ICC and ICJ Flashcards
when and which statute was the ICC created with?
1998- Rome Statute
some important non-memebrs of the icc (4)
China, Russia, US, India,
what formed the foundations of icc?
nuremberg tribunal- was established by allied powers to judge Nazi officials
UN international criminal tribunal for the formal yugoslavia
ad hoc international criminal tribunal- mladic and praljak imprisonment
international criminal tribunal for rwanda
ad hoc international scriminal tribunal- crimes committed in 1994
ICC jurisdiciton
judges the most serious crimes of concern to the international community- has jurisdiction over individuals- not states
ways to bring a case to the ICC (3)
- by a member state
- by the UNSC
3 by the ICC prosecutor
complementarity principle
it only has jurisdiction when the member state itself isn;t willing or able to organize a trial
ICC- US relationship
american service members protection act- icc can’t influence US armed forces
2018 policy to protect US citizens from ICC investigations and prosecutions- revoking ICC judges visa
icc- myanmar
act of crime took place in Myanmar (not ICC jurisdiction) and element of offense (forced deportation) took place in Bangladesh (ICC jurisdiction)
what are the issues icc deals with? (4)
- crimes against peace
- crimes against humanity
- crimes of aggression
- war crimes
CASES: responding to mass killings by governments
all of them are failures in terms of improving the fortunes of those targeted by their governments
CASE: Sudan- Darfur Problem
sudanese government encouraged attacks on the people in the Darfur region tp destroy ethnic groups- eliminate a source of political opposition
CASE: Rwanda
the government sought to massacre the Tutsi people to avoid implementing a power sharing compromise negotiated by the UN.
CASE: Syria
a people’s revolution against the dictatorship of Assad was met with widespread violence by the government against the civilan population
what’s ICJ’s origin?
permanent court of international justice
the statute of the ICJ is integrated into the charter
UN membership = ICJ membership
how are the judges chosen in ICJ?
elected by UNSC and UNGA- countries can appoint ad hoc judges if they don’t feel represented
what is ICJ’s jurisdiction?
legal disputes between states that have recognized the jurisdiction of it
requests for advisory opinions on legal questions refered to the court by the UN or its specialized agencies
(judgements are legally binding, advisory opinions are not)
decisions- icj
all decisions are public
appeal- icj
there’s no opportunity to appeal- but it’s possible to request a more detailed argumentation
sources of law- icj (4)
- international conventions (written treaties)
- customary law (what has been established between the states)
- national legal systems (guidelines)
- judicial scholarship
relationship of icj with other UN organs
gives non binding advise to UNSC and UNGA
CASE: certain expenses - Congo
demand for legal advise by UNGA on a dispute relating to the Uniting for Peace Resolution
- USSR and France refused to pay contributions to the regular UN budget- based on the argument that the UNGA was not allowed to finance the Congo mission
ICJ decision: UNGA financing the Congo mission is legal
- political consequence: seperate budget for peace operations
CASE: Iran vs US
alleged violations of a safety treaty about nuclear sanctions by the US
- order of provisional measures- ruled unanimously that the US should remove any impediments relaetd to humanitarian needs, including food and medicine
CASE: Gambia vs Myanmar
Gambia said myanmar is violating the convention on the prevention and punishment of genocide
CASE: Yerodia (Belgium vs. Congo)
during the rwandan genocide, belgium withdrew its forces because they weren’t allowed to intervene
as a result- the government got backlash - and a renewed effort to use Belgian courts to pursue war criminals regardless of their connection to belgium.
rest on complaint by Congo after Belgium tried to arrest the former Congolese foreign minister for genocide- Congo saw this as a violation of their rights as a sovereign state
!! belgium couldn’t unilaterally change the rules of international law simply by passing domestic laws that contradict them
CASE: Whaling Case (Australia vs. Japan)
Japan didn’t respect the agreed quotas foe whale hunting- it designated it’s hunting as “scientific” not commercial.
it was icj’s task to decide whether what Japan was doing was scientific or not
- they concluded that japan was guilty
