Remarks on the General Part of International Criminal Law

After decades of little reflection on the General Part of InternationalCriminal Law (‘ICL’), the practice of the Ad HocTribunals and Part III of the ICC Statute both offer a uniqueopportunity and create a necessity to give more thought to therules of attribution for international crimes. Indeed, the aimof further research must be to develop a more refined systemof attribution. This is especially important in ICL, since itis primarily concerned with high level perpetrators who rarelycommit the crimes themselves but use mid- or low-level perpetratorsto execute their criminal plans. While ICL ‘in action’is recognized today as primarily criminal law, the rules ofattribution are still underdeveloped. Some rules developed bythe case law even violate, when applied in their extreme form,fundamental principles of criminal law. Identifying and applyingthese principles, specifically the principles of legality andculpability, will be the first step in constructing a more legitimatesystem of attribution.     

俄罗斯刑法上的国际刑法规定

由于冷战后俄罗斯学界对国际刑法研究不重视,目前《刑法典》中仅存有关普遍管辖权和诉讼时效的规定。但刑法典总则对缺席判决下普遍管辖权的适用、指挥责任和排除违法性理由的判断标准规定模糊,而分则的犯罪体系过于粗略和封闭,没有规定反人类罪和非武装冲突中对战争手段和方法的使用等,需要根据"日内瓦公约"和"海牙议定书"予以重构。     

International Criminal Law

Netherlands International Law Review -     

International Economic Criminal Law

This inquiry explores the question of transnational companies’ criminal liability for international crimes, reviewing the current state of research in the field of international economic criminal law, a discipline that hitherto has received only scant analysis. Following some preliminary conceptual remarks (I.), the forms of corporate participation in such crimes (II.) and the supranational and national practice since Nuremberg are presented. This practice reveals a clear trend towards corporate liability, albeit represented by leading company staff. For this reason, and because legal persons (companies) ultimately act through natural persons (their staff), their liability (IV.) cannot be convincingly established on a purely collective basis – in the sense of a pure organisation model (IV. 4.1.) – but only on the basis of the attribution model, namely as a derivative corporate liability based upon supervisory or organisational culpability (IV.4.2.). The attribution model’s individual approach – or, to use procedural terms, the individualistic “trigger” for the prosecution of companies – finally brings us to the well-known forms of criminal participation (V.), with liability for complicity in particular coming into question. All in all, the essay concludes (VI.), we should not expect too much of (international) criminal corporate liability. Here, as in many other areas, criminal law can only have a (limited) preventive effect as part of a holistic approach.     

论国际人权法对国际刑法的影响

冷战结束后,国际人权法获得了较为广阔的生长空间,国际刑法也进入复兴和快速发展的阶段。国际人权法对国际刑法各个领域的影响都十分明显,从基本原则到具体规则,从实体法到程序法,从刑罚制度设计到刑罚的执行,并努力在保护被害人与保障被告人权利两者之间保持微妙的平衡。然而,透过国际人权法推动国际刑法发展的帷幔,不难发现其背后＂人权＂和＂主权＂之间的紧张博弈：为保护人权,国际人权法引领着国际刑法试图突破国家领土的藩篱进而穿透国家主权的坚硬＂铠甲＂;国家则奋力祭起＂主权＂大旗并诉诸＂司法独立＂的坚固盾牌,抵御某些外部政治实体利用国际刑事司法机构干涉其内政、侵蚀其＂司法独立＂,以最大限度地维护国家利益。     

国际刑法的国内立法研究

在国内刑法中确认和体现国际刑法规范是缔约国应尽的国际义务,也是有效打击国际犯罪的需要。国际刑法公约中有关国际犯罪的实体法规定、程序和证据规则的规定、刑事合作的规定、预防性措施的规定等,应当成为国内立法体现国际刑法规范的主要内容。在中国,国内立法确认和体现国际刑法公约的主要途径有制定单行刑事法律、修改补充现有法律条款、立法解释和司法解释等。     

