Al Mahdi has been convicted of a crime he did not commit

The International Criminal Court convicted Al Mahdi of offences relating to cultural property under a provision of the Rome Statute that does not apply to the facts in the case. Broader issues arise about the uneven application of international criminal law to combatants depending upon whether they are government or rebels in the context of non-international armed conflicts

Preventing genocide and mass killing: the challenge for the United Nations.

This report states that the prevention of genocide is one of the most important roles for the UN. To this end, it offers a series of guiding principles in the understanding of genocide and mass killing, and a set of recommendations to strengthen genocide prevention within the UN, especially in light of the proposed changes to the UN system

Book review: Justice, Mercy, and Caprice: Clemency and the Death Penalty in Ireland

This is a book review of Ian O’Donnell, Justice, Mercy, and Caprice: Clemency and the Death Penalty in Ireland, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2017. xix+307pp. (hardback) ISBN: 978019879847

Fragmentation or stabilisation? Recent case law on the crime of genocide in light of the 2007 judgement of the International Court of Justice

The 2007 judgement of the International Court of Justice in the Bosnia v. Serbia case was the first substantial consideration of Art. 2 of the 1948 Genocide Convention by the world court. The article examines the reception of the judgement by other courts and tribunals

The use of force in the Nicaraguan Cases

The 1986 judgment in Nicaragua v. United States is of seminal importance in the development of international law governing the use of force, crowning a process of legal development that began in the first decades of the century. The case concerned various forms of material and logistical support provided by the United States to contra rebels in Nicaragua who were directly responsible for armed attacks. After unsuccessfully challenging Nicaragua’s request for provisional measures and failing at the jurisdiction and admissibility stage, the United States boycotted subsequent proceedings. The Court relied upon customary international law, given the multilateral treaty reservation to jurisdiction of the United States. It distinguished the most grave forms of the use of force (those constituting an armed attack) from other less grave forms. The Court rejected the idea that collective self-defence might have justified the use of force. The judgment has been considered in several subsequent cases before the Court and its holdings on the use of force continue to influence the broader debate, in particular with respect to the provisions of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, as amended by the Kampala Review Conference, governing the crime of aggression

Prevention of crimes against humanity

Like the Genocide Convention, the draft articles on crimes against humanity are not confined to issues of punishment. They also, in the preamble and especially in article 4, impose an obligation of prevention. It is informed principally by the 2007 judgment of the International Court of Justice as well as be case law of international human rights tribunals. The obligation has an internal dimension, by which States must prevent crimes against humanity within their own jurisdiction. But it also has an external dimension that mandates international cooperation and even intervention which must necessarily be compatible with the Charter of the United Nations. The draft articles are not as robust as the Genocide Convention with respect to the inchoate crimes of incitement and conspiracy. The obligation of non-refoulement is also a dimension of the preventative role of the draft articles

Review of Amal Alamuddin, Nidal Nabil Jurdi and David Tolbert, The Special Tribunal for Lebanon, law and practice

Book review of The Special Tribunal for Lebanon, Law and Practic

The Human Right to peace

Recognition of the human right to peace provides an important link to international criminal law in that it underpins the crime of aggression. The article discusses how the right has developed within the context of debates about amendments to the Rome Statute