Welcome to Loot.co.za!
Sign in / Register |Wishlists & Gift Vouchers |Help | Advanced search
|
Your cart is empty |
|||
Books > Law > International law > International criminal law
This timely book explores the prospect of prosecuting corporations or individuals within the business world for conduct amounting to international crime. Joanna Kyriakakis surveys the state of the art in the field, highlighting the case for the international criminal justice project to engage more fully with the role industry can play in atrocity. From the post-World War II era to contemporary international criminal courts and tribunals and the activities of domestic criminal justice agencies, this book analyses cases and international law reform efforts aimed at accounting for business involvement in international crimes. The major debates and ensuing challenges are examined, arguing that corporate accountability under international criminal law is crucial in achieving the objectives of international criminal justice. Students, practitioners and academics of international criminal law will find this a beneficial read, particularly through its engagement with the key contemporary debate around the extension of international criminal law to business actors. The exploration of how to address the global governance gap and better account for human rights abuses in transnational corporate activity will also make this an invigorating book for business and human rights scholars.
International Humanitarian Law (IHL) is in a state of some turbulence, as a result of, among other things, non-international armed conflicts, terrorist threats and the rise of new technologies. This incisive book observes that while states appear to be reluctant to act as agents of change, informal methods of law-making are flourishing. Illustrating that not only courts, but various non-state actors, push for legal developments, this timely work offers an insight into the causes of this somewhat ambivalent state of IHL by focusing attention on both the legitimacy of law-making processes and the actors involved. Investigating what law-making processes reveal about the overall state of this legal regime, this thought-provoking book shows that current developments display a far-reaching disagreement about the direction into which IHL should evolve. It explores the most relevant trends in the development of IHL including the absence of formal law-making by states, informal law-making through manual processes and the increasing role of sub and non-state actors. Law-Making and Legitimacy in International Humanitarian Law will be of benefit to scholars and students of international law and relations, as well as practitioners working in the field of IHL, particularly in government ministries, international organizations and NGOs.
Through the lens of five institutional functions - quasi-legislative, quasi-judicial, recommendatory, empowering and sanctioning - this important book assesses the practice and legal foundations of the United Nations General Assembly in advancing international justice, an increasing priority of the international community. Challenging the assumption that the General Assembly is merely a weak deliberative assembly, Michael Ramsden shows that its pioneering resolutions on international justice have become an invaluable tool in the fight against impunity. As concerns remain over the aptness of international institutions in responding to atrocities, particularly the Security Council, this book establishes the legal foundation for the General Assembly to step into the breach. Chapters also offer innovative arguments on the General Assembly's institutional powers to end impunity as well as a detailed examination on the influence of General Assembly resolutions in judicial decision-making. International Justice in the United Nations General Assembly will be a key resource for scholars and students in the fields of international law and international institutional law, as well as UN and international institutional practitioners who are involved in policy development.
Across the world, mass graves, often containing a multitude of human remains, are sites of human loss, suffering and unimaginable acts of cruelty. While no one mass grave or its investigation is the same, all mass graves contain evidence that is essential to the realisation of justice and accountability goals for victims, affected communities, states in transition and the international community. This book tactfully examines this sensitive topic, demonstrating how mass grave investigations can be highly complex, context-specific, lengthy and expensive processes, requiring significant planning, coordination, expertise and resources. The book analyses the various processes involved in mass grave investigation from a number of disciplinary perspectives and a variety of geographical, cultural and political contexts, including Bosnia, Guatemala, Libya, Nepal and Rwanda. Chapters feature expert contributions from voices in the fields of forensic sciences, advocacy and the judiciary, along with world-leading international legal expertise on mass graves, their protection and investigation. This timely book will be an ideal resource for practitioners and academics in the fields of international criminal law, international human rights law, international humanitarian law and transitional justice. Students interested in forensic archaeology, anthropology, fact-finding and human rights investigations will also find this a stimulating read.