The Comfort of International Criminal Law

This paper examines the changing relationship between the disciplines of international criminal law (ICL) and international human rights law; I particularly focus on the associations of the former with comfort and the latter with discomfort. It appears that a shift may be taking place in that ICL is being refashioned from a field enforcing human rights law to one which has assumed an entirely independent status. Indeed, ICL appears to be crowding out international human rights law. The inquiry begins with the question whether ICL is becoming the preferred discursive framework for practitioners, academics, and politicians. A contemporary desire for certainty over contention, action over discourse, and simplicity over complexity is revealed; in short, a preference for comfort over discomfort. The second half of the paper is dedicated to highlighting some of the concerns attached to this preference and suggesting possible techniques for addressing these concerns. Employing the idea of ‘discomfort’, I refer to the relevance of (1) Michel Foucault’s Ethics of Discomfort, (2) Judith Butler’s idea of the Language of Discomfort, and (3) draw on Franz Kafka’s literary exploration of the Comfort in Discomfort. The ideas culminate in a call for relearning the comfort in discomfort of contention, discourse and complexity in international law.     

刑法国际化原因探析

刑法国际化作为刑法发展过程的必然趋势,其出现及强劲的走向有其深刻的内在机理与外在因素。本文从刑法阶级职能与社会管理职能分析了刑法国际化的法律基础;论证了刑法国际化的外在因素:经济因素,政治因素,社会因素等等。     

Redefining Apartheid in International Criminal Law

This article asks: to what extent is Article 7(1)(j) of the Rome Statute—the crime of apartheid—a tenable crime in international criminal law? It will be argued that despite the obligations incumbent on states not to intentionally discriminate against social groups, there is no customary legal norm of apartheid as a distinct crime against humanity. This is premised on the distinction between state obligations as different from norms demanding individual liability in international criminal law, as well as inadequacies of the International Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid (1973) and the absence of case law relying on apartheid as a crime against humanity. Further, the weaknesses hindering the formation of a customary norm of apartheid as a distinct crime against humanity will be assessed with regard to the Rome Statute. Also it will be shown that the lack of coherence of Article 7(1)(j) demonstrates that the crime of apartheid is subsumed by the crime of persecution. Finally, two suggestions are offered on how the crime of apartheid could be established as a distinct offence in international criminal law. The central thesis of this paper is that the crime of apartheid is ambiguous and inoperable. In order for Article 7(1)(j) to be relevant in international criminal law, the offence must be reworked and clearly articulated.     

Complicity in International Criminal Law and Canadian Refugee Law: A Comparison

International criminal law is normally seen as the purview ofcriminal prosecutions, either internationally or domestically.However, international criminal law is also increasingly beingapplied in refugee law. This is because the 1951 Refugee Conventioncontains an exclusion clause prohibiting asylum seekers fromobtaining refugee status if they have committed a crime againstpeace, a war crime or a crime against humanity. Thus, refugeelaw refers back to international criminal law; however, whileinternational criminal tribunals deal with persons who bearthe greatest responsibility, in actual practice persons whohave been excluded from refugee protection have been mostlyfrom the lower echelons of organizations involved in atrocities.This article, based on Canadian case law, examines the conceptsof complicity, aiding and abetting and joint criminal enterprisefrom both an international criminal law point of view and froma Canadian refugee law angle, in order to determine whetherthese notions have similar contents in the two jurisdictions.     

国际刑法发展新的里程碑——《联合国打击跨国有组织犯罪公约》述评

20 0 0年 1 2月 1 5日联合国在意大利西西里岛巴勒莫市召开关于制定《联合国打击跨国有组织犯罪公约》① 外交大会 ,来自世界各国的代表正式通过并签署了这部公约。这部公约是继《国际刑事法院罗马公约》于 1 998年 7月 1 7日诞生之后由联合国主持通过的具有里程碑意义的国际刑法公约。它是国际社会长期以来努力同跨国有组织犯罪进行斗争的结果。 1 998年 1 2月 9日 ,联合国通过第 55/1 1 1号决议 ,决定设立联合国特设委员会 ,授权该委员会起草联合国打击跨国有组织犯罪公约及其三个附件。该委员会成立后于 1 999年 1月 1 9- 2 9日在奥地利…     

On the Sources of International Criminal Law

In their efforts to establish a quite original system of proceduraland material rules of international criminal law, by means ofthe so-called "judge-made law", the two ad hoc Tribunals forthe Former Yugoslavia and Rwanda hold a peculiar approach tothe sources of that law. The most controversial of all is theirconcept of "customary law". This paper is an attempt to clarifythe meaning and scope of these sources mainly from some aspectsof the respective rules adopted in the 1998 Rome Statute. Itis also a continuance in this author's research on the sourcesof public international law.