ICCT Flashcards
Interaction CIL and treaty
CIL can be influenced by the content of existing treaties. When states consistently follow and adhere to treaty provisions, these rules may become CIL. This reflects how treaties can shape and contribute to the development of customary norms in international law. On the other hand, treaties can be based on customary law.
ICL features
a. ICL focuses on the criminal responsibility of individuals, rather than States or entities. Other branches of international law focus primarily on the rights and responsibilities of international organizations.
b. ICL is a sub-body of public international law. PIL generally regards States and international organizations.
Public International Law
ICL, International HR law, IHL, Transnational Criminal law.
Types of jurisdiction
Material jurisdiction, temporal jurisdiction, territorial jurisdiction, personal jurisdiction, (individuals who bear the greatest responsibility for the crimes).
Classifying courts
International, national or hybrid based on:
1. Establishment
2. Material jurisdiction
3. National or international or mixed combination.
4. Rules of cooperation
Establishment ICTY: criticism
- The controversy was related to if a political organ, the UN, is able to act in an international criminal judicial area.
- Criticized in that criminal punishment alone cannot create international peace and security.
Case Tadic
Case challenged ICTY jurisdiction over him. –> response from UN that the SC has the responsibility to deal with threats against international peace and security.
Establishment ICC: critcism
- Political level, i.e., the role of the SC, and that the prosecutor can also bring a case before the ICC.
- Technical level, i.e., the implementation of rules of criminal procedures by criminal lawyers from very diverse legal systems.
Moscow declaration
Establishment Nuremberg (1943). Stated that States should punish their nationals (–> jurisdiction)
IMT & IMTFE: criticism
- Victor’s justice: As there was an issue of by whom the perpetrators are tried: one-sided prosecution.
- Cultural misunderstandings and insensitivities allegedly affected the trial.
- Ex post facto: Applicable law was designed to guarantee a conviction of the perpetrator. This would mean ex post facto legislation of crimes against humanity and crimes against peace. However, there was the Moscow Declaration, which was recognized during the committed crimes. This perspective argues that the perpetrator was aware of their ‘criminal’ action. Moreover → principle of justice (opinio juris).
- Similar acts committed by prosecuting States, but not prosecuted (tu quoquo)
London Conference
Establishment of the Charter
MICT
Mechanism for ICTR and ICTY. Continues jurisdictioo rights, obligations and essential functions of the tribunals.
Similarities ICC + tribunals
(i) material jurisdiction, (ii) dependent on state cooperation
Difference ICC + tribunals
(i) established by ICC Treaty, tribunals by SC resolution (ii) complementarity vs. primacy (iii) temporal/territorial jurisdiction
ICC: temporal jurisdiction
After 1 July 2002, or after ratification/becoming State Party [Art. 11]
Ad-hoc hybrid (internationalized) criminal tribunals
The Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL)
The Extraordinary Chambers in the Court of Cambodia (ECCC)
The Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL)
The Kosovo Specialist Chambers (KSC)
The principle of legality
The principle of legality is a fundamental principle of criminal law that criminal responsibility can only be based on a pre-existing prohibition of conduct that is understood to have criminal consequences.
Nullum crimen, nulla poena sine lege
No crime and no punishment without law that is: (1) Pre-existing, (2) precisely formulated, (3) written, (4) strictly interpreted and applied by courts.
Difference: between the principle of legality & nullem crimes sine lege
The latter does not reflect the non-retroactivity aspect.
Sources of ICL
[Art. 38 of ICJ Statute]
1. International treaties: Binding only on state parties or international organizations
2. International custom: (1) State practice (usus) arising from a sense of (2) legal obligation (opinion juris)
3. General principles of law (“gap filler”): National laws that show that “most, if not all, countries adopt” the particular legal notion.
–> first 3 most important
- Legal precedents (case law): Stare decisis doctrine (to stand by things/let decision stand), so same decisions must be followed in future similar cases.