Providing a much-needed study of the weapons paradox in the case of autonomous weapons, this book is a detailed and comprehensive account of the current debate over the use of autonomous weapons - should some form of regulation be applied or a total ban be enforced? How can compliance with existing rules be ensured? Can responsibility be properly allocated? To what extent do concepts such as 'human dignity' and 'humanity' provide legal guidance in coping with technology? This book tackles these momentous challenges and strives to provide sound answers by elaborating on international law and proposing normative solutions for current and future human-machine interactions in this critical field. Diego Mauri expertly explains the complex new technological research involved in autonomous weaponry, with particular focus on technological developments that have elicited intense debates among diplomats, military experts, scientists, philosophers, and international lawyers. Providing innovative and original discussion of the effective protection of the human person in international law, this book will be welcomed by legal scholars, human rights lawyers, and researchers concerned with the relationship between international law and technology.
Peace and Justice at the International Criminal Court focuses on the evolution and the present-day work of the International Criminal Court, a historic global institution. Errol P. Mendes provides a compelling argument that there can never be a sustainable peace in conflicts unless the cause of justice is also addressed. The author dives deep into the facts and rulings of the Court that involved some of the most serious international conflicts in recent times. The author also discusses the challenges facing the Court from failed prosecutions to failures of the UN Security Council and other member states. What results is a detailed but honest critique of where the Court succeeds and where it needs to improve. Mendes goes on to provide a prediction of the greatest challenges facing the Court in the foreseeable future. This book is a valuable resource for academics and students in international criminal law and practice, public international relations, political science, military and war studies.
'The field of international criminal justice owes its growth more to practice than to theory. Hugely important theoretical questions have often been given short shrift. But not by Gabriel Lentner. In an accessible style and on the basis of wide reading, he addresses head-on one of the most fundamental theoretical questions pertaining to the International Criminal Court: what is the legal nature of referrals made by the United Nations Security Council to the ICC of situations in states that are not parties to the Statute? He illustrates the significance of that question with supreme verve. A most promising debut.' - Sarah M.H. Nouwen, University of Cambridge and Pembroke College, UK Drawing on both theory and practice, this insightful book offers a comprehensive analysis of the relationship between the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) and the International Criminal Court (ICC), centered on the referral mechanism. Arguing that the legal nature of the referral must be conceptualized as a conferral of powers from the UNSC to the ICC, the author explores the complex legal relationship between interacting international organizations. With a novel approach to the relationship between the UNSC and the ICC, this book addresses important questions raised in practice. In particular, Gabriel M. Lentner explores issues regarding any limits and conditions for referral under the UN Charter and the Rome Statute, and the legal effects on heads-of-state immunity, as well as the validity of jurisdictional exemptions for other specific categories of nationals. This is a persuasive study into the powers of the UNSC with respect to international criminal law. With its timely focus on an important topic, this book will be vital reading for academics in international institutional law, international criminal law, and human rights law. ICC judges and lawyers, as well as lawyers involved in the UN, governments, and non-governmental organizations will also benefit from this book.
This thought-provoking book conceptualizes femicide as a multifaceted human rights violation and proposes state responsibility for group-related risks of violence against women and girls. In doing so, it reassesses the concept of femicide, analysing it in view of the crime of genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, as well as several facets of human rights. Angela Hefti challenges the common definition of femicide, extending it beyond the killing of women due to their gender to include elements of victim blame, sexual abuse, forced marriage and delayed investigations by authorities. Chapters address femicide in the context of the African, Inter-American and European regional and universal human rights systems. Case studies from Iraq, Nigeria and Mexico provide a fundamental understanding of the multidimensional and worldwide nature of femicide. Spanning several key academic debates, the book incorporates underlying feminist legal theory and approaches pertaining to the subordination of women and girls in society, arguing that femicide should qualify as an autonomous human rights violation. Providing an impetus for further research on femicide, particularly on state responsibility for crimes committed by private actors, this book will be a crucial resource for academics in human rights and humanitarian law, criminal law and justice. The book will also be highly valuable to activists, practitioners, and lawyers with an interest in advancing aspects of femicide in international human rights law.
