International Criminal Law and Tribunals Quiz

International Criminal Law: An Overview

• International criminal law prohibits certain categories of conduct viewed as serious atrocities and holds perpetrators of such conduct criminally accountable.
• The core crimes under international law are genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and the crime of aggression.
• International criminal law was invented after World War II by applying its prohibitions directly to individuals, in this case, the defeated leaders of Nazi Germany.
• International criminal law was revived in the 1990s to address war crimes in the Yugoslav Wars and the Rwandan genocide, leading to the establishment of a permanent International Criminal Court in 2001.
• International criminal law is best understood as an attempt to address the most grievous atrocities.
• The sources of international criminal law are treaties, customary international law, general principles of law, judicial decisions, and the most highly qualified juristic writings.
• The prosecution of severe international crimes is necessary to enforce international criminal law and deliver justice to victims.
• International criminal law does not, at present, apply to armed opposition groups.
• The most important institution of international criminal law is the International Criminal Court (ICC), as well as several ad hoc tribunals and hybrid courts and tribunals.
• The ICC is a permanent tribunal to prosecute individuals for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression.
• The court's creation is the most significant reform of international law since 1945, giving authority to the two bodies of international law that deal with treatment of individuals: human rights and humanitarian law.
• As of November 2019, 123 states are parties to the Statute of the Court, including all the countries of South America, nearly all of Europe, most of Oceania, and roughly half of Africa.International Criminal Tribunals: ICTR, ICTY, and Proposed Tribunal for the Russian Federation

International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR)

• The Security Council called on the Tribunal to complete its investigations by the end of 2004, complete all trial activities by the end of 2008 and complete all work in 2012.
• The tribunal has jurisdiction over genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes.
• The Tribunal has completed 50 trials and convicted 29 accused persons, with 11 trials in progress.
• 14 individuals are awaiting trial in detention, and 13 others are still at large.
• The first trial began in 1997, and according to the ICTR's Completion Strategy, all first-instance cases were to have completed trial by the end of 2008.
• An International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals will begin functioning on July 1, 2012, with respect to the work begun by the ICTR.
• The ICTR has been called upon by the United Nations Security Council to finish its work by December 31, 2014, and to prepare its closure and transition of cases to the Mechanism.

International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY)

• The ICTY was established by United Nations Security Council Resolution 827 in 1993.
• It had jurisdiction over four clusters of crimes committed on the territory of the former Yugoslavia since 1991.
• The maximum sentence it could impose was life imprisonment.
• A total of 161 persons were indicted by the ICTY during the course of its existence.
• The last indictment issued by the ICTY was on March 15, 2004.
• The ICTY's final judgment was issued on November 29, 2017, and the institution formally ceased to exist on December 31, 2017.
• Residual functions of the ICTY are under the jurisdiction of a successor body, the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals.

Proposed International Criminal Tribunal for the Russian Federation

• The Council of Europe, the European Commission, and the NATO Parliamentary Assembly have called for the establishment of an international criminal tribunal to investigate and prosecute the crime of aggression committed by the political and military leadership of the Russian Federation.
• The tribunal should be located in Strasbourg, apply the definition of the crime of aggression established in customary international law, and have the power to issue international arrest warrants.
• In November 2022, the NATO Parliamentary Assembly designated the Russian Federation as a terrorist organization and called upon the international community to establish an international tribunal to prosecute the crime of aggression committed by Russia with its war against Ukraine.
• In November 2022, the European Commission said the EU will work to establish an ad hoc criminal tribunal to investigate and prosecute Russia's crime of aggression.