ICC Review in Kampala, Uganda, in June 2010
Amended Statute lists of seven acts of aggression, which are identical to those in United
Nations General Assembly Resolution 3314 of 1974
Invasion or attack by armed forces against territory
Military occupation of territory
Annexation of territory
Bombardment against territory
Use of any weapons against territory
Blockade of ports or coasts
Attack on the land, sea, or air forces or marine and air fleets
The use of armed forces which are within the territory of another state by agreement, but in contravention of the conditions of the agreement
Allowing territory to be used by another state to perpetrate an act of aggression against a third state
Sending armed bands, groups, irregulars, or mercenaries to carry out acts of armed force
Offences against the administration of justice
Article 70 criminalizes certain intentional acts which interfere with investigations and proceedings before the Court, including giving false testimony, presenting false evidence, corruptly influencing a witness or official of the Court, retaliating against an official of the Court, and soliciting or accepting bribes as an official of the Court.
Review Conference of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court
General Assembly
In November 2009, South Africa floated a proposal at the Assembly of States Party that the power of the UN Security Council to refer an investigation should also be given to the UN General Assembly.
Drug trafficking
In September 2007, Trinidad and Tobago specifically called for drug trafficking to be included in the list of crimes.
Targeting of journalists
The British television media company ITN wrote to the UK government in 2007 asking them to support an amendment to the definition of war crimes to include the intentional targeting of journalists.
Territorial jurisdiction
The territorial jurisdiction of the Court includes the territory, registered vessels, and registered aircraft of states which have either (1) become party to the Rome Statute or (2) accepted the Court's jurisdiction by filing a declaration with the Court.
However, if the Security Council refers a situation that took place in the territory of a state that has both not become party to the Rome Statute and not lodged a declaration with the Court, the Court will still be able to prosecute crimes that occurred within that state
Personal jurisdiction
The personal jurisdiction of the Court extends to all natural persons who commit crimes, regardless of where they are located or where the crimes were committed, as long as those individuals are nationals of either (1) states that are party to the Rome Statute or (2) states that have accepted the
Court's jurisdiction by filing a declaration with the Court. As with territorial jurisdiction, the personal jurisdiction can be expanded by the Security
Council if it refers a situation to the Court
Temporal jurisdiction
Temporal jurisdiction is the time period over which the Court can exercise its powers. No statute of limitations applies to any of the crimes defined in the Statute. However, the Court's jurisdiction is not completely retroactive. Individuals can only be prosecuted for crimes that took place on or after 1 July 2002, which is the date that the Rome Statute entered into force.
Admissibility
To initiate an investigation, the Prosecutor must (1) have a "reasonable basis to believe that a crime within the jurisdiction of the Court has been or is being committed", (2) the investigation would be consistent with the principle of complementarity, and
(3) the investigation serves the interests of justice
Complementarity
The principle of complementarity means that the Court will only prosecute an individual if states are unwilling or unable to prosecute. Therefore, if legitimate national investigations or proceedings into crimes have taken place or are ongoing, the Court will not initiate proceedings. This principle applies regardless of the outcome of national proceedings
Gravity
The Court will only initiate proceedings if a crime is of "sufficient gravity to justify further action by the Court“.
Interests of justice: The Prosecutor will initiate an investigation unless there are "substantial reasons to believe that an investigation would not serve the interests of justice" when "[t]aking into account the gravity of the crime and the interests of victims"
Hybrid Tribunals
For East Timor, Kosovo, Sierra Leone, Lebanon etc
Mixed Composition Tribunals which apply domestic & international law
Special Court for Sierra Leone
Truth & Reconciliation tasked with discovering and revealing past wrongdoing by a government (or, depending on the circumstances, non-state actors also), in the hope of resolving conflict left over from the past. Truth commissions are, under various names, occasionally set up by states emerging from periods of internal unrest, civil war, or dictatorship.
Trial of Ex-President Charles Taylor
unanimously ruled that Charles Taylor was guilty of all 11 counts of "aiding and abetting" war crimes and crimes against humanity & sentenced to 50 years in prison.
Personal Immunity to Charles Taylor as President of Liberia denied by court.
Cambodia genocide
By Khmer Rouge Army backed by China & led by
General Pol Pot
Estimated 3 million killed under different pretexts between 1975 to 1979.
Surrendered in 1990’s.
Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia
(ECCC) established in 2006 Political considerations.
Special Tribunal for Lebanon
SC Resolution 1757 (2007) , Adopted by the Security
Council after assassination of Rafiq Hariri. Between Oct 2004 & December 2005 only if they are connected with criminal justice & are of gravity.
Developed the crime of terrorism
Trial in absentia
International Law in Municipal Courts
Universal Jurisdiction: where no link between territory, neutrality & crime
In 2003 the Universal jurisdiction of Belgian judges was extended to the crime of genocide and to crimes against humanity and, on the other hand, the perpetrators of criminal breaches were to cease to be able to plead any kind of immunity.
