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The article deals with the laws of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes, and the status of victims of occupations in Lithuania. In addition, the article discloses Lithuanian state policy, society's cultural approach to atrocity crimes, and support for victims. The article draws attention to how the concept of genocide has been constantly expanded in Lithuania. The international role of Lithuania in the fight against genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes is emphasized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the codification of international crimes in domestic law, the prosecution of international crimes committed during Guatemala's Internal Armed Conflict, and the challenges in implementing the Rome Statute for the International Criminal Court (ICC). It underscores the essential role of civil society in the fight against impunity through strategic litigation and memory initiatives, thus contributing to advances in justice. It exposes the impact of Inter-American Court of Human Rights' rulings demanding reparations for victims of international crimes as a catalyst for domestic prosecution efforts. Furthermore, the establishment of the International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG) with the support of the UN represented a significant advance in justice. However, the abrupt end by the Guatemalan government of the CICIG was a significant setback. Ongoing challenges involve maintaining progress within Guatemala's criminal justice system, as many justice operators who had worked alongside CICIG faced criminalization and were forced into exile. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores Khmer-language media reporting of the final appeal judgment at the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (Case 002/02). Media reports are interesting for two reasons. First, as a source of opinions expressed in Cambodia's official language (Khmer), which often remain beyond purview of international observers. Second, as one of the few sources of information about the ECCC available to the Cambodian public now that official Court outreach has largely ceased. Yet, free media is significantly curtailed in Cambodia, and reporting on the ECCC is likely to be shaped by what is politically safe to print, as well as what is deemed publicly interesting. Against this backdrop this article explores: the press's tendency to downplay Cambodian political interference in the ECCC proceedings; its (mis)representation of the ECCC's genocide findings; its reporting on the prosecution of sexual and gender-based crimes; and its use of 'justice for victims' rhetoric. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It has also studied how, under certain conditions, politics is structured by law.[12] The third broad approach to power in international criminal justice takes different types of agentic and institutional power inequality as its object. In the second article, Nicola Palmer and Tom Hamilton investigate how legal professionals at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) and the ICC perceive and understand their authority. Building on a growing body of scholarship that accentuates the communicative foundations and dimensions of international criminal justice, the article accentuates the capacity of narratives to shape perceptions about the actors involved in criminal justice processes. [Extracted from the article]

This article investigates whether crimes of starvation not committed as a method of warfare could be prosecuted by the International Criminal Court. It assesses whether it is possible to use crimes already typified in the articles of the Rome Statute to prosecute all those cases of starvation that cannot be prosecuted as war crimes because they were committed neither during an armed conflict nor in association with an armed conflict. More specifically, it addresses the question of whether nowadays peacetime starvation could be prosecuted by the International Criminal Court as an act of genocide, an act of persecution, an act of extermination or as an "inhumane act". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Development of the Presumption of Innocence at the International Criminal Court 875-894 I Michelle Coleman i Free Evaluation of Evidence: Does the ICC need a Law of Evidence? Part 2: Breaking with the Control Requirement in Light of the ICC Case Law 583-640 I Raphaël van Steenberghe i UN-Backed Hybrid Criminal Tribunals (hcts): Viable Options in International Criminal Justice? Transgenerational Harms before the International Criminal Court 438-474 I Patryk Gacka i The 2015 South Korean-Japanese Agreement on "Comfort Women": A Critical Analysis 475-509 I Klea Ramaj i Control over the Theory: Reforming the ICC's Approach to Establishing Commission Liability?. [Extracted from the article]

Evidence of genocidal intent is rarely overtly available. Prosecutors arguably avoid prosecuting the crime of genocide because of its too-high evidentiary threshold. This paper argues that psychology, linguistics, and biology provide some of the tools that courts should revert to in the proof of the dolus specialis. Every genocide is characterised by dehumanisation. There is an intrinsic connection between the génocidaire 's understanding of the victims as dehumanised 'others' and the intent to destroy a group. Social psychology has shown that the perpetrator sets apart the victim group as inferior, subhuman, and a threat to the in-group. Dehumanising discourse exposes the perpetrators' understanding and ideologies and makes the victim group discernible. Linguistic research reveals the significance of metaphors for dehumanisation and intergroup hostility. Lastly, research on bio-signals such as heart rate, breathing, skin conductance response or EEG can assist in measuring the impact of dehumanisation and provide the courts with yet another tool to prove genocidal intent. Through recourse to a palette of conceptual and theoretical approaches, this paper provides an account