On the 25th of May 1993 the United Nations Security Council decided to establish the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) as a mechanism for the restoration and maintenance of international peace and security. This text provides an examination of the ICTY.

Some parts of this publication are open access, available under the terms of a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 International licence. Chapters 2, 4, 10, 47 and 49 are offered as a free PDF download from OUP and selected open access locations. The International Criminal Court is a controversial and important body within international law; one that is significantly growing in importance, particularly as other international criminal tribunals close down. After a decade of Court practice, this book takes stock of the activities of the International Criminal Court, identifying the key issues in need of re-thinking or potential reform. It provides a systematic and in-depth thematic account of the law and practice of the Court, including its changes context, the challenges it faces, and its overall contribution to international criminal law. The book is written by over forty leading practitioners and scholars from both inside and outside the Court. They provide an unparallelled insight into the Court as an institution, its jurisprudence, the impact of its activities, and its future development. The work addresses the ways in which the practice of the International Criminal Court has emerged, and identifies ways in which this practice could be refined or improved in future cases. The book is organised along six key themes: (i) the context of International Criminal Court investigations and prosecutions; (ii) the relationship of the Court to domestic jurisdictions; (iii) prosecutorial policy and practice; (iv) the applicable law; (v) fairness and expeditiousness of proceedings; and (vi) its impact and lessons learned. It shows the ways in which the Court has offered fresh perspectives on the theorization and conception of crimes, charges and individual criminal responsibility. It examines the procedural framework of the Court, including the functioning of different stages of proceedings. The Court's decisions have significant repercussions: on domestic law, criminal theory, and the law of other international courts and tribunals. In this context, the book assesses the extent to which specific approaches and assumptions, both positive and negative, regarding the potential impact of the Court are in need of re-thinking. This book will be essential reading for practitioners, scholars, and students of international criminal law.

Judge Mettraux's four-volume compendium, International Crimes: Law and Practice, will provide the most detailed and authoritative account to-date of the law of international crimes. It is a scholarly tour de force providing a unique blend of academic rigour and an insight into the practice of international criminal law. The compendium is un-rivalled in its breadth and depth, covering almost a century of legal practice, dozens of jurisdictions (national and international), thousands of decisions and judgments and hundreds of cases. This first volume discusses in detail the law of genocide: its definition, elements, normative status, and relationship to the other core international crimes. While the book is an invaluable tool for academics and researchers, it is particularly suited to legal practitioners, guiding the reader through the practical and evidential challenges associated with the prosecution of international crimes.

This unique work is an article-by-article drafting history of the ICC Statute containing all versions of every article in the Statute as it evolved from 1994 to 1998. It also integrates in the Statute's provisions the "Elements of the Crimes" and the "Rules of Procedure and Evidence" adopted by the Preparatory Commission (1998-2000) and the Regulations of the Court adopted by the plenary of judges. A description of the ICC mechanisms and institutions precedes this article-by-article legislative history. Other relevant documents are also included, such as those concerning the privileges and immunities and financial regulations of the Court, as well as its relationship with the United Nations. This new edition contains the amendments adopted at the Kampala Conference, amendments to the Rules of Procedure and Evidence and the Regulations of the Court, and references to relevant case law cover ing the first decade of the Court’s judicial activity. It also offers an insightful first-hand account of the drafting process both prior to and during the Rome Diplomatic Conference, along with a detailed historical survey of the efforts to establish the ICC. Government officials, judges, practitioners, and scholars seeking to interpret and understand the ICC Statute will find this publication unmatched for completeness and ease of use.

The legal consequence of the superior orders defense has long been debated as one of the major problems in international criminal law. Several controversial issues such as the immunity of the state, the absolute character of military discipline, and immunity on the grounds of mistake of law and/or coercion have been complexly interwoven in the debates. The Execution of Illegal Orders and International Criminal Responsibility provides a comprehensive portrait of the relevant debates at the international level up to the present, analyzes the conflicting views, and shows the significance of the development of international rules for the superior orders defense as well as the implication of the fact that issues concerning some detailed or related rules have been left unresolved. This study presents to present a new standpoint not only on dealing with the problem of the superior orders defense but also on reconsidering the international stipulation of rulemaking with regard to criminal matters.

Wartime rape has been virulent in wars of sovereignty, territory, conquest, religion, ideology and liberation, yet attention to this crime has been sporadic throughout history. Rape remains ‘unspeakable’, particularly within law. Moreover, rape has not featured prominently in post-conflict collective memory. And even when rape is ‘remembered’, it is often the subject of political controversy and heated debate. In this book, Henry asks some critical questions about the relationship between mass rape, politics and law. In what ways does law contribute to the collective memory of wartime rape? How do ‘counter-memories’ of victims compete with the denialism of wartime rape? The text specifically analyses the historical silencing of rape throughout international legal history and the potential of law to restore these silenced histories, it also examines the violence of law and the obstacles to individual and collective redemption. Tracing the prosecution of rape crimes within contemporary courts, Henry seeks to argue that politics underscores the way rape is dealt with by the international community in the aftermath of armed conflict. Providing a comprehensive overview of the politics of wartime rape and the politics of prosecuting such crimes within international humanitarian law, this text will be of great interest to scholars of gender and security, war crimes and law and society.

International Criminal Procedure: Principles and Rules is a comprehensive study of international criminal proceedings written by over forty leading experts in the field. The book offers a systematic overview and detailed comparison of the standards governing the conduct of proceedings in all major international and internationalized criminal courts from the Nuremberg and Tokyo Tribunals to the recently established Cambodian Extraordinary Chambers and the Special Tribunal for Lebanon. Based on a major research project, the study covers all procedural phases from the initiation of investigation to the appeals process. It pays special attention to the crosscutting themes which shape the contemporary discourse on international criminal justice, including the law of evidence, the defence issues, the procedural role of victims, and negotiated dismissal of international crime cases. The book not only takes stock of the procedural legacy of the UN ad hoc Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda and the International Criminal Court, but also reflects on the future directions of international criminal procedure. Investigating the tribunals' procedural law and practice through the prism of human rights law, domestic legal traditions, and tribunals' special objectives, the expert group puts forth proposals on how the challenges facing international criminal jurisdictions can best be met. International Criminal Procedure will be an indispensable work for practitioners involved in the adjudication of serious crimes on both national and international level, as well as international law students and academics.