This timely book provides a critical consideration of one of the most pressing matters confronting global and regional strategies for suppressing transnational organized crime today: the question of the scope and rationale of States' criminal jurisdiction over these cross-border offences. It shines a light on the complex challenges posed by transnational organized crime to international criminal law. Fulvia Staiano analyses the ways in which transnational organized crime has pushed States, as well as international organizations and institutions, to rethink the boundaries and rationale of territorial and extraterritorial State jurisdiction. The book examines consolidated instances of transnational organized crimes, such as human trafficking, migrant smuggling and trafficking in firearms, but also looks at emerging phenomena which have come to the attention of scholars and practitioners in more recent times, including cybercrime. In doing so, it draws a connection between States' responses to 'old' and 'new' transnational crimes while providing an up-to-date analysis of international practice in this field. Contributing to the broader academic debate on the need to conceptualize transnational criminal law as an area of study separate from international criminal law, this book will be a key resource for postgraduate students, researchers and academics in the fields of public international law, criminal law, international relations, as well as social and political studies.
The boundaries between core crimes and transnational crimes are blurring. Should prosecution and trial of transnational crimes be transferred from national to international jurisdictions? Or should criminal law repression in respect of such crimes remain the prerogative of the state? Cutting edge contributions to this book demonstrate that there is no ?one-size-fits-all? answer to these questions. Addressing the distinctions and commonalities of transnational and international crimes, eminent contributors discuss the implications of this relationship in the realm of law enforcement. This book critically reflects on the connection between ?core crimes? of the International Criminal Court including; war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide, aggression, and several newly emerging transnational crimes. In view of this gradual merger of the categories, one of the major questions is whether the distinction in legal regime is still warranted. Significantly, the human rights consequences of transnational criminal law enforcement are brought to attention in this timely study. Academics and students of law, officials, policy makers and practicing criminal lawyers, will all greatly benefit from the crucial insight into the future of handling transnational crime. Contributors include: I. Bantekas, M. Bo, N. Boister, H. Bosdriesz, I. Braber, N. Bussolati, A. Chehtman, M.L. Ferioli, S. Gless, C. Jalloh, G. Nessi, H. Olasolo, C. Paulussen, H. van der Wilt, D. van Leeuwen, S. Wirken
This book analyzes the interactions of international criminal tribunals established since the 1990s with international, national and regional bodies, making recommendations for the International Criminal Court (ICC) as it goes forward. Placing the core issues within the statutory framework of the Rome Statute and major policy considerations, the authors examine ways in which the ICC can best coordinate with other accountability mechanisms on national and regional prosecutions, the UN Security Council, cooperation on the enforcement of arrest warrants, national non-judicial processes and amicus briefs from non-governmental organizations (NGOs). This timely evaluation of the experiences of the ad hoc international criminal tribunals spotlights the legal, political and coordination issues that will likely impact the ICC's current mandate to adjudicate core international crimes. It explores how governments, inter-governmental bodies and global civil society might best collaborate to strengthen national capacity to investigate and prosecute atrocity crimes in pursuit of global justice. The book also considers the challenge of state cooperation with international criminal tribunals, identifying lessons for the ICC, while emphasizing the need for positive complementarity between the emerging African Criminal Court and the ICC. Lawyers, judges, NGOs, government officials, academics, and policy makers at all levels will value this book as an important resource on transitional justice and the place of justice in the aftermath of conflict and mass atrocity.
