Suchergebnisse

Lessons from the International Criminal Court and the Special Court for Sierra Leone

Conference
3,4 May 2012
Freetown, Sierra Leone

International criminal justice has become a weapon in political struggles in different African states. International court and tribunals, whilst often portrayed as legal bastions immune from politics, have proven to be inherently political. Depending on the definition of what counts as 'political', the politics of international criminal justice can be found at different levels. For instance, international criminal courts are created by political decisions, adjudicate crimes which are frequently related to politics, and depend on a mysterious and seemingly magical 'political will' for the enforcement of their decisions. Moreover, recent studies have shown how the International Criminal Court has become implicated in political struggles by making a distinction between the friends and enemies of the international community which it purports to represent.

This conference studies the politics of international criminal justice at these different stages. Some of the main questions include:
• How should the politics of international criminal justice be conceptualized? What theoretical approaches are helpful in articulating the political aspects of criminal courts and tribunals?
• What lessons can be learned from experiences in countries affected by interventions of international criminal courts? What is the political role of international criminal courts in countries such as Sierra Leone, Uganda, Congo, Sudan, Central African Republic or Kenya?
• How can we improve the accountability of those engaged in the politics of international criminal justice?

The conference brings together academics from different disciplines, including international law and political science, and practitioners in the field of law and politics (including diplomats, politicians, judges, legal counsels). While its main focus is on the International Criminal Court and the Special Court for Sierra Leone, contributions from other areas of international criminal justice are welcomed as well.

Submissions and selection
If you would like to participate in the conference, please send us a 500-750 words abstract of the paper you plan to present before February 1st 2012. We will select a maximum of 10 papers that can be presented at the conference. Early submissions are welcomed. If you are invited to present, we would like to receive a short position paper two weeks before the conference. The position paper should be max. 2500 words, outlining the main argument.

Please send your paper proposal to:
Prof. dr. W.G. Werner
w.werner@rechten.vu.nl

Conference fee
The fee for the conference is 100 Euro. The money from the fees will be used to provide financial support for scholars or practitioners from (West-)African countries coming to the conference. If you would like to receive such support, please let us know before February 15th 2012.
Attendees from African countries are entitled to a waiver of the fee.

Future perspectives on international criminal justice : through the looking glass / Carsten Stahn & Larissa van den Herik -- Part I. The influence of scholars and practitioners on the development and conceptualization of international criminal law. 'Satires of circumstance' : some notes on war crimes trials and irony / Gerry Simpson ; The banality of evil on trial / Alette Smeulers & Wouter Werner ; Why international criminal lawyers should read Mirjan Damaška / Harmen van der Wilt ; The gentle humanizer of humanitarian law : Antonio Cassese and the creation of the customary law of non-international armed conflict / Tamàs Hoffmann ; The international criminal legal process : towards a realistic model of international criminal law in action / Christoph Burchard -- Part II. Theorizing international criminal justice. The two liberalisms of international criminal law / Darryl Robinson ; International criminal law at the crossroads : from ad hoc imposition to a treaty-based universal system / Kai Ambos ; In search of the 'vertical' : towards an institutional theory of international criminal justice's core / Frédéric Mégret -- Part III. Re-assessing the balance between international and domestic jurisdiction. Situational gravity under the Rome Statute / Kevin Jon Heller ; When law 'expresses' more than it cares to admit : comments on Heller / Mark Osiel ; Should the prosecution of ordinary crimes in domestic jurisdictions satisfy the complementarity principle? / Dawn Sedman ; Interpreting complementarity and interests of justice in the presence of restorative-based alternative forms of justice / Marta Valiñas ; Universal jurisdiction and the prosecution of excluded asylum seekers / Elizabeth Santalla --

Machine generated contents note: IntroductionNew Moralities for International Criminal JusticeActivating Victim Constituency in ICJTruth and Responsibility v Fact and LiabilityTransformed Process Through Enhanced Discretionary PowerAccountability FrameworksJustice as Decision-making: Principal Pathways of InfluenceLegitimacy, Justice and GovernanceReferences

Focusing on proceedings at the International Criminal Court and the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, this book uses original ethnographic fieldwork to explore how a range of practices have constituted and contested reparations in international criminal justice.