of the ways in which a dark constellation of metaphor, dehumanising ideology, and psychological othering coalesce to form genocidal intent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Radovan Karadžić and Ratko Mladić, the war-time Bosnian Serb leaders, were first indicted by the UN Hague-based International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in 1995. The two hid for many years, with their trials starting only in 2009 and 2012, respectively, after they were apprehended in headline-generating operations. Their continued evasion of trial was constantly critiqued. After all, thousands were killed, tortured, detained, raped, expelled, and robbed during the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and these two men were widely seen as responsible. Pleas were made by survivors and frustration expressed on behalf of the victims, as many said, 'justice delayed is justice denied'. However, as this article shows, the many years the two high-ranking individuals spent hiding were well-used to collect evidence which led to their convictions and life sentences. Contrary to conventional wisdom, delay can actually be beneficial in prosecuting leaders for atrocity crimes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the reopening of the trials for the crimes committed by the last military dictatorship, new aspects have emerged on the scene, one of them being the age-impunity rhetoric. In its visual dimension, we understand this rhetoric to mean the representation of the perpetrators that has been taking shape in recent years, enabling them to be exempted from guilt and responsibility for the crimes committed by virtue of their advanced age. We argue that the visual configures a certain aesthetic that provides a scaffolding for impunity and its naturalization. In order to enter into the construction of this representation, we will put in tension the pair seen-unseen through photographs and editorials in the written press. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From the 17th century onwards, Britain played a leading role in asserting the application of the universality principle to international piracy, the first crime to which the principle applied. Thereafter, during the quest for abolition, it exercised universality over slave traders at sea. With the exercise of universal jurisdiction over atrocity crimes in the post-War period there was a notable shift in the UK position to the principle. This article traces the history of UK policy towards the application of the universality principle to atrocity crimes since WWII. Using archival research from the UK National Archives and the travaux préparatoires to international treaties, it analyses UK policy towards the inclusion of universal jurisdiction in international treaties concerning atrocity crimes. It argues that historically, the UK supported the application of the principle to atrocity crimes committed during an international armed conflict, as this position supported its interests. The nexus between universal jurisdiction and international armed conflict shielded colonial abuses from prosecution in foreign courts. Once the colonial period had come to an end, there was a shift in UK support for the inclusion of universal jurisdiction in international treaties, which is evident since the negotiation of UNCAT and the Rome Statute. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Following the military defeat of ISIS in Iraq in December 2017, it has become clear that a logical next step would be to hold members of ISIS accountable for crimes committed during the capture of a number of principal Iraqi cities between 2014–2017. The UNSC, accordingly, decided to investigate ISIS crimes internationally by establishing UNITAD to document ISIS violations whilst leaving any proposed prosecutions to be conducted internally by Iraqi courts. The practical implementation of this hybrid international mechanism for prosecuting ISIS members has generated some legal challenges caused particularly by the national laws of Iraq. Some of these legal issues arise in relation to UNITAD's subjective jurisdiction to collect evidence concerning ISIS terrorist acts that might amount to evidence of war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity. Others arise in relation to whether UNITAD's criminal investigation procedures align or conform with Iraq's criminal procedure laws. This paper examines these challenges and will propose some appropriate solutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the role of time in obfuscating the criminality of international crimes committed through the cumulative effects of various actions that, on their own, appear banal and seemingly non-criminal in nature. It demonstrates how assessments of individual culpability continue to predominantly focus on the identification of discrete transactions that are intuitively recognizable as criminal in nature. This approach helps perpetuate the obfuscation of the criminality of slow, unfamiliar atrocity processes lacking easily identifiable moments of criminality. The selective recognition of atrocity crimes in Cambodia during the Khmer Rouge period and post-independence Myanmar are analyzed as examples of this failure to recognize the criminality of international crimes committed through slow, attritive means. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By ratifying the Genocide Convention, Italy undertook an obligation to enact legislation 'to provide effective penalties for persons guilty of genocide'. Accordingly, in 1967 the legislator incorporated the offences enumerated in the convention into the domestic legal system. As it was under no such obligation with regard to crimes against humanity, Italy has not criminalized them. Two major legal issues arise from this decision. First, Italy may be unable to execute cooperation requests submitted by the International Criminal Court, and thus breach an international obligation. Furthermore, domestic authorities can only charge suspects with 'corresponding' ordinary offences, which are subject to statutes of limitations. Both issues are addressed in the Draft Convention on Crimes Against Humanity adopted by the International Law Commission, whose provisions require States Parties to enact legislation to ensure that under domestic criminal law such crimes constitute offences and are not subject to a statute of limitations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores Soviet deportations of Lithuanian citizens during occupations in 1940–1941 and 1944–1952 in the framework of a genocidal act as listed in Article II, (c) of the 1948 Genocide Convention—deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part. The focus of this paper is on the nature of Soviet deportations and the evaluation of two types of Soviet deportations from the perspective of legal elements indicated by Article II, (c) of the Genocide Convention; including targeted persons, premeditation and principal mechanisms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Between 1992 and 2010, Ethiopian courts prosecuted over five thousand people for the core crimes of genocide and war crimes perpetrated in Ethiopia since 1974. The vast majority of the defendants were convicted and sentenced to a range of penalties applicable under Ethiopian law. This article examines the manner in which Ethiopian courts have punished core crimes. It analyses the domestic law and practice in light of and in comparison with the sentencing practice in the UNICTs and the ICC. The article also discusses whether Ethiopian law and practice have treated the punishment of core crimes differently than the punishment of domestic crimes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The principle of fair labelling has informed the creation of international crimes and other concepts of international criminal law since the modern inception of this discipline. In particular, it was the symbolic and condemnatory import of international labels such as genocide and crimes against humanity that partly motivated their introduction as offences separate from domestic ordinary crimes. Paradoxically, fair labelling has received marginal attention in legal scholarship and practice. Moreover, frequent instances of relabelling known as 'recharacterisation of crimes' may not be entirely consistent with that principle, inviting further analysis thereof. In this context, the purpose of this article is to provide a more systematic and comprehensive analysis of the principle of fair labelling in international criminal law, particularly in light of the phenomenon of recharacterisation of crimes. Its central claim is that fair labelling is as a fair trial right which precludes recourse to recharacterisation in certain circumstances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article expounds upon the issue of genocide denial, especially its particular relations to freedom of expression and hate speech. It proceeds from the twin view that the gravity of the act of denial is such that anti-denial legislations are not irreconcilable with democratic standards and the principle of freedom of expression, and that what is required in the wake of recent high-profile rulings favouring freedom of expression is not an abandonment of attempts to develop a workable framework for criminalising denial, but rather renewed investment in thinking through operable approaches that are more finely-attuned to the characteristics of denial and its consequences. The aim of the contribution is thus to offer a re-examination of the relations between genocide denial, freedom of expression and hate speech, and, on this basis, to venture new possibilities for confronting denial via reference to the current framework(s) of hate speech. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of cyberspace to commit crimes under international law requires that branch of law to renew itself and to rethink its categories because of a déterritorialisation of cyberspace and the subsequent anonymity it bestows. While déterritorialisation has consequences for the definition of the crimes and for the establishment of the jurisdiction of the icc, the anonymity raises concerns as to the identification of the person responsible for the crime and for the choice of the mode of liability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In February 2017, Malawi and Rwanda entered into a bilateral extradition treaty (the Treaty). The Treaty solemnizes the agreement between Malawi and Rwanda for the reciprocal extradition of offenders. While the Treaty looks akin to many generic bilateral extradition treaties, close scrutiny reveals that there are several key issues that the drafters may have overlooked or paid insufficient attention to. This article is an evaluation of some of the issues that the Treaty raises. The article begins by establishing the broad historical and social context within which the Treaty must be understood. Thereafter the article explores extradition in international law paying particular focus to highlight the key elements of extradition. A summary of the Treaty is then provided together with a discussion of the Malawian law pertaining to extradition. The article concludes by highlighting some of the key issues which the Treaty has not addressed satisfactorily. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article provides a comprehensive overview of justice initiatives triggered by the International Criminal Court (ICC) intervention in Sudan, assessing them in the light of the principle of complementarity against international fair trial standards. Particular attention is paid to the role that autochthonous justice initiatives might play to address the violence experienced in Darfur. The aim of this article hence includes providing an overview of the post-conflict justice scenario surrounding Sudan; discussing the rationale behind the adoption of the mechanisms established within this framework; and assessing the impact of the ICC on the Sudanese justice system while simultaneously outlining possible strategies for the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the same manner as the Third Reich, Islamic State (IS) uses law, terror and propaganda as 'techniques of governance' that serve to advance their political aims: securing themselves in power, preparing and waging war, and fostering the idea of an Islamic state, is have successfully used print and radio media systematically for the dissemination of lethal ideas and for the mobilization of the population on a grand scale in order to materialise these ideas. When such propaganda is laced with the dolus specialis of the crime of genocide, the severity of the mass action it brings about can be disastrous. This article analyses the hate propaganda used in the online publications of is. Evidence will then bring to light the fact that their hate propaganda amounts to direct and public incitement of others to commit genocide and the propagandists could, thus, be prosecuted for this crime at national or international courts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In March 2013, at the age of 89, Efraín Ríos Montt became the first former head of state to ever be convicted of genocide by a national tribunal. After prior failed attempts to try him for this crime, his conviction to 80 years in prison was hailed as a victory both in Guatemala and abroad. Just ten days later, Guatemala's Constitutional Court annulled the verdict and ordered a second trial. Having since been deemed mentally unfit to stand for trial, he will be tried in a closed quarters special proceeding in January 2016, but if found guilty, will not be sentenced. This article explains why Guatemalan national courts tried the case against Ríos Montt, and discusses the historical factors that led to the trial, questioning whether they are replicable in other countries. It argues that the necessary elements for a successful implementation of that conviction were present in Guatemala, but suggests that the political climate was inadequately negotiated in order to prevent the subsequent annulment of the verdict. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court contains the term 'racial' in its provisions on the crime of genocide, persecution and apartheid. However, it fails to provide for a definition of this historically burdened term. International criminal law is guided by the principle of legality and legal norms should be as narrowly defined as possible. This article will therefore attempt to provide a contemporary legal definition of 'racial'. The article contains an overview of the historical development, the treatment of the issue of 'race' by anthropology and human rights, before turning to international criminal law. Cases dealt with by the ICTR and the ICTY on 'racial groups' with regard to the crime of genocide will be analysed and categorised. The article concludes with a suggestion to juxtapose racial groups with ethnical groups, based on the perception of the perpetrator or the self-perception of the victims (subjective approach). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Only a very small percentage of the perpetrators convicted by international criminal courts and tribunals are women. This raises the question as to whether women are less evil than men. Within the literature it is generally assumed that the genocide in Rwanda was unprecedented in relation to the role played by women, and that it is the first and only period of mass violence in which many women were involved. This explorative study however, shows that women have played a much larger role than we have generally assumed so far and that women can be just as evil as men - although it indeed seems true that generally far less women than men are involved in mass atrocities. There is a clear gender bias in the portrayal of female perpetrators as sadists, abnormal or lacking agency, but it can be questioned whether female perpetrators are less ordinary than male perpetrators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article considers whether and if so, under what conditions, the practice of forced population transfer can be regarded a form of genocide, notwithstanding its formal exclusion from the Genocide Convention. This is particularly relevant in the context of the pending genocide case before the International Court of Justice between Croatia and Serbia since both states essentially base their claims on acts of ethnic cleansing. International case law on this matter is far from clear, yet it points to the conclusion that ethnic cleansing may rise to genocide when carried out with genocidal intent. In contrast, Croatian courts seem to have simply equated the intent to ethnically clean a given area with the intent to destroy. Following a brief overview of Croatian case law, this article considers the viability of the pending genocide allegations and whether the Croatian claim and Serbian counter-claim have any prospects of success. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On 10 May 2013, a Guatemalan trial court rendered a historic judgment, convicting former President Jose Effain Rios Montt to an 80-year prison sentence for genocide and war crimes. On 20 May 2013, in a 3-2 majority decision, Guatemala's Constitutional Court annulled the trial judgment on procedural grounds. The Constitutional Court's annulment decision, decried by international observers as a defeat of justice, seems to reaffirm the impossibility of successful domestic prosecution of powerful leaders for international crimes and reinforce the need for international prosecutions. However, such a conclusion does not do justice to the profound meaning the genocide trial against Rios Montt has had for Guatemalan society. This article aims to give a more complete picture. It discusses how the trial could come about, in spite of the apparent inability and unwillingness of the Guatemalan state to prosecute the serious crimes of the civil war era. It looks at the role that the international community and international law played in the trial. Finally, it assesses the trial's significance, in the face of the Constitutional Court's annulment decision, for both Guatemalan society