The International Criminal Court and Mali: Towards More Transparency in International Criminal Law Investigations?

The author takes a closer look at the Situation in Mali and the Office of the Prosecutor (OTP)’s initiation of full investigations on the basis of article 53(1) ICC Statute. In accordance with OTP Regulation 29(1), the OTP produces so-called ‘article 53’ reports that analyze the legal position in conflict situations that are under pre-investigation against the background of the following legal criteria: jurisdiction; admissibility; and the interest of justice. These reports give an analytical basis for the Chief Prosecutor to render a positive or negative decision on whether a certain conflict reaches the level of formal criminal investigations. In Mali, the Chief Prosecutor took the fast lane, passing by several other situations that have been under pre-investigation for a longer period of time. To a certain extent, as will be outlined in this contribution, this can be explained by the self-referral mechanism and certain particularities in Mali. However, some selective choices remain the OTP’s mystery, covert due to the nebulosity of ‘gravity’.     

Reductio Ad Absurdum: The Kapo Trial Judgements’ Contribution To International Criminal Law Jurisprudence And Customary International Law

Several Jewish persons designated as concentration camp guards (Kapos) during the Holocaust were subsequently tried in Israel in the 1950s and 1960s for allegedly committing grave crimes. This article examines these trial judgements and considers their significance to international criminal law jurisprudence and customary international law. First, this article will delineate the trial judgements’ purpose, relevance and previous contribution to customary international law. Secondly, a comparative narrative of the judgements with recent case law from the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia and the International Criminal Court will illuminate their potential contribution, specifically to the principles of modes of liability, criminal intent, and the defence of duress. The Kapo trial judgements may therefore continue to offer an extreme case example and a worthy source of common law for international criminal law jurisprudence and customary international law.     

Child Witnesses and the International Criminal Justice System: Does the International Criminal Court Protect the Most Vulnerable?

While warfare has always caused human suffering, modern armedconflicts have been synonymous for the deliberate and systematicattacks on non-combatants, many of whom are children. As theyoften possess the best and sometimes only evidence of a particularcrime, it is likely that children will be asked to testify beforethe International Criminal Court. Given that they are the mostvulnerable of all witnesses, the Rome Statute contains variousprovisions designed to protect the interests of children. Whilethe Court's witness protection regime will help reduce the stressand trauma associated with giving evidence, various improvementscould be made to ensure that children are provided with thenecessary protection that their susceptible status requires.     

International Commercial Arbitration in the People''''s Republic of China

IntroductionArbitrationhasbeenconsideredasanalternativetolitigationforalongtime.Comparedwithlitigation,itiswidelyrecognisedthatarbitrationhastheadvantagesofneutrality,flexibilityandconfidentialityanditisanefficientandlessexpensivemethodofresolvinginternational commercialdisputes.①Overthepastdecades,arbitrationhasbecomeanimportantandfrequentlyused methodforsettlinginternationalcommercialdisputesintheworld.ThelasttwentyyearshavewitnessedthedramaticexpansionoftheeconomyinChina.Meanwhile,dispute…     

Universal Jurisdiction for International Crimes – A Case Study

There is generally no agreed doctrinal definition of universal jurisdiction in customary and conventional international law. However, this does not preclude any definition, which embodies the essence of the concept as the ability to exercise jurisdiction irrespective of territoriality or nationality. Therefore, the concept of universal jurisdiction applies to a situation where “the nature of (an) act entitles a State to exercise its jurisdiction to apply its laws, even if the act has occurred outside its territory, has been perpetrated by a non-national, and even if (its) nationals have not been harmed by the acts.”     

Westlaw International用学相长（美国法篇）

Westlaw International法律信息数据库是由汤森路透法律信息集团旗下美国West出版公司于1975年开发的综合性法律、法规、新闻和公司信息平台。到目前,它已经收录了世界100多个国家和地区的法律资料,包括法律法规、判例、法学期刊、专著、教     

A Cosmopolitan Philosophy of International Law? A Realist Approach

Analyzing different works and in particular Habermas' reflection on Kant, the author reconstructs, first, his approach to international law and his political and legal cosmopolitanism. Second, he presents some critical observations on Habermas' cosmopolitanism in the context of his more general discursive theory of law and state. In this perspective, he discusses the problems of peace and of the role of the United Nations, the strategy of protection of human rights, and the question of world citizenship. He argues that Habermas' cosmopolitanism is a radicalization of Kantian tradition based on a centralization of international power and a cosmopolitan law. Finally, he develops realist arguments in favour of a non-globalistic conception of international law. 1 Abstract by Giorgio Bongiovanni.
     

