In association with the International Commission of Jurists

Author: Kevin Jon Heller

26 Feb

Andras Vamos-Goldman has a long post today at Just Security criticising the UK's recent adoption of the Overseas Operations (Service Personnel and Veterans) Bill, which will make it considerably more difficult for British courts to prosecute soldiers who commit international crimes overseas or to hear civil actions brought by the victims of such crimes. He also decries in general the lack of...

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10 Feb

Few things bother me more than journalists who seemingly cannot be bothered to accurately describe what the ICC does. Here is what Isabel Kershner, a Jerusalem correspondent for the New York Times, wrote about the Pre-Trial Chamber's recent decision that the Court has jurisdiction over the situation in Palestine (my emphasis): Dealing a severe diplomatic blow to Israel, the court ruled...

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08 Jan

Six important African NGOs have sent a letter to the Bureau of the Assembly of States Parties offering their enthusiastic endorsement of Karim Khan's candidacy for ICC Prosecutor. The signatories are Club des Amis du droit du Congo (DRC); Ligue pour la paix, les droits de l’homme et la justice (DRC), Bureau d’études et de réflexions pour le bien être...

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05 Jan

On New Year's Eve, the Trial Chamber overseeing the Al Hassan case referred Hassan's lead defence counsel, Melinda Taylor, to the Registry for violating the Code of Professional Conduct for Counsel. That referral will trigger an investigation by a Disciplinary Commissioner into Taylor's actions. The Trial Chamber's referral stems from a tweet that Taylor posted the day before Christmas concerning her...

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04 Jan

A guilty admission: I had not seen Rob in person for the past few years. He was in Birmingham; I was in Amsterdam. He wasn't traveling as much, and our paths didn't cross. I didn't even know how sick he was for a while. Rob wasn't the type to make or want people to feel sorry for him. Fortunately, Rob and...

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12 Dec

In my previous post, which was quite critical of the OTP's decision not to seek authorization to investigate British war crimes in Iraq, I made two central points. The first was that, pursuant to the Afghanistan appeals judgment, the OTP would not have needed to present the Pre-Trial Chamber (PTC) with information concerning complementarity and the PTC would not have...

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01 Dec

A number of us -- me, Aurel Sari, Eliav Lieblich, Andrew Bell, Sasha Greenawalt, Craig Martin, Ed Swaine -- have been having an interesting discussion on Twitter about two important issues concerning the use of force. The first is when IHL begins to apply in an IAC. The traditional position is that any use of interstate force triggers IHL and...

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24 Nov

A few days ago, I had the pleasure of giving an online lecture for the Iranian Center for International Criminal Law about the relationship between the US and the ICC. In the lecture, I trace the evolution of the US-ICC relationship and try to predict what that relationship will look like under President Biden. I also speculate about why Trump has...

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17 Nov

I just had the pleasure of a sharp exchange on Twitter with my dear friend Mark Kersten, one of the most insightful commentators on the ICC. The exchange was motivated by the ASP making it "officially official" (Mark's nicely turned phrase) that the process for electing the next Prosecutor will be opened up to include (at a minimum) any longlisted...

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16 Oct

According to Stephanie Maupas, in late July the chair of the Committee on the Election of the Prosecutor (CEP), Sabine Nölke, said the following concerning the Committee's vetting of candidates long-listed for Prosecutor: "I made the statement very clearly to the States Parties, the vetting process did not disclose any disqualifying information,” she said. The Canadian diplomat also asserted, not without...

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14 Sep

On July 16, a coalition of 10 civil-society groups released a joint statement concerning the process the Assembly of States Parties (ASP) created to shortlist candidates for the next ICC Prosecutor. The statement praised "the rigorous process undertaken by the Committee and Panel and the criteria considered to evaluate candidates," applauded "the Committee’s initiative" in setting up an (admittedly incomplete)...

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