- Judicial decisions and highly qualified scholars: As subsidiary source of law!
Jus cognes
Type of customary law that trumps all other law. Always bound!
CIL: disadvantages
Unwritten law is difficult to ascertain its content, which makes it (i) uncertain. The aspect of the clarity of law is at stake. Secondly, it may be too (ii) imprecise to, for example, find criminal liability.
Sources: State practice
(i) Military acts, (ii) diplomatic correspondence, (iii) national legislation and statements of the ministry on that legislation, (iv) certain legal position that a state takes
Sources in AdHoc tribunals
Retrospective –> after commission of the crimes, with CIL as main source (legality principles)
Mens rea: Direct intent
The suspect knows that his acts or omissions will result in the commission of a crime and carries out these acts/omissions with the purposeful will (desire) to commit that crime.
Mens rea: Indirect intent
Knowledge. The suspect knows that his acts or omissions will certainly result in the commission of the crime and nevertheless accepts this by carrying out those acts/omissions, without desiring the crime
Mens rea: dolus eventualis
Dolus eventualis/recklessness. The suspect is aware of a risk that his acts or omissions may result in the commission of a crime and nevertheless accepts (approves) that risk → RS excludes conditional intent!
WC: legal IHL basis
- Hague Conventions (1899, 1907) = Methods and means of warfare.
- Geneva conventions
- AP
Geneva Conventions
I wounded & sick field, II wounded & sick sea, III pows, IV civilians
GC AP
I IAC, II NIAC, III protective emblem; the red crystal.
WC: 2 categories
- Grave breaches of GC, 2. Violations of the laws and customs of war
WC: Grave breaches GC: contextual elements
- Existance of IAC
- Nexus between the criminal act and the IAC
- Victim as protected person under GC
WC: Grave breaches GC: contextual element 1
Definition: An international armed conflict is defined as a resource to violence between the armed forces of two or more states.
Internal wars can be internationalized by the intervention of a 3rd state: Direct & indirect intervention
- Direct intervention by a third state against the host state, which means that the third state is fighting alongside the rebels.
- Indirect intervention by a third state against the host state, which can be defined as the use of rebels by the third state as “proxy” forces to fight the territorial state. In order to determine whether this is the case, the ’’overall control test’’ is applied.
Overall control test
The controlling state has a role in: (i) organizing, coordinating, or planning the general military actions of the military group, AND is (ii) financing, training and equipping, or providing operational support to that group.
WC: Grave breaches GC: contextual element 2
Must be ‘closely related’ to the IAC. And the IAC must have played a substantial part in the perpetrator’s (i)ability to commit, (ii) decision to commit, (iii) manner in which it was committed or (iv) purpose for which it was committed.
WC: serious violations: contextual elements
- Existance of NIAC/IAC
- Nexus between criminal act and the armed conflict
- Victim took no part in hostilities
WC: serious violations: contextual element 1
IAC: An international armed conflict is defined as a resource to violence between the armed forces of two or more states.
NIAC: Protracted armed violence between a state and an organized armed group within that state, or between such groups within a state.
Requirements NIAC
- ‘Intensity’ requirement = Art. 8(2)(d)
- ‘Organization’ requirement = Armed group’s internal hierarchy and command structure, access to military equipment, ability to plan and execute military operations, etc.
WC: serious violations: contextual element 3
Victim ‘took no active part in hostilities’: Common Art. 3 GC. Including fighters who surrender or are rendered hors de combat.
Legal qualification: Serious violation of the laws and customs of war
- Violate a rule of IHL
- Rule must be customary/binding
- Must protect important values (e.g. fundamental HR) and its violation must have grave consequences for the victim.
- Such a violation must entail the individual criminal responsibility of the perpetrator
Grave consequences for the victim
Not necessarily permanent and irremediable harm, but harm that goes beyond temporary unhappiness etc. Must result in a grave and long-term disadvantage to a person’s ability to lead a normal and constructive life.
