutor when one of the ICC's member states refers to an alleged violation of the Rome Statute in a formal written submission, as Jordan did in 2003. The situation in Palestine wasn't dragged-in over the transom, it walked right in the front door of the ICC in 2009 when the government of Palestine accepted the Court's jurisdiction. It isn't the fault of Comoros or anyone else that the Prosecutors failed to properly address the situation. At the...
09 Aug Symposium on Unbroken Bond: Tracing the Ties Between African and Palestinian Anti-Colonial Struggles – When Nelson Mandela was (Considered) a Terrorist and the “Natural Alliance” between South Africa and Palestine
argued that while Zionists insist on Israel’s historic right to Palestine, it is in fact only Europe’s imperial power that made Israel’s creation possible. Starting with the Balfour Declaration in 1917, the British promoted the settlement of European Jews in Palestine similar to the encouragement provided by European colonial states for the migration of settlers to Africa. In this scenario, South Africa followed a tortuous route to independence for its Black majority. South African political conditions resembled those in occupied Palestine today and required outside intervention to realise the political...
15 Nov Ten Recommendations to Prosecutor Karim Khan to Improve his Relationship with Civil Society during Preliminary Examinations: Perspectives from the Situation Countries
While the OTP operates under the strict confidentiality terms reflected in the Rome Statute, there is little to no information available on the ICC website describing the OTP’s confidentiality policy. This has left many civil society groups with the fear that their information may be shared with governments, particularly in countries hostile to the ICC, where even the most basic information is sensitive—for instance in Myanmar, Palestine/Israel, or Venezuela. As a result, some civil society groups have decided against transmitting valuable information to the ICC. Recommendation 4: The OTP should...