and the international community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reviews the legacy of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) under a specific compliance perspective and asks whether the Tribunal's jurisprudence furthered the adherence to norms of international criminal and humanitarian law. The Tribunal's impact on the circulation, emergence and enforcement, of the prohibitions of genocide and other serious violations of international humanitarian law will thus be scrutinised. Furthermore, the legitimacy of the ICTR's jurisprudence plays a major role as human beings not only follow a logic of consequence but also a logic of appropriateness. This combined approach will show that the ICTR - despite its shortcomings - has furthered compliance by diffusing the norms of international criminal and humanitarian law not only to Rwanda and the Great Lakes Region, but also to the international community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From the viewpoint of international law, the relationship among law, memory, and oblivion has long attracted great interest. The instruments for balancing oblivion and memory vary considerably from one experience to another, but today the question that arises is whether the traditional view that they can be balanced is still valid, or whether new constraints have since been placed on this relationship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the article is to explain how the laws and decrees regarding 'abandoned properties' from both the Ottoman and Turkish Republican eras were constructed. The central argument is that, even though these laws and regulations were part of the genocidal program of 1915, they cannot totally deny the rights of Armenians relative to these properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article argues that United Nations human rights principles and new developments in the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and the European Court of Human Rights suggest a route to provide effective reparation through restoration of historical memory and dignity for victims of the Armenian Genocide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article aims to identify a legal structure for the determination of state responsibility for historical injustices by using the deportations and mass killings of the Armenians in the Ottoman Empire (1915-1916) as a case study. It first determines whether the conduct was unlawful at the time it was committed and concludes that the 1948 Genocide Convention cannot be applied retroactively to the events in question and that customary international law provided, at the time, that the treatment by a state of its subjects was within its domestic jurisdiction. The Ottoman Empire, however, breached a series of treaties that provided for the amelioration of the conditions and for the protection of Christian minorities in the empire. The article then discusses whether the conduct was attributable to the state under the law of state responsibility in force at the time of the commissi delicti and argues that while the conduct of the Ottoman ministers, local authorities, and the military can be attributed to the Ottoman Empire, the attribution of the actions of other entities and individuals involved in the killings is more problematic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present article examines whether the modem State of Turkey (which was officially proclaimed in 1923) can be held responsible under international law for internationally wrongful acts which were committed by the Ottoman Empire against the Armenian population during and shortly after World War I. The first part examines whether Turkey should be considered as the 'continuing' State of the Ottoman Empire or whether it should instead be deemed as a 'new' State. Part 2 will examine the legal consequences in terms of international responsibility for considering Turkey as the 'continuing' State of the Ottoman Empire. This will include an examination of case law and State practice in the context of secession and cession of territory. The conclusion is that Turkey should be held responsible for all internationally wrongful acts committed by the Ottoman Empire (including acts of genocide) which were committed before its disintegration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the potential for litigation relating to Armenian properties confiscated following the Armenian Genocide before the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR). It finds that the ECtHR's lack of retroactive jurisdiction is a priori an obstacle but that the concept of 'continuous violation' may be of assistance, even though expropriation is typically considered an 'instantaneous violation.' Nonetheless, the article concludes with a few thoughts on how the 'actuality' of expropriations, as well as their unique character in relation to the commission of a genocide, might nonetheless warrant an exceptional assertion of jurisdiction that would be consonant with victims' right to an effective remedy under international human rights law. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses whether the International Criminal Court (ICC) could be considered as a possible avenue to address the Armenian Genocide. In light of the jurisdictional limits of the Court, it is argued that it is unlikely that it will ever be a suitable forum in this respect. Indeed, not only are the alleged perpetrators all deceased, but the ICC does not have retroactive jurisdiction. Moreover, it might be the case that some factual aspects of the events might make the crimes against humanity characterisation more adequate. The article concludes with a discussion of the necessity of accepting the limitations of law, notably criminal law, in addressing past events of such magnitude. Ignorance of these limitations makes the operation of trying to get the ICC to address the issue akin to the impossible task of jumping hurdles backwards. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The international crimes committed in the territory of the former Yugoslavia during the 1990s have been the subject of both State responsibility claims and prosecutions establishing individual criminal responsibility. On 26 February 2007 the International Court of Justice handed down its judgment in the Genocide case while it is expected that in 2014 the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia will con-clude all appeals from prosecutions. While these initiatives contribute to the acknowl-edgement of the commission of international crimes they have not provided the victims with any financial reparations. Instead victims have had to make compensa-tion claims under domestic law. The article examines how, in addition to the interna-tional initiatives at The Hague, a regionally focused victim oriented reparations approach can assist in attaining improved international criminal justice for interna-tional crimes committed during the Yugoslav wars. A victim oriented reparations approach would enhance victims' rights through the provision of financial repara-tions, reflect improved international criminal justice and assist in the attainment long-term stability in the war-torn States of the former Yugoslavia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gacaca, the local courts in Rwanda, officially closed on 18 June 2012. In this contribution, the legacy of the gacaca courts is studied by looking at what the gacaca courts have achieved or may not have achieved against the objectives it was set up for in the first place from the perspective of genocide survivors. Twenty-eight interviews with genocide survivors provide insight into how changing circumstances (e.g. passing of time, better understanding of the workings of the gacaca courts, improved security situation, increased level of the most basic (material and psychological) needs, and role of teachings about forgiveness on individual and societal reconciliation) may influence the way survivors of international crimes evaluate gacaca. In the second part of this article, the question of how to move on now that gacaca courts have officially closed down is discussed, including the still unresolved issue of reparation to genocide survivors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the first trial before the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), that of Jean-Paul Akayesu, it became evident that many Tutsi and moderate Hutu women had been raped, that drape was the rule and its absence was the exception".1 Although, initially, not a single charge of sexual violence was proffered against Akayesu, presiding Judge Navanethem Pillay interrupted the proceedings, allowing ICTR prosecutors to amend the indictment and include counts of rape and sexual violence. Akayesu subsequently became the first case to recognise the concept of genocidal rape. However, post-Akayesu, comparatively few defendants appearing before the ICTR have been convicted of sexual violence. An analysis of the recent case of Ndindiliyimana et at2 reveals that major shortcomings beset the investigation and prosecution procedures, so that crimes of sexual violence go unpunished, although research suggests that adequate legislation is in place at the ICTR to prosecute rape and sexual violence successfully. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During peacetime, no nation envisions that its people could ever succumb to genocide. Therefore, when a justice system never anticipated the challenge of prosecuting all perpetrators of genocide, the judicial institutions struggle of fitting the 'round peg' of these countless heinous crimes into the 'square hole' of an unprepared criminal justice system. Thus, this article turns to the extensive use of plea bargaining as a potential solution to this problem, using the courts of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) as an example of a nascent criminal justice system developing in the wake of mass atrocity. Since plea bargaining has the potential to offer victims greater retribution and reconciliation if they see their perpetrators processed through the criminal justice system in some capacity rather than not at all, I propose that if administered cautiously and within an informed community, increasing plea bargaining in BiH could contribute positively to rebuilding the community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a consequence of recent decisions from the ICJ and the ICTR, it is clear that genocide can be pursued through the international courts both in terms of criminal liability and also rights! responsibility legal paradigms. This article suggests that this duality in possible contexts and processes of judicial determination, while being procedurally problematic, is in keeping with the human rights direction of international criminal justice. In addition, by opening the legal consideration of genocide to questions of individual liability as well as state-sponsored rights abuse, judges are now able to consider the more realistic complexity of genocide atrocity and thereby to address the diverse legitimate interests of victims. Particularly, by enabling and expandingjuridical activation as the medium for legally enunciating the Genocide Convention, the determination of genocide and its consequences may benefit from enhanced certainty when reflected against the constitutional legality of the courts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In its first ten years, the International Criminal Court (ICC) cost approximately EUR 750 million. For this investment, it has conducted investigations in seven situations and commenced proceedings against 29 persons. However, it has only completed one trial and has yet to achieve significant impact in, arguably its most important function, promoting complementanty. With another eight situations under preliminary examination, its workload and budget requests are expected to increase. Some states are questioning its value for money and looking to restrict its expenditure. This paper examines the realities and challenges of financing the ICC. Firstly, it identifies emerging