International Criminal Law

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Can the Pope Be Arrested in Connection with the Sexual Abuse Scandal?

April 14, 2010

Dapo Akande

The sexual abuse scandal surrounding the Catholic Church has taken a new turn in recent weeks with calls for the Pope to be prosecuted for crimes against humanity. The Pope is due to visit the UK in September this year and some prominent campaigners and lawyers have argued that he should be arrested in the UK and prosecuted for his role in the cover up of sexual abuse. Alternatively, these campaigners and lawyers say they will seek an arrest warrant by the International Criminal Court on charges of crimes against humanity. The leaders of this campaign are eminent people and include Richard Dawkins, the well known Oxford Professor and, shall we say, atheist campaigner, Christopher Hitchens, another promiment atheist author and Geoffrey Robertson QC, a prominent British barrister who was a judge at the Special Court for Sierra Leone (see reports here and here and an article by Richard Dawkins here). However, this attempt to get the Pope arrested and prosecuted in the UK has no chance of success as such an…

ICC Launches Online Library on International Criminal Law

May 27, 2009

Dapo Akande

The International Criminal Court has recently launched a new version of its Legal Tools site. The site contains an invaluable online library on international criminal law which will probably be the first port of call for those working in this field. According to the release announcing the launch: The Legal Tools amount…

Second Thoughts on the Crime of Aggression

April 9, 2009

Andreas Paulus

Professor Andreas Paulus holds the Chair of Public and International Law at Georg-August-University Göttingen. He is a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the European Journal of International Law. He has served as counsel of the Federal Republic of Germany in the LaGrand case (Germany vs. United States) and as Adviser to the German team…

Would the addition of a Genocide Charge to the Bashir Arrest Warrant Change the Position on Immunity?

March 24, 2009

Dapo Akande

The Pre-Trial Chamber of the ICC issued an arrest warrant for Sudanese President Omar Bashir only with respect to war crimes and crimes against humanity and rejected the Prosecutor's request for a charge of genocide. Marko (and Kevin Jon Heller at Opinio Juris) have (rightly, in my view) criticized the reasoning by which the majority…

Distinctions between the Legal Position of ICC Parties and Non-Parties Regarding Aggression

March 21, 2009

Dapo Akande

The International Criminal Court (ICC) recently released the latest report of the Special Working Group (of the Assembly of States Parties) on the Crime of Aggression. Art. 5 of the ICC Statute includes the crime of aggression as one of the crimes within the jurisdiction of the Court. However, the Court may only exercise jurisdiction over it once a provision has been adopted…

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The Self-Fragmentation of the ICTY Appeals Chamber

January 23, 2014

Marko Milanovic

Today the ICTY Appeals Chamber (thankfully) affirmed the convictions of high-ranking Serbian leaders for crimes in Kosovo in Sainovic et al, even though it somewhat reduced the sentences. The judg(e)ment is gigantic, especially for an appeals decision, at 800 pages+, and obviously I haven't read it. But buried in all that is one very important development…

Ukraine Files ICJ Claim against Russia

February 27, 2022

Marko Milanovic

Earlier today President Zelenskyy announced that Ukraine has filed an application against Russia before the International Court of Justice: Ukraine has submitted its application against Russia to the ICJ. Russia must be held accountable for manipulating the notion of genocide to justify aggression. We request an urgent decision ordering Russia to cease…

Can the ICC Prosecute for Use of Chemical Weapons in Syria?

August 23, 2013

Dapo Akande

Recent reports regarding the possible use of chemical weapons in Syria are very disturbing indeed. If it turns out that there is concrete evidence that chemical weapons have been used, many will hope this will (finally) provoke action by the Security Council. There will inevitably be calls for accountability of those responsible and hopes that the Syrian situation will be referred…

ICC Appeals Chamber Holds that Heads of State Have No Immunity Under Customary International Law Before International Tribunals

May 6, 2019

Dapo Akande

The Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Court (ICC) has, this morning, issued what seems to be an extremely controversial decision on Head of State Immunity. At the time of writing, the full written judgment is not yet available in the appeal by Jordan against the decision of the Pre-Trial Chamber referring that state to the UN Security…