'The rhetoric of transformation in transitional justice seems to be everywhere. Padraig McAuliffe takes this agenda down to its roots and exposes unproven or wishful assumptions that fail to connect with conditions in actual post-conflict settings. This bracing and powerful book, massively researched and tightly argued, throws down a gauntlet and defines an agenda for future research. McAuliffe's book is a singular and outstanding intervention in the transitional justice field.' - Margaret Urban Walker, Marquette University Despite the growing focus on issues of socio-economic transformation in contemporary transitional justice, the path dependencies imposed by the political economy of war-to-peace transitions and the limitations imposed by weak statehood are seldom considered. This book explores transitional justice's prospects for seeking economic justice and reform of structures of poverty in the specific context of post-conflict states. Systematic and timely, this book examines how the evolution of contemporary civil war, the modalities of peacemaking and peacebuilding, as well as the role of grassroots forms of justice, condition prospects for tackling the economic roots of conflict. It argues that discourse in the area focuses too much on the liberal commitments of interveners to the exclusion of understanding how interventionist impulses are compromised by the agency of local actors. Ultimately, the book illustrates that for transitional justice to become effective in transforming structures of injustice, it needs to acknowledge the salience of domestic political incentives and accumulation patterns. Transitional justice scholars will find this book indispensable as the first consideration of transitional justice and economic transformation from the perspective of the domestic political economy. Both peacebuilding and development specialists will also benefit from its wealth of lessons to be learned.
What is international criminal justice? The authors of this book set out a framework for understanding international criminal justice in all its facets. Considering both definition and content, the authors argue for its treatment as a holistic field of study, rather than a by-product of international criminal law. Adopting a multidisciplinary approach, this book draws on a range of legal and extra-legal disciplines. Whilst addressing crucial legal questions throughout, it also considers the role and impact of politics, history, psychology, terrorism, transitioning society, and even the idea of hope in how we understand international criminal justice. Challenging many of the prevalent paradigms of thinking in this area, Gideon Boas and Pascale Chifflet explore whether it is possible to reconcile some of the enduring intellectual conflict, such as whether and how retributive and restorative approaches to justice can co-exist. Written by leading academics who themselves are also practitioners in the field, this unique work performs a significant role in defining and explaining international criminal justice, and as such will be important reading for scholars and practitioners, as well as providing an entry point for students in a classroom environment.
This book considers the law, policy and procedure for child witnesses in Australian criminal courts across the twentieth century. It uses the stories and experiences of over 200 children, in many cases using their own words from press reports, to highlight how the relevant law was - or was not - applied throughout this period. The law was sympathetic to the plight of child witnesses and exhibited a significant degree of pragmatism to receive the evidence of children but was equally fearful of innocent men being wrongly convicted. The book highlights the impact 'safeguards' like corroboration and closed court rules had on the outcome of many cases and the extent to which fear - of children, of lies (or the truth) and of reform - influenced the criminal justice process. Over a century of children giving evidence in court it is `clear that the more things changed, the more they stayed the same'.
Drawing on the expertise and experience of contributors from a wide range of academic, professional and judicial backgrounds, the Research Handbook on the International Penal System critically analyses the laws, policies and practices that govern detention, punishment and the enforcement of sentences in the international criminal justice context. Comprehensive and innovative, it examines the operation of the international penal system, covering pertinent issues such as non-custodial sanctions, monitoring of conditions of detention, the protection of prisoners under international law and the transfer of prisoners. These aspects are presented in a logical order, linking up with the chronological sequence of the international criminal justice process. Far-reaching, this Handbook also explores broader normative questions related to contemporary human rights law, transitional and restorative justice and victim redress, before exploring contemporary and alternative mechanisms for punishing and overseeing punishment, and possible avenues for development. This up-to-date assessment will provide valuable insights for researchers and students of international criminal law and justice, comparative penal law, penology, prisoners' rights and transitional and restorative justice. Its recommendations for development will also interest international and national officials working in criminal law and justice. Contributors: D. Abels, K. Ambos, O. Bekou, S. D Ascoli, T.A. Doherty, M.A. Drumbl, S.A. Fisher, B. Hola, A. Jones, N. Kiefer, C. McCarthy, L. McGregor, R. Mulgrew, J.C. Nemitz, M.M. Penrose, G. Sluiter, S. Snacken, A. Trotter, H. van der Wilt, J. van Wijk, D. van Zyl Smit, R. Young
The book analyses the difficulties the International Criminal Court faces with the definition of those persons who are eligible for participating in the proceedings. Establishing justice for victims is one of the most important aims of the court. It therefore created a unique system of victim participation. Since its first trial the court struggles to live up to the expectancies its statute has generated. The book offers a new approach of how to define victimhood by looking at the different international crimes. It seeks to offer guidance for the right to participate in the different stages of the proceedings by looking at the practice in national jurisdictions. Lastly the book offers insights into the functioning of the reparation regime at the ICC by virtue of the Trust Fund for Victim and its different mandates. The critical analysis of the ICC-practice with regard to definition, participation and reparation aims at promoting a realistic approach, which will avoid the disappointing of expectations and thus help to enhance the acceptance of the ICC.