CAH [Art. 7(1)]
Means any of the following acts when committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian population, with knowledge of the attack.
Differences CAH & war crimes
(a) no need for context armed conflict,
(b) no isolated act, always part of mass criminality,
(c) War crimes focussing on reciprocity between parties to a conflict, and focusing on protecting the enemy. CAH protects all victims.
(d) War crimes focus on conduct even on the battlefield and against military objectives, whereas CAH concerns actions directly to a civilian population.
CAH: contextual elements: ICL/ICC
(i) There must be an attack, which is
(ii) directed against any civilian population.
(iii) the attack must be widespread OR systematic
(iv) acts of the perpetrator must be part of the attack (nexus), and
(v) the perpetrator knew that his acts are part of a widespread or systematic attack against the civilian population.
CAH: contextual elements: extra ICC
The attack must be pursuant to or in furtherance of a State or organizational policy to commit such attack:
CAH: contextual elements: extra ICC definition
‘State or organization’: Narrow view vs broad view (ICC approach) → Loose organizations that have the material ability “to perform acts which infringe on basic human values” may qualify as ‘organizations’.
‘Policy’: Need not to be formalized. Showing that an attack was ‘planned, directed or organized’ suffices.
CAH: ‘Attack’
Conduct involving the commission of acts of violence.
CAH: ‘Directed against’
Civilian population as primary object.
CAH: ‘Any civilian population’
‘Any civilian’ could be own or foreign civilian population, as persons who are not taking active part in the hostilities.
‘population’ Attack must be directed against more than a limited number of random individuals + must be ‘predominantly civilian’ → presence of combatants does not deprive the population of its civilian character.
CAH: ‘Widespread’ & ‘systematic’
‘Widespread’ refers to the large-scale nature of the attack and the number of targeted victims.
‘Systematic’ refers to the organized nature of the acts of violence and the improbability of their random occurrence.
CAH: ‘Nexus’
‘Nexus’: perpetrator’s act is ‘sufficiently connected’ to the attack against the civilian population.
CAH: ‘Knowledge’ –> mens rea
- Intent
- The accused must be aware of the ‘broader context in which his actions occur’ → context of widespread or systematic attack.
Perpetrators need not know the details of the attack, motives are irrelevant.
Genocide [Art. 6]
Means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group
Genocide: mens rea
Two elements of mens rea: (i) intent to commit the underlying offense listed in the actus reus → Art. 30, and (ii) dolus specialis = intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group [say that it is an exhaustive list].
Genocide: ‘intent’
‘Intent’: Intent, not necessarily succeeded.
Genocide: ‘destroy’
‘Destroy’: Must be material (physical or biological), so not conversion or destruction of culture etc.!
Genocide: ‘all or part of’
‘All or part of’: Part of must be significant enough to have impact on the group as a whole.
Genocide: contextual legal element: extra ICC
Conduct took place in the context of a manifest pattern of similar conduct directed against that group or was conduct that could itself effect such destruction.
Genocide: ‘manifest’
‘Manifest’: Pattern must be clear, and within a broader context in which others also committed acts of genocide.
Genocide: ‘Conduct […] destruction’
‘Conduct […] destruction’: No need for a manifest pattern. Provision relevant for when the accused has access to powerful means of destruction and only destroys a single or few deaths. So could also be a single perpetrator with means.
Liabillity: general legal theory
- unitary/monist approach (no distinction accesorial and principal) , 2. differentiated/dualist approach (there is distinction)
Principal responsibility: definition
Principal perpetrator responsibility is independent from that of other parties to the crime → responsibility for the crime proper.
Accessory responsibility: Definition
The principal must commit (or at least attempt) the underlying crime; a defense for the principal affects the responsibility of the accessory.
given
Direct perpetration (commission): Art. 25(1)(a): actus reus
Accused carries out physically or otherwise directly … the material elements of the crime.
