Seminar 1 – Introduction to International Criminal Law and the
Nuremberg and Tokyo Military Tribunals
Reading:
Chapter 1 – What is International Criminal Law?
International law governs the rights and responsibilities of states and criminal law
is concerned with what individuals cannot do subject to the penal powers of the
state
International Criminal Law is relatively new concept
Criminal Law is now concerned with ‘individuals and with their protections from
wide-scale atrocities’
Cherif Bassiouni – 25 categories of international crimes, they are things which
affect a significant international interest or are largely seen as horrific in terms of
commonly shared values
International crime – those crimes which are dealt with by international courts or
tribunals and that fall within their jurisdictions (e.g. that of the International
Criminal Court (ICC))
Transnational Criminal Law – pre International courts and tribunals, a form of
ICL that involved a state’s domestic criminal law which dealt with cross-border
crime – now its own type of law because the source of law is domestic and not
international like ICL
ICC Statute – ‘the most serious crimes of concern to the international community
as a whole’ and ‘such crimes threaten the peace, security and well-being of the
world’
International crime places criminal responsibility directly upon individuals –
Nuremberg Military Tribunal - …’individuals have international duties which
transcend the national obligations of obedience imposed by the individual state’
Sources of ICL – that of International Law because criminal law is a subset of it
- Treaties – incorporated either directly or used to interpret
- Customary International law – the body of law that derives from the practice of
states, can originate from a treaty or written instrument
The ICTY and ICTR made reference to both domestic and international case law
Human Rights law and ICL have a common inspiration of preventing Nazi actions
of WW2
Most recent developments in ICL come from the 2 ad hoc tribunals or former
Yugoslavia and Rwanda (ICTY and ICTR)
ICL commonly used Human Rights law to assist in drawing boundaries of
offences (such as in genocide in ICTR) because they have the same aim of
ensuring a basic level of treatment for humans
ICL also finds common ground with International Humanitarian Law designed
to protect victims of armed conflict. Large areas of IHL are now war crimes.
The responsibility of a state under International Law is NOT dealt with by
International Criminal Law, but an International Crime by an agent of a state can
be punished individually in ICL and as a state in other areas of law
ICL comprises of Criminal Law and International Law, IL being its source CL being
the penal consequences
Nullum crimen sine lege – Principle of criminal law that the conduct has to be
pre prescribed as wrong and have clear boundaries and punishment
Nulla poena sine lege – defined penalties attached to a crime
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