A Short History of Prosecuting Crimes under International Law in Germany

This article takes the 20th anniversary of the entering into force of the German Code of Crimes against International Law (Völkerstrafgesetzbuch, CCAIL) as an opportunity to offer a historical review of the prosecution of international crimes in (West-)Germany. Starting from the post-World War II period, it flags early milestones, including efforts to hold accountable before German courts those involved in Nazi atrocities, in state oppression in the German Democratic Republic, in violations of international humanitarian law during the Yugoslav wars, and in dictatorship crimes in Argentina. This article then focuses on the practical implementation of the CCAIL and presents, at a glance, major trends, flaws and lessons learned over the past 20 years. It identifies four major phases: standstill, build-up, implementation and consolidation. This article concludes with a call for German judges and prosecutors to step up their efforts to contribute to a uniform and universal enforcement of international criminal law.Peer Reviewe

Strategic Litigation in International Criminal Justice: Facilitating a View from Within

This article inquires into strategic litigation in international criminal justice. Drawing on the findings of an empirical study, it sheds light on the practice and self-perception of Strategic Litigation NGOs (so-called SLiNGOs) who employ international criminal law not only as an advocacy tool but use litigation to target perpetrators of international crimes as part of a larger juridical–political strategy transcending the individual case. Following a brief reflection on the role and significance of NGOs in international criminal justice in general and an examination of the basic idea of strategic litigation, the article delves into an analysis of the concept of strategic litigation as employed by SLiNGOs as well as the various functions of strategic litigation specifically in the international criminal justice context. Relying on interviews with SLiNGO representatives, the authors examine whether SLiNGOs — in their self-perception — serve merely as ‘assistant prosecutors’ or rather as kickstarters, pacemakers and watchdogs of the enforcement of international criminal law. They further explore the counter-hegemonic potential of strategic litigation and SLiNGO’s attitudes towards international criminal justice as such. Analysing potential pitfalls and critiques directed at strategic litigation and the responses of SLiNGOs to such criticisms, the authors conclude that strategic litigation can indeed fill a gap in the current state-based system of international criminal justice and suggest an agenda for further research.Peer Reviewe

Ein Tatbestand des gewaltsamen Verschwindenlassens im deutschen Strafrecht

Das Internationale Übereinkommen zum Schutz aller Personen vor dem Verschwindenlassen ist in Deutschland am 23. Dezember 2010 in Kraft getreten. Es verpflichtet die Vertragsstaaten dazu, auch in ihrem nationalen Strafrecht einen eigenen Straftatbestand des Verschwindenlassens zu etablieren. Mehr als 14 Jahre nach Ratifikation soll diese Verpflichtung nun erfüllt werden

Anwendungspraxis und Reformbedarf

The publication of this work was supported by the Open Access Publication Fund of Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin.Zwei Jahrzehnte Völkerstrafgesetzbuch bieten Anlass für eine kritische Bestandsaufnahme und Überlegungen zu möglichen Reformbedarfen im materiellen und prozessualen Recht. Der Band enthält Beiträge von Vertreter:innen aus Justiz, Anwaltschaft, Zivilgesellschaft und Wissenschaft zum Symposium „20 Jahre Völkerstrafgesetzbuch“, das im Oktober 2022 an der Universität Hamburg stattgefunden hat. Den Herausgebern ist es gelungen, die für das „deutsche Völkerstrafrecht“ relevanten Stimmen in diesem Band zu versammeln. Die Autor:innen zeichnen ein differenziertes Bild der Verfolgung von Völkerrechtsverbrechen in Deutschland und bieten zahlreiche Impulse für Gesetzgebung und Praxis aus unterschiedlichen Perspektiven.Two decades of the “Völkerstrafgesetzbuch” provide an occasion for a critical reflection and a discussion of possible needs for reform in substantive and procedural law. The volume contains contributions from representatives of the judiciary, the legal profession, civil society and academia to the symposium “20 Jahre Völkerstrafgesetzbuch”, which took place in October 2022 at the University of Hamburg. In this volume, the editors have brought together the relevant voices on “German International Criminal Law”. The authors paint a balanced picture of the practice of prosecuting crimes under international law in Germany and offer numerous suggestions for legislators and practitioners from different perspectives

OpenLB User Guide: Associated with Release 1.6 of the Code

OpenLB is an object-oriented implementation of LBM. It is the first implementation of a generic platform for LBM programming, which is shared with the open source community (GPLv2). Since the first release in 2007, the code has been continuously improved and extended which is documented by thirteen releases as well as the corresponding release notes which are available on the OpenLB website (https://www.openlb.net). The OpenLB code is written in C++ and is used by application programmers as well as developers, with the ability to implement custom models OpenLB supports complex data structures that allow simulations in complex geometries and parallel execution using MPI, OpenMP and CUDA on high-performance computers. The source code uses the concepts of interfaces and templates, so that efficient, direct and intuitive implementations of the LBM become possible. The efficiency and scalability has been checked and proved by code reviews. This user manual and a source code documentation by DoxyGen are available on the OpenLB project website

Immunität für Völkerrechtsverbrechen vor staatlichen Gerichten – zugleich Besprechung BGH, Urt. v. 28. Januar 2021 – 3 StR 564/19

Dieser Beitrag ist mit Zustimmung des Rechteinhabers aufgrund einer (DFG-geförderten) Allianz- bzw. Nationallizenz frei zugänglich.Peer Reviewe