Mikkel Jarle Christensen (iCourts - Danish National Research Foundation's Centre of Excellence for International Courts) has posted The Elites of International Criminal Justice: Complementing and Challenging the State (Forthcoming in Social Forces) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: Criminal law...

Africa has been at the forefront of developments in international criminal justice. Several initiatives have targeted those responsible for serious human rights violations: the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, the Special Court for Sierra Leone as well as the cases involving Hissene Habre, Colonel Mengitsu Haile Mariam and Charles Taylor. At the political level, support for ending impunity for those responsible for war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity is also evident: the African Union's Constitutive Act commits member countries to stamping out impunity, and more than half of African states have ratified the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC). But for a continent that is home to many international human rights atrocities, the real challenge is converting this political commitment into awareness and implementation. To enhance the capacity of African countries to end impunity, the African Guide to International Criminal Justice provides judges, prosecutors, defence lawyers and government officials with an African-focused manual on international criminal justice. The Guide aims to ensure that international criminal justice is better understood and that African states are equipped to comply with their obligations under international law and the Rome Statute

The establishment of ad hoc international criminal tribunals for former Yugoslavia and Rwanda, the coming into force of the permanent International Criminal Court (ICC) and recent attempts to prosecute former dictators and tyrants for gross violations of human rights, and the growing salience of international humanitarian law have led to the growth of literature on what is popularly known as international criminal justice. The book under review has resulted from an international conference on 'From a Culture of Impunity to a Culture of Accountability' organized by the United Nations University and the Netherlands Institute of Human Rights (SIM) in Utrecht in November 2001. As the book contains revised and edited papers presented at the conference, it lacks a thematic and sequential presentation of issues. Chapters appear to be disconnected and it is hard to comprehend the rationale behind categorizing chapters in separate parts of the book.

In The Realities of the International Criminal Justice System, Rothe, Meernik, and Ingadottir bring together expert scholars from the disciplines of law, criminology, sociology and political science to critically analyze the current state of and impact of the international criminal justice system. Through a systematic evaluation of the existing courts and their effects in the real world on states, victims, and offenders, and their impact on the development of the law related to their jurisdictions, both on the international and national level, the authors hope that lessons can be drawn for a more promising future delivery of criminal justice by international and domestic judicial bodies. [From Amazon.com] ; https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/sociology_criminaljustice_books/1021/thumbnail.jpg

Foreword -- Acknowledgements -- Contents -- Editors and Contributors -- Abbreviations -- 1 Introduction: Victim Participation in International Criminal Justice -- Abstract -- 1.1 Preliminary Remarks -- 1.2 A Continuously Developing Field -- 1.3 Structure of the Book -- 1.4 Notes on Terminology -- References -- 2 The Application Process: Procedure and Players -- Abstract -- 2.1 Introduction -- 2.2 Players -- 2.2.1 International Criminal Court -- 2.2.2 Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia -- 2.2.3 Special Tribunal for Lebanon -- 2.3 First Step of the Procedure: Submission of an Application for Participation to the ICC, the ECCC or the STL -- 2.3.1 Submission of Applications -- 2.3.2 Assistance to Applicants -- 2.3.3 Time Limits in the Application Process -- 2.4 Procedure Once an Application for Participation Has Been Submitted to the ICC, the ECCC or the STL -- 2.4.1 Assessment of Victims' Applications -- 2.4.2 Observations by the Parties -- 2.4.3 Protection of Victim Identities During the Application Process -- 2.4.4 Decisions on Victim Applications -- 2.4.5 Appeals Against Decisions on Victim Applications -- 2.5 Key Points -- Appendix-Steps in the Application Process -- References -- 3 Requirements for Victim Participation -- Abstract -- 3.1 Definition of Victims at ICC, STL, ECCC -- 3.2 Requirements: Tests Applied by the Courts to Grant Participation or Civil Party Status -- 3.2.1 The Identity of the Applicant as a Natural Person Is Established -- 3.2.1.1 The Victim's Identity -- 3.2.1.2 Persons Acting on Behalf of Victims -- 3.2.1.3 Deceased Victims -- 3.2.2 The Applicant Suffered Harm -- 3.2.2.1 Type of Harm -- 3.2.2.2 Direct and Indirect Harm -- 3.2.3 Causal Link Between the Harm Suffered and the Crime(s) Charged -- 3.2.3.1 Link Between the Harm and a Crime Charged Against the Suspect or the Accused