A Blog on International Justice
The International Criminal Court (ICC) Chief Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda dismissed Kenya’s appeal to end the cases facing President Uhuru Kenyatta and Deputy President William Ruto. ICC Prosecutor Bensouda told the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) on Wednesday that Kenya had made “unfounded and incorrect” claims in urging it to end the two cases. Kenya’s Permanent [...]
The UC Irvine School of Law International Justice Clinic has just released The Council and the Court: Improving Security Council Support of the International Criminal Court, a report designed to answer critical questions about how the UN Security Council may improve its support of the International Criminal Court (ICC): What steps may be taken to [...]
This Monday, Switzerland sent a letter on behalf of fifty-seven states to ask the UN Security Council to refer the Syria conflict to the International Criminal Court (ICC) for a war crimes investigation. The signatories included all European Union member states, with the notable exception of Sweden. Australia, New Zealand, Japan and a number of [...]
by Amal Alamuddin* - iLawyer and former adviser to Kofi Annan on Syria The UN Security Council (UNSC) kick-started international criminal justice in the 1990s by creating courts to try those suspected of international crimes in the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda. When the International Criminal Court (ICC) opened its doors in 2002, it became the world’s first [...]
The United Nations Security Council is set to debate the role of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in an open meeting Wednesday 17 October 2012. Mr. Rosenthal, the Permanent Representative of Guatemala, introduced the agenda for his October presidency of that body and announced a debate on the item “Promotion and strengthening of the rule [...]
The Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court presented his third report to the Security Council on Libya on 16 May. The report briefly described the background to the conflict, outlining abuses committed by both pro and anti-Gaddafi forces during and following the conflict, as well as attempts by the Libyan government to bring to justice [...]
In an OP-ED contribution published in the New York Times, Richard Dicker, director of HRW’s International Justice Progam, explains how the Security Council’s power to refer cases to the ICC undermines the Court’s credibility. This power of referral has significantly increased the risk of political taint, because ‘judicial legitimacy depends on independence from government interference’. [...]