Search: palestine icc
11 Oct Rethinking International Law After Gaza Symposium: Unlawful Occupation as Ongoing Aggression – Rethinking Legal Responses in the Context of Palestine
[Ihsan Adel is the Founder and Chair of Law for Palestine and an international lawyer currently pursuing a PhD in Germany] The Israeli occupation of Palestine has long tested the limits and efficacy of international law. However, recent legal developments, particularly the ICJ’s advisory opinion, have intensified the call to recognise this occupation not only as an illegal act but as an outright form of aggression. This marks a significant turning point. The prohibition of aggression lies at the core of the international legal order established after the World Wars;...
03 Sep Occupation and Self-Defence in the Case of Palestine
...of statehood). When Kuwait was under Iraqi occupation, there was little doubt over whether it still retained statehood. The 2024 ICJ opinion on the consequences of the occupation reaffirms Palestine’s territorial integrity, treating it as a composite whole that is not Israel’s to claim. One could then argue that Palestine’s status now is similar to that of a state under foreign belligerent occupation. One must also contend with the reality that the Palestinian Authority does not claim to be exercising a right to self-defence through use of force. This is...
19 Apr ICC Sanctions Symposium: Sanctions Gone, But Don’t Celebrate Too Quickly!
westerners and NATO personnel from prosecution in those ICC situations. With the Afghanistan investigation looming however, this is the most vulnerable that the US has ever been in regard to the ICC’s reach. To complicate matters further, the investigation in Palestine raises the stakes even higher for the US and Israel. And the Rome Statute’s ‘threat’ to Israel has always preoccupied the US government, even during the Rome negotiations. Let’s go back to that hearing on 23 July 1998 in the US Congress. This exchange between Senator Feinstein (a Democrat)...
25 Mar Symposium on Prosecuting Heads of State for International Crimes: Prosecuting Netanyahu for International Crimes – Playing the Long Game
on the territory of the State of Palestine, of which Israel is the belligerent occupant, following Palestine’s accession to the ICC Statute in 2015. To date, the ICC has rejected all of Israel’s jurisdictional challenges. All that is missing is a warm body in the Hague. Apart from apprehending Netanyahu, any court seeking to prosecute him will first need to confront a more fundamental issue: who, exactly, is the man it wants in the dock? Long before a trial begins (if it ever does), the battle over narrative will already be underway....
14 Apr ICC Prosecutor Symposium: Wanted–International Prosecutor to Deliver Justice Successfully Across Multiple Complex Situations with Inadequate Resources
[Jonathan O’Donohue is a consultant on international justice and human rights, formerly a Legal Advisor at Amnesty International. Be sure to also read Ewan Brown and William H. Wiley at Justice in Conflict.] The vacancy announcement circulated globally in August last year emphasizes the extensive skills and experience that the next International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor must bring to the role but makes no mention of the serious resource challenges the successful candidate will face when they take office. The budget of the ICC Office of the Prosecutor (OTP) for...
18 Aug States of Justice Symposium: The Hazy Future of International Criminal Justice in Light of Africa’s Interaction with the ICC
Sudan, Gabon, the DRC, Mali and the Philippines to validate the theoretical arguments long advanced in the literature. The author also interestingly engages with the ICC’s posture in its dealings with these so-called “weaker” states. He clearly demonstrates how the ICC has severally played along and, in some cases, fallen prey to these states’ shenanigans. Throughout the book, the author draws on the empirical evidence in the various states referred to with a critical mind which takes no action/inaction by both states and the ICC for granted. The book will...04 Jun Too Clever by Half: Why the ICC Will Probably Find No Jurisdiction Over the Deportation of the Rohingya
prospect of the ICC side-stepping a deadlocked UN Security Council to bring some modicum of justice to the Rohingya has excited many. Yet it is imperative that we remain sober because there is a thorny issue that was previously, and nearly universally, thought to bar ICC intervention—the lack of personal and territorial jurisdiction. An affirmative ruling on the Prosecutor’s request would be a Grotian moment of jurisdictional expansion for the ICC with consequences that will reach far beyond crimes in Myanmar. When the Rome Statute was drafted, States could never...