International Criminal Law

[Stephen J. Rapp is a Senior Fellow at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum’s Center for Prevention of Genocide and at the Blavatnik School of Government of Oxford University. He was formerly Ambassador-at-Large heading the Office of Global Criminal Justice in the US State Department, and between 2007-2009, was the Prosecutor of the Special Court for Sierra Leone. This essay was initially prepared at the...

[Charles C. Jalloh is a Professor of Law at Florida International University. He previously served as a legal adviser in the Special Court for Sierra Leone and is founder of the Center for International Law and Policy in Africa based in Freetown. His related works include, as editor, The Sierra Leone Special Court and Its Legacy: The Impact for Africa...

Another great symposium is lined up for this and next week discussing Charles Jalloh's monograph, The Legal Legacy of the Special Court for Sierra Leone (Cambridge, 2020). From the publisher: This important book considers whether the Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL), which was established jointly through an unprecedented bilateral treaty between the United Nations (UN) and Sierra Leone in 2002,...

Events ‘Law. Not War.’ – Special Event honouring Ben Ferencz on his 101st Birthday: Honouring the 101st birthday of the Benjamin ‘Ben’ Ferencz, the last living prosecutor of the Nuremberg trials, the Nuremberg Academy is holding a special live online event on 11 March 2021 starting at 5 p.m. CET, moderated by Deputy Director Dr. Viviane Dittrich. We invite you to join us on...

Justin Loveland is a freelance legal consultant in public international law, transitional justice, and international human rights, currently working as Senior Legal Consultant to the Truth, Reconciliation and National Unity Commission of Seychelles. Twitter: @justinmloveland Photo: Kelly Kline Victoria, Mahé, Seychelles—June 5, 1977. In the Indian Ocean northeast of Madagascar, on the main island of Mahé, Prime Minister France-Albert René unseated the...

As readers no doubt know, Fatou Bensouda announced yesterday that the OTP is opening a formal investigation into the situation in Palestine. Doing so was a foregone conclusion, given the Pre-Trial Chamber's recent decision that the ICC has jurisdiction over crimes committed in Gaza, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem. Regardless, even if the bulk of the work will fall...

Jennifer Trahan is Clinical Professor at NYU's Center for Global Affairs and Director of their Concentration in International Law & Human Rights. A reset of US policy toward the International Criminal Court (ICC) is sorely needed. It is also time for the US, which historically has been a leader in the field of international justice, to reassume that leadership mantle. Rescind Sanctions...

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...

Events Virtual Event on "Why Mechanisms and Not Tribunals?": The NYU School of Professional Studies (NYUSPS) Center for Global Affairs is pleased to announce a virtual event on "Why Mechanisms and Not Tribunals? - What the Syria, Iraq, and Myanmar Investigative Mechanisms say about the current state of International Justice." Join practitioners and critical thinkers in the field of international justice...

[Danya Chaikel is a Canadian lawyer who specialises in international criminal law, currently consulting with the Women’s Initiatives for Gender Justice (WIGJ) on their Call it what it is campaign, an #ATLASToo admin, and an officer on the IBA’s War Crimes Committee. Thanks to Alix Vuillemin and Valeria Babără who helped with this post. Part I of this post can be found here.] IER report – a gamechanger? The IER Report was released...

[Danya Chaikel is a Canadian lawyer who specialises in international criminal law, currently consulting with the Women’s Initiatives for Gender Justice (WIGJ) on their Call it what it is campaign, an #ATLASToo admin, and an officer on the IBA’s War Crimes Committee. Thanks to Alix Vuillemin and Valeria Babără who helped with this post] The next ICC Prosecutor has been chosen, following a prolonged election fraught with procedural controversies which ultimately overshadowed...

[Parisa Zangeneh is a PhD student at the Irish Centre for Human Rights, National University of Ireland, Galway, where she is a recipient of the Hardiman Scholarship.] Photo: Parisa Zangeneh The story begins with an invitation of sorts. An invitation to enter the Nuremberg Palace of Justice, where the trial of Hans Frank for crimes against humanity committed during the Holocaust was...