The present book brings together perspectives from different disciplinary fields to examine the significant legal, moral and political issues which arise in relation to the use of lethal force in both domestic and international law. These issues have particular salience in the counter terrorism context following 9/11 (which brought with it the spectre of shooting down hijacked airplanes) and the use of force in Operation Kratos that led to the tragic shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes. Concerns about the use of excessive force, however, are not confined to the terrorist situation. The essays in this collection examine how the state sanctions the use of lethal force in varied ways: through the doctrines of public and private self-defence and the development of legislation and case law that excuses or justifies the use of lethal force in the course of executing an arrest, preventing crime or disorder or protecting private property. An important theme is how the domestic and international legal orders intersect and continually influence one another. While legal approaches to the use of lethal force share common features, the context within which force is deployed varies greatly. Key issues explored in this volume are the extent to which domestic and international law authorise pre-emptive use of force, and how necessity and reasonableness are legally constructed in this context.
This book proposes and outlines a comprehensive framework for judicial protection in transnational criminal proceedings that ensures the right to judicial review without hampering the effective functioning of international cooperation in criminal matters. It examines a broad range of potential approaches in the context of selected national criminal justice systems, and offers a comparative analysis of EU Member States and non-Member States alike. The book particularly focuses on the differences between cooperation within the EU on the one hand and cooperation with third states on the other, and on the consequences of this distinction for the scope of judicial review.
Based on extensive research on the International Military Tribunal for the Far East, this book closely examines the claims and controversy surrounding the 'Nanjing Massacre', a period of murder in 1937-1938 committed by Japanese troops against the residents of Nanjing (Nanking), after the capture of the then capital of the Republic of China, during the Second Sino-Japanese War. Focusing on weighing up arguments denying Nanjing Massacre, this book considers the Japanese 'Illusion' school of thought which contests the truth of the Nanjing Massacre claims, including the death toll and the scale of the violence. The Nanjing Massacre remains a controversial issue in Sino-Japanese relations, despite the normalization of bilateral relations, and this book goes to great lengths to examine the events through comparative narratives, investigating different perspectives and contributings to the debate from the extensive research of the Tokyo Trial Research Centre at Shanghai, as well as volumes of Chinese and Japanese historical documents.
Every State has an obligation to prevent terrorist attacks emanating from its territory. This proposition stems from various multilateral agreements and UN Security Council resolutions. This study exhaustively addresses the scope of this obligation of prevention and the legal consequences flowing from its violation, so as to provide greater clarity on governments' counterterrorism duties and to enhance State accountability for preventable wrongs. It defines the contents and contours of the obligation while placing critical emphasis on the mechanics of State responsibility. Whether obscured by new technologies like the Internet, the sophisticated cellular structure of some terrorist organisations or convoluted political realities, the level of governmental involvement in terrorist activities is no longer readily discernible in every instance. Furthermore, the prospect of governments waging surrogate warfare through proxies also poses intractable challenges to the mechanism of attribution in the context of State responsibility. This monograph sets out the shortcomings of the extant scheme of State responsibility while identifying a paradigm shift towards more indirect modes of accountability under international law, a trend corroborated by recent State and institutional practice. Drawing on varied legal and theoretical influences, the study devises and prescriptively argues for the implementation of a strict liability-inspired model grounded in the logic of indirect responsibility with a view to enhancing State compliance with counterterrorism obligations. This shifts the policy focus squarely to prevention, while promoting multilateralism and transnational cooperation. Ultimately, the legal and policy sensibilities underlying the book converge into a new theory of prevention in counterterrorism contexts. From the Foreword by Judge Bruno Simma, International Court of Justice "Even if one might disagree with the bases on which the author constructs his argument, the execution of the argument is solid and thorough. The coverage of the major policy arguments and the available legal source materials is equally impressive. Moreover, the author's positions are genuinely progressive and present a fairly innovative solution, in the form of a strict liability mechanism...It behoves all scholars and practitioners of international law with an interest in combating international terrorism to consider the proposals outlined in this book." Transnational Terrorism and State Accountability by Vincent-Joel Proulx has been awarded the 2014 Myres McDougal Prize for best book in Law, Science, and Policy from the Society of Policy Scientists.
