Abstract
This chapter focuses on two areas in the field of international criminal justice—loosely defined as the international criminal tribunals that prosecute core atrocity crimes (genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes). The chapter examines the work of the International Criminal Court (ICC) and the recent creation of three mechanisms created to compile evidence of atrocity crimes committed in Syria, Iraq, and Myanmar. As to the ICC, the chapter examines the particular challenges presented by prosecuting state actors. As to the mechanisms, the chapter considers whether the creation of such mechanisms, which have no capacity to conduct prosecutions, represents a retreat for the field of international justice. Such a pessimistic conclusion, however, may be premature, because, as to each, there are possibilities for ensuring accountability, although the most direct routes appear blocked. The challenge will be to ensure eventual accountability includes state actors, and that, as to trials that do occur (for all perpetrators), they are conducted pursuant to internationally recognized fair trial standards and do not result in implementation of the death penalty.
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Further Reading
Appeals Chamber. 2020. Judgment on the Appeal Against the Decision on the Authorisation of an Investigation into the Situation in the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, ICC-02/17 OA4. March 5. https://www.icc-cpi.int/CourtRecords/CR2020_00828.PDF.
Elliott, Ingrid. 2017. A Meaningful Step towards Accountability? A View from the Field on the United Nations International, Impartial and Independent Mechanism for Syria. Journal of International Criminal Justice 15(2): 239–256.
Jalloh, Charles C., and Ilias Bantekas, eds. 2017. The International Criminal Court and Africa. New York: Oxford University Press.
Observations by Professor Jennifer Trahan as Amicus Curiae on the Appeal of Pre-Trial Chamber II’s “Decision Pursuant to Article 15 of the Rome Statute on the Authorisation of an Investigation into the Situation in the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan.” ICC-02/17-109. November 15, 2019. https://www.icc-cpi.int/Pages/record.aspx?docNo=ICC-02/17-109.
Trahan, Jennifer. Forthcoming in 2020. The Assembly Of States Parties. In The Elgar Companion to the International Criminal Court, ed. Valerie Oosterveld and Margaret M. deGuzman. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing.
Acknowledgements
Appreciation to Andras Vamos-Goldman for his incisive comments, and thanks to Samantha Wynne and Erin Lovall for research and formatting assistance.
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Trahan, J. (2021). International Justice and the International Criminal Court at a Critical Juncture. In: Ankersen, C., Sidhu, W.P.S. (eds) The Future of Global Affairs. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-56470-4_6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-56470-4_6
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