International Criminal Law Past Paper PDF Fall 2024/2025

INTERNATIONAL LAW: INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL LAW FALL 2024/2025 WHAT IS INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL LAW? International criminal law is a body of public international law designed to prohibit certain categories of conduct commonly viewed as serious atrocities and to make committers of such conduct crimin...

INTERNATIONAL LAW: INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL LAW FALL 2024/2025 WHAT IS INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL LAW? International criminal law is a body of public international law designed to prohibit certain categories of conduct commonly viewed as serious atrocities and to make committers of such conduct criminally accountable. INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL LAW International criminal law is relatively recent in origin, given that accountability and responsibility for criminal acts carried out by individuals has almost exclusively been confined to the responsibility of individual states. Perhaps the only historical exception to the extension of criminal acts outside the state, was the crime of piracy, where pirates were regarded as hostes humanis generis: ‘the enemies of all humankind’. However today several institutions have been created with the jurisdiction of applying international criminal law, although most of these have either been ad hoc tribunals or hybrid courts with a narrow remit. The most prominent institution that has been created with respect to international criminal law is undoubtedly the International Criminal Court, situated in The Hague. ORIGINS OF INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL LAW In the aftermath of the First World War, the 1919 Treaty of Versailles contained a section condemning German Kaiser Wilhelm II for: ‘the supreme offense against international morality and the sanctity of treaties’. Kaiser Wilhelm II had fled to exile in the Netherlands (which was not a signatory to the Versailles treaty), who refused to extradite him on the basis that the crimes he was accused of were not contemplated in the Dutch Constitution. ORIGINS OF INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL LAW However, the watershed moment for international criminal law arguably came with the end of the Second World War, when the victorious Allied Powers set up international military tribunals in Nuremburg and Tokyo. For the first time in history, international tribunals were given jurisdiction over crimes against peace (aggression), crimes against humanity, and war crimes. The judgement of the Nuremburg Trials famously concluded that: ‘Crimes against international law are committed by men, not by abstract entities, and only by punishing individuals who commit such crimes can the provisions of international law be enforced’. INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL TRIBUNALS FOR THE FORMER YUGOSLAVIA AND RWANDA In response to the mass atrocities committed during the violent disintegration of the former Yugoslavia, the UN Security Council Resolution 827 established the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in 1993. And shortly after the genocide in Rwanda in 1994, the Council created the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR). The ICTY with the ICTR, were ad hoc tribunals structured into a trial chamber and an appeals chamber. Both sets of tribunals had the jurisdiction to prosecute ‘persons responsible for serious violations of international humanitarian law’ within the respective territories of the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda. Significantly, for crimes falling under their jurisdiction, the ad hoc tribunals enjoyed primacy over national courts. SPECIAL TRIBUNAL FOR LEBANON (STL) After the assassination of Prime Minister Rafic Hariri on 14 February 2005, Lebanon asked for a ‘tribunal of an international character’ to be established to try those responsible. The Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) was properly constituted by the Security Council, with a relatively narrow jurisdiction only over acts connected to the Hariri assassination, which was a terrorist act. The STL’s distinctive feature is that it applies only Lebanese criminal law. ‘HYBRID COURTS’ ‘Hybrid courts’ apply a blend of domestic and international law. One such example is the Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL), established by an agreement between the government of Sierra Leone and the Security Council. The SCSL has jurisdiction over most recognized international crimes, but also domestic crimes such as arson. A majority of judges in all of its chambers, and its prosecutor, are appointed by the UN Secretary-General. The SCSL Statute requires that it be guided by the decision of the ICTY/ICTR Appeals Chamber on matters of international law, and by the Supreme Court of Sierra Leone in relation to questions of Sierra Leonean law. FOUNDATION OF THE INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT (ICC) The Rome Statute established the International Criminal Court in 1998. There had been earlier unsuccessful efforts to establish a permanent international criminal court in the immediate aftermath of World War II. The Cold War delayed further efforts, until in 1989 Trinidad and Tobago suggested that the UN General Assembly consider international prosecution for drug-related offences. The General Assembly referred the matter to the ILC, which proposed in 1994 a Draft Statute for an International Criminal Court. The Rome Statute established the International Criminal Court in 1998. FOUNDATION OF THE INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT (ICC) The 1994 Draft Statue proposed an international criminal court with jurisdiction over the four ‘core crimes’ of: 1. Genocide 2. War crimes 3. Crimes against humanity 4. Aggression (known in the Nuremburg/Tokyo period as ‘crimes against peace’) In addition, it also proposed the inclusion of certain ‘treaty crimes’ found in other multilateral conventions such as terrorism, drug-related offences, and organized crime. PREPARATORY COMMITTEE (PREPCOM) Encouraged by the Draft Statute, the UN General Assembly convened a Preparatory Committee (PrepCom) in late 1995 to take forward the creation of an International Criminal Court. The work of PrepCom led to a five-week-long conference in Rome, which on 17 July 1998 concluded the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, the jurisdiction of which would be limited to the ‘core crimes’. Following its ratification, the Court thus came into being in The Hague on 1 July 2002. CORE CRIMES 1. Genocide: As per the Statute, ‘genocide’ means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such: 1. Killing members of the group; 2. Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; 3. Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; 4. Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; 5. Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group. CORE CRIMES 2. Crimes against humanity: As per the Statute, ‘crime against humanity’ 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: 1. Murder 2. Extermination 3. Enslavement 4. Deportation or forcible transfer of population 5. Imprisonment or other severe deprivation of physical liberty in violation of fundamental rules of international law CORE CRIMES 7. Torture 8. Rape, sexual slavery, enforced prostitution, forced pregnancy, enforced sterilization, or any other form of sexual violence 9. Persecution against any identifiable group or collectively on political, racial, national, ethnic, cultural, religious, gender….or other grounds that are universally recognized as impermissible under international law 10.Enforced disappearance of persons 11.Other inhumane acts of a similar character intentionally causing great suffering, or serious injury to body or to mental or physical health. CORE CRIMES 3. War crimes: As per the Rome Statute, the ICC has jurisdiction in respect of war crimes in particular when committed as part of a plan or policy or as part of a large-scale commission of such crimes. The Statute defines ‘war crimes’ as ‘grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, namely, which include any of the following acts against persons or property protected under the provisions of the relevant Geneva Convention: 1. Wilful killing; 2. Torture or inhuman treatment, including biological experiments; 3. Wilfully causing great suffering, or serious injury to body or health; 4. Extensive destruction and appropriation of property, not justified by military necessity and carried out unlawfully; 5. Wilfully depriving a prisoner of war or other protected person of the rights of fair and regular trial; 6. Taking of hostages. CORE CRIMES ‘war crimes’ under the statute also encompasses other serious violations of the laws and customs applicable in international armed conflict. A war crime can only be committed in the context of an armed conflict. CORE CRIMES 4. Crime of aggression: The ‘crime of aggression’, though included in the original Rome Statue, was not defined until the 2010 Kampala Review Conference, which led to a definition being agreed upon by all members of the ASP (Assembly of State Parties) of the ICC. As per the most recent Rome Statute, the ‘crime of aggression’ means the planning, preparation, initiation or execution, by a person in a position effectively to exercise control over or to direct the political or military action of a state, of an act of aggression which, by its character, gravity and scale, constitutes a manifest violation of the Charter of the United Nations. Whereas the ‘act of aggression’ means the use of armed force by a state against the sovereignty, territorial integrity or political independence of another state, or in any other manner inconsistent with the Charter of the United Nations. JURISDICTION OF THE ICC Under the Rome Statute, the ICC enjoys jurisdiction over the ‘most serious crimes of concern to the international community as a whole’, namely the four ‘core crimes’. The ICC’s jurisdiction does not extend to offenses committed prior to the statute’s entry into force on 1 July 2002. Critically, and unlike the ICTY and ICTR, the ICC’s jurisdiction is complementary to the jurisdiction of national courts. Simply put, the principle of complementarity means that national criminal justice systems enjoy primacy over the ICC, which is a court of last resort. This means that a case is inadmissible if it is being, or has been, investigated or prosecuted by national authorities. DEBATE QUESTION “The established UN Charter-based mechanisms for determining the legality of war is fair and fit for purpose.” GROUP I GROUP C FOR AGAINST 1. Tahiya Mohamed Hassan Altalaia Aldhuhoori 1. Moza Mohamed Abdalla Ahmed Alkhayyal 2. Thuraia Salim Mohamed Saeed Binashour 2. Aysha Adel Obaid Khalfan Almatrooshi 3. Slama Ahmed M. Ben Reed Alsubousi 3. Roudha Badr Salim Ahmed Alhammadi 4. Salama Fadhel Humaid Badaw Alfalasi 4. Shahad Obaid Ali Dabil Alnaqbi 5. Janan Khalid Mohamed Khalfan Alnaqbi 6. Asma Yousif Abdelrahman A. Almaeeni DEBATE QUESTION “Drug-trafficking should be included as one of the "core crimes" under the ICC's jurisdiction.” GROUP J GROUP F FOR AGAINST 1. Shahad Khalifa Mohamed Hassan Aldarmaki 1. Hind Adel Ibrahim Ahmad 2. Sara Mouhammad Hussien Abdallah 2. Hamda Abdalla Mohamed Allay Alnaqbi 3. Moza Ali Khamis Ali Alawani 3. Afra Ahmed Amin Mohamed Aljasmi 4. Mariam Ahmed Ali Ghulam Al-ali 4. Alyazya Salim Khalfan Salim Alhashmi 5. Maha Ahmed Ali Alsaygeh Almaazmi 5. Fatima Majid Ghanim Binjesaim Alkhateri 6. Shahad Ali Khalfan Mutref Alteneiji DEBATE QUESTION “The world should relocate all refugees to Greenland to prevent illegal migration.” GROUP K GROUP A FOR AGAINST 1. Mariam Juma Salim Obaid Eid 1. Sultan Nasir Abdalla Nasir Alnuaimi 2. Mariam Omar Abdalla Khamboul Aldhuhoori 2. Rafeeah Majid Saeed Khalfan Almarri 3. Meryem Nakkabi 3. Maitha Abdulla Salem Majed Alnuaimi 4. Maitha Ali Salman Suliman Alameri 4. Khalfan Hendi Khalfan Bintrais Alqemzi 5. Salma Tayseer Thabit Abdalla Mohammed 5. Hesham Hasan M S Zaman 6. Maitha Saud Hassan Mahmoud Alzarooni THE END