Direct perpetration: mens rea
Art. 30
Indirect perpetration: [Art. 25(1)(a): definition
Using another person as an instrument to commit crime.
Indirect perpetration: types
- AdHoc tribunals: The ‘innocent agent’ doctrine:
- ICC: Through organized power apparatus doctrine:
Innocent legal doctrine (indirect): actus reus
Accused use(s) an intermediary, who is not himself criminally liable and thus cannot be considered to have any culpable part in the crime (either because he is a minor, or mentally incompetent, or because he acted under coercion) to commit the crime.
Innocent legal doctrine (indirect): mens rea
The accused directly intends that the intermediary commits the charged crime, or is at least aware of and accepts that possibility → dolus eventualis.
Organized power apparatus doctrine: actus reus
(i) Accused controls a hierarchical organization that ensures ‘automatic compliance’ with his orders
(ii) the accused uses that organization to direct its subordinates to commit crime.
Organized power apparatus doctrine: mens rea
Accused has direct or indirect intent to commit the crime. [Art. 30]
Joint perpetration / co-perpetration: definition
Committing a crime together with one or more other persons.
JCE: definition
Where several persons having a common purpose embark on criminal activity that is then carried out either jointly or by some members of this plurality of persons.
JCE: categories
I: Basic, II: Systematic, III. Extended (includes JCE I)
JCE: actus reus
SAME FOR ALL CATEGORIES:
1. The existence of a plurality of persons;
2. A common plan that amounts to or involves the commission of a crime;
3. The accused person’s significant contribution to the said common plan.
JCE: actus reus: ‘plurality of persons’
‘Plurality of persons’: Two or more persons, doesn’t have to be organized in a certain matter.
JCE: actus reus: ‘Common plan’
‘Common plan’: Persons must expressly or implicitly agree to commit a crime, so that is either the end goal or the necessary means (no need to be written down).
JCE: actus reus: ‘Significant’
‘Significant’: Between minimum and essential. Common plan would have been hampered or executed less efficiently without the contribution of the accused. Membership to the group does not suffice, there has to be some form of action of the accused.
JCE 1: mens rea
All co-defendants, acting pursuant to a common design, possess the same criminal intention [i.e. shared direct intent, purpose].
JCE II: mens rea
Existence of an organized criminal system (concentration or detention camps). Requires personal knowledge of the organized system and intent to further the criminal purpose of that system.
JCE III: mens rea
Liability for an excess crime, other than the crime agreed upon in the common plan, arises if: (i) it was foreseeable that such a crime might be perpetrated by one or other members of the group and (ii) the accused willingly took that risk.
The formal-objective approach =
Participants whose acts constitute the objective elements of the crime’s definition are co-perpetrators.
The subjective approach
Participants who have the same mindset of perpetrators are co-perpetrators. Those who do not identify with the crime and whose will is simply to support the crime of another person are accessories.
The material-objective approach =
Participants whose acts were essential for the commission of the group crime – i.e. without whose contribution the crime will not have taken place – are co-perpetrators.
given
Co-perpetration: ICC: definition
[Art. 25(3)(a)] Based on joint control over the crime.
ICC: Co-perpetration: actus reus
- Existence of a common plan, between the accused and at least one other person, to commit a crime;
- The accused provides an essential contribution to the execution of the said common plan, resulting in the commission of the crime.
ICC: Co-perpetration: mens rea
- The accused fulfills the subjective elements of the crime in question;
- The accused and the other confederates are mutually aware and accept that executing the common plan would result in the commission of the crime;
- The accused is aware of the factual circumstances that enable him to jointly control the crime.
Indirect co-perpetration: definition
Horizontal co-perpetrator in organization is co-responsible for the crimes committed by those for whom another co-perpetrator is vertically responsible. → combination of co-perpetration and indirect perpetration.
Indirect co-perpetration: types
- Leadership-Level JCE: AdHoc tribunals
- Joint Control over organized structure of power: ICC