Any Other Contribution? Ascribing Liability for Cover-Ups of International Crimes

As the International Criminal Court (the Court or ICC) continues to develop the parameters of the various modes of liability set out in Article 25(3) of the Rome Statute, recent developments raise questions as to whether the Court can consider participation in cover-ups or concealment of crimes as giving rise to individual criminal responsibility. It is only recently that international tribunals, and notably the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY), have turned to consider how international criminal law approaches responsibility for cover-ups or concealment of crimes. In reviewing how and why the ICTY has addressed individual criminal liability for engaging in cover-ups, and in light of the ICC’s Mbarushimana decision, the aim of this paper is to suggest how the ICC might consider such issues in future cases. Having demonstrated the necessity of international criminal law accounting for cover-ups, the paper will discuss how the jurisprudence, in toto, excludes the possibility of holding to account individuals who contribute to the cover up of international crimes, by whatever means, or however grave, unless they were acting on the premise of a prior agreement with the principals. By way of conclusion the paper will suggest that an expansive interpretation of Article 25(3)(d) of the Rome Statute may provide a means of addressing this gap.     

Epilogue: International Norms for Nationality: An Elusive Goal?

Netherlands International Law Review -     

Legislative Analysis of China＇s Exploitation in International Seabed Area

“区域”开发对国家具有重要的战略意义,但我国缺乏调整“区域”开发的国内立法。法律的缺失于我国“区域”开发的发展不利,也无助于我国在国际海底管理局及有关规章的制定中发挥更大作用,更有可能引发国家责任。以《联合国海洋法公约》为主体的“区域”法律制度,为我国“区域”开发立法提供了法律依据,也为我国“区域”开发立法应遵循的原则提供了指引。采用专门立法来调整“区域”内的活动是国际上通行的模式,也更加符合我国的实际情况,因而应为我国所采纳,以推动我国履行该《公约》赋予的义务,提升我国在“区域”国际法规则制定中的话语权,规范我国在“区域”内的活动,维护与拓展我国在“区域”的利益。     

Domestic Courts’ Reading of International Norms: A Semiotic Analysis

This article focuses on a number of cases in international law in which US domestic courts have produced judgments that conflict with those given by the International Court of Justice. The nature of these courts’ judgments has been extremely closely tied to the interpretation given by the US national Executive to a certain international norm. This situation raises a number of questions, which can be broadly categorized into two spheres: the legal (regarding the overall legality of the courts’ decisions) and the semiotic (regarding the manner in which a ‘meaning’ for the norm has been claimed by the courts). In this article we aim to provide answers to a number of these questions, both from the standpoint of international law and from that of a reader-response model of semiosis. We also analyse the level of interdependency that exists between the two spheres.     

The Iraqi High Tribunal: A Viable Experiment in International Justice?

The Iraqi High Tribunal (IHT) joins the Bosnian War Crimes Chamberin Sarajevo as the first of a new breed of accountability mechanismswhich the author characterizes as ‘internationalized-domestictribunals’. Unfortunately, the IHT faced world-wide oppositionfrom its conception, and once the Dujail trial began, the proceedingswere marred by the assassination of defence counsel, the resignationof judges, the boycott of defence lawyers, the disruptive conductof the defendants and finally by a botched execution that wasuniversally condemned. But judged in light of the unique challengesthat the IHT faced, the fact that there were no feasible alternativesavailable for trying Saddam Hussein, and that war crimes trialsare historically divisive and messy, the IHT cannot simply bewritten off as an utter failure. Rather, an objective assessmentof the IHT would have to acknowledge that there were in factsome positive aspects as well, which are described in this essaywritten by one of the experts who trained the judges that presidedover the Saddam Hussein Trial.     

SLAPPs: Intent or Content?Anti-SLAPP Legislation Goes International

Due to the increasing interest in adopting anti-SLAPP legislation outside of the USA (where it was first implemented), the definition of what constitutes a SLAPP is being questioned. Some commentators have advanced the suggestion that, in order to account for jurisdictional differences, outside of the USA it is the motivation to intimidate or chill public speech that is the aspect of a SLAPP on which anti-SLAPP legislation must focus. However, defining SLAPPs by the initiator's alleged intent to intimidate can render anti-SLAPP legislation, in any jurisdiction, ineffective. SLAPPs should be defined by the involvement of public participation, rather than by the intent of the SLAPP plaintiff. Effective anti-SLAPP legislation employs procedural protections that are engaged once a threshold demonstration has been made that the case involves protected public interest communications. Generally, this approach is appropriate to adopt in any jurisdiction where the legislature desires to protect public interest communications.     

The Pinochet Case: International Criminal Justice in the Gothic Style?

Book reviewed in this article:
Woodhouse, Diana (ed), The Pinochet Case: A Legal and Constitutional Analysis     

Legislative Strengthening Meets Party Support in International Assistance: A Closer Relationship?

Recent reports recommend that international efforts to help strengthen legislatures in emerging democracies should work more closely with support for building stronger political parties and competitive party systems. This article locates the recommendations within international assistance more generally and reviews the arguments. It explores problems that must be addressed if the recommendations are to be implemented effectively. The article argues that an alternative, issue-based approach to strengthening legislatures and closer links with civil society could gain more traction. However, that is directed more centrally at promoting good governance for the purpose of furthering development than at democratisation goals sought by party aid and legislative strengtheners in the democracy assistance industry.