The book defines and critically discusses the following five principles: the harm principle, legal paternalism, the offense principle, legal moralism and the dignity principle of criminalization. The book argues that all five principles raise important problems that point to rejections (or at least a rethink) of standard principles of criminalization. The book shows that one of the reasons why we should reject or revise standard principles of criminalization is that even the most plausible versions of the harm principle and legal paternalism that have been offered so far are rendered redundant by general moral theories. Furthermore, it demonstrates that the other three principles (or versions thereof), the offense principle, legal moralism and the dignity principle of criminalization, can either be covered by the harm principle, thus making these principles also redundant, or be seen to have what look like other unacceptable implications (e.g. that versions of legal moralism are based on speculative and incorrect empirical assumptions or violate what is called the criminological levelling-down challenge). As such, there is reason to move beyond traditional principles of criminalization, and instead to investigate alternative principles the state should be guided by when attempting to justify which kinds of conduct should be criminalized. Moreover, this book presents and defends such a principle - the utilitarian principle of criminalization.
Relations between societal values and legal doctrine are inevitably complex given the time lag between law and social reality, and the sociological space between legal communities involved in the development and application of the law and non-legal communities affected by it. It falls on open-ended concepts, such as proportionality, human rights, dignity, freedom, and truth, and on legal frameworks for balancing competing rights and interests, such as self-defense, command or corporate responsibility, and restrictions on freedom of expression, to negotiate chronic tensions between law and society and to bridge existing gaps. The present volume contains chapters by leading experts - former judges on constitutional courts and international courts, and some of the world's leading criminal law, public law, and international law scholars - offering their points of view and professional analysis of legal notions and doctrines that serve as hubs for the interpretation, application, and contestation of core values, which in turn constitute building blocks of the rule of law. The shared perspective on the interplay between values and legal rules in public law, criminal law, and international law is likely to render the publication a valuable resource for both theoreticians and practitioners, law students, and seasoned legal experts working in diverse legal fields.
This book situates Ghana's truth-telling process, which took place from 2002 to 2004, within the discourse on the effectiveness of the different mechanisms used by post-conflict and post-dictatorship societies to address gross human rights violations. The National Reconciliation Commission was the most comprehensive transitional justice mechanism employed during Ghana's transitional process in addition to amnesties, reparations and minimal institutional reforms. Due to a blanket amnesty that derailed all prospects of resorting to judicial mechanisms to address gross human rights violations, the commission was established as an alternative to prosecutions. Against this background, the author undertakes a holistic assessment of the National Reconciliation Commission's features, mandate, procedure and aftermath to ascertain the loopholes in Ghana's transitional process. She defines criteria for the assessment, which can be utilised with some modifications to assess the impact of other transitional justice mechanisms. Furthermore, she also reflects on the options and possible setbacks for future attempts to address the gaps in the mechanisms utilised. With a detailed account of the human rights violations perpetrated in Ghana from 1957 to 1993, this volume of the International Criminal Justice Series provides a useful insight into the factors that shape the outcomes of transitional justice processes. Given its combination of normative, comparative and empirical approaches, the book will be useful to academics, students, practitioners and policy makers by fostering their understanding of the implications of the different features of truth commissions, the methods for assessing transitional justice mechanisms, and the different factors to consider when designing mechanisms to address gross human rights violations in the aftermath of a conflict or dictatorship. Marian Yankson-Mensah is a Researcher and Project Officer at the International Nuremberg Principles Academy in Nuremberg, Germany. |
You may like...
|