Role of International Criminal Court in Reducing Human Rights Violations
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.6000/1929-4409.2020.09.175Keywords:
Military conflicts, international law, crimes against humanity, security, judicial investigation.Abstract
Crimes against human rights and military conflicts within and between states are forcing the international community to take collective responsibility for peace and prevention of such incidents. An important factor in this direction is the accountability of those who commit crimes against humanity. Apart from representatives of the judicial system of each individual country, this role is assigned to the International Criminal Court (ICC). While its role in the investigation of military conflicts and crimes against human rights has been questioned by a series of setbacks, it is impossible to deny the ICC's impact on peace. To identify the role of the ICC in the establishment and protection of human rights, authors analyse closed and open criminal investigations throughout the history of the Court. Analysis of the criminal cases opened in 4 countries is provided, namely: Uganda, Kenya, Sudan, and Iraq. The obtained data demonstrate that investigations are more effective in countries that are members of the Rome Statute. With more power, the International Criminal Court can work more effectively with the governments of these states and hold those responsible for crimes against humanity to account. Thus, in Sudan, the pre-trial investigation in several cases has been going on for more than 10 years, the trial itself has not yet begun. In the Iraq-UK case, the ICC Attorney's Office also failed to obtain justice for the perpetrators of crimes against Iraqi citizens. The authors recommend addressing this factor and consider an in-depth study of the ICC statute. Changes in international criminal justice require flexibility from relevant organisations and their statutes.
References
Ashoura, Ameel. 2019. “National and international mechanisms to combat the trafficking in persons: An Iraqi case study”. International Journal of Innovation, Creativity and Change 10(8): 25–42.
Cannon, Brendon, Dominic Pkalya and Bosire Maragia. 2017. “The International Criminal Court and Africa”. African Journal of International Criminal Justice 2(1-2): 6–2. https://doi.org/10.5553/AJ/2352068X2016002001001 DOI: https://doi.org/10.5553/AJ/2352068X2016002001001
Christensen, Mikkel. 2015. “From symbolic surge to closing courts: The transformation of international criminal justice and its professional practices”. International Journal of Law, Crime and Justice 43(4): 609–625. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijlcj.2015.02.001 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijlcj.2015.02.001
Fisher, Kristen. 2018. “Africa's role in the progression of international criminal justice: A moral and political argument”. The Journal of Modern African Studies 56(4): 541–568. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022278X18000587 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022278X18000587
Iraq case. 2006. In International Criminal Court. Retrieved July 7, 2020 (https://goo.su/1rt4)
Kerr, Rachel. 2018. “The UK in Iraq and the ICC: Judicial Intervention, Positive Complementarity and the Politics of International Criminal Justice”. Quality Control in Preliminary Examination 1(32): 451–492.
Krzan, Bartolomej. 2016. “International Criminal Court Facing the Peace vs. Justice Dilemma”. International Comparative Jurisprudence 2: 81–88. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.icj.2017.01.001 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.icj.2017.01.001
Opinion: Why the ICC must investigate UK crimes in Iraq. 2017. Retrieved July 7, 2020 (https://goo.su/1Rt5)
Rodman, Kenneth. 2014. “Justice as a Dialogue Between Law and Politics”. Journal of International Criminal Justice 12: 437–469. https://doi.org/10.1093/jicj/mqu027 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/jicj/mqu027
Ubah, Charles and Osy Nwebo. 2015. “The International Criminal Court: Antecedents, History, and Prospects”. International Journal for Innovation Education and Research 3(9): 41–51. DOI: https://doi.org/10.31686/ijier.vol3.iss9.431
UN General Assembly. 1998. “Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court”. UN General Assembly, Rome, Italy, 58 p.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Policy for Journals/Articles with Open Access
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post links to their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work
Policy for Journals / Manuscript with Paid Access
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
- Publisher retain copyright .
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post links to their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work .