Other Principles
Complementarity: Increased trials on domestic front
Immunity: In ration materiae : state immunity
In ration personae: for personal conduct of state officials
Substantive International Criminal Law in Municipal Jurisdictions
Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment 1984
Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts
Against the Safety of Civil Aviation, 23 September
1971
Convention against Corruption 2005. In addition to criminalization states required to prosecute or extradite
Procedure of ICC
Combined common & civil law In Camera proceeding
Hearsay proceedings
Rights of the accused
Presumed innocent until proven guilty
The right to be fully informed of the charges against him or her; the right to have a lawyer appointed, free of charge; the right to a speedy trial; and the right to examine the witnesses against him or her.
Victim participation
Article 43(6) establishes a Victims and Witnesses Unit to provide "protective measures and security arrangements, counseling and other appropriate assistance for witnesses, victims who appear before the Court, and others who are at risk on account of testimony given by such witnesses.“ Article 68 sets out procedures for the "Protection of the victims and witnesses and their participation in the proceedings."
Reparations
Victims before the International Criminal Court can also claim reparations under Article 75 of the Rome Statute. Reparations can only be claimed when a defendant is convicted and at the discretion of the Court's judges.
Detention centre
The ICC's detention centre accommodates both those convicted by the court and serving sentences as well as those suspects detained pending the outcome of their trial.
Progress of ICC
The Office of the Prosecutor has opened ten official investigations and is also conducting an additional nine preliminary examinations. Thus far, 39 individuals have been indicted in the ICC, including Ugandan rebel leader Joseph Kony, Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir, Kenyan president Uhuru Kenyatta, Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, and Ivorian president Laurent Gbagbo.
Non-Governmental Organizations
During the 1970s and 1980s, international human rights and humanitarian Nongovernmental Organizations (or NGOs) began to proliferate at exponential rates. Concurrently, the quest to find a way to punish international crimes shifted from being the exclusive responsibility of legal experts to being shared with international human rights activism.
NGOs
NGO Coalition for the International Criminal Court has served as a sort of umbrella for NGOs to coordinate with each other. The original steering committee included representatives from the World Federalist Movement, the International Commission of Jurists, Amnesty International, the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights, Human Rights Watch,
Parliamentarians for Global Action, and No Peace Without Justice
Accusations of Western imperialism from Africa
ICC has been accused of bias and as being a tool of Western imperialism, only punishing leaders from small, weak states while ignoring crimes committed by richer and more powerful states.
Until January 2016, all nine situations which the ICC had been investigating were in African countries
Darfur Crisis
Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir visited Kenya,
South Africa, China, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Ethiopia, Qatar and several other countries despite an outstanding ICC warrant for his arrest but was not arrested; he said that the charges against him are "exaggerated" and that the ICC was a part of a "Western plot" against him.
AU withdrawal proposal
On 7 October 2016, Burundi announced that it would leave the ICC, after the court began investigating political violence in that nation. In the subsequent two weeks, South Africa and Gambia also announced their intention to leave the court, with Kenya and Namibia reportedly also considering departure. All three nations cited the fact that all 39 people indicted by the court over its history have been African and that the court has made no effort to investigate war crimes tied to the 2003 invasion of Iraq
Checks and balances
The United States Department of State argues that there are "insufficient checks and balances on the authority of the ICC prosecutor and judges" and "insufficient protection against politicized
prosecutions or other abuses". The current law in the United States on the ICC is the American ServiceMembers' Protection Act, 116 Stat. 820, , which forbids the United States from cooperating with the ICC in cases that may involve US nationals.
Interpol
The International Police Organization, more commonly known as INTERPOL, is an international organization facilitating international police cooperation. It was established as the International Criminal Police Commission (ICPC) in 1923; it chose INTERPOL as its
telegraphic address in 1946, and made it its common name in 1956
Interpol’s Charter
forbids it, at least in theory, from undertaking interventions or activities of a political, military, religious, or racial nature or involving itself in disputes over such matters
Purpose of Interpol
Public safety and battling transnational crimes against humanity, child pornography, drug trafficking, environmental crime, genocide, human trafficking, illicit drug production, piracy, intellectual property crime, money laundering, organized crime, corruption, terrorism, war crimes, weapons smuggling, and white-collar crime.
Article 2 of Constitution
To ensure and promote the widest possible mutual assistance between all criminal police authorities within the limits of the laws existing in the different
countries and in the spirit of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
To establish and develop all institutions likely to contribute effectively to the prevention and suppression of ordinary law crimes.
Criticism of Interpol
Despite its politically neutral stance, some have criticized the agency for its role in arrests that critics contend were politically motivated. In 2008, the office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees pointed to the problem of arrests of refugees on the request of Interpol
Refugees who are included in the list of Interpol can be arrested when crossing the border
Interpol was criticized over its multimillion-dollar deals with such private sector bodies as FIFA, Philip Morris, and the pharmaceutical industry. The criticism was mainly about the lack of transparency and potential conflicts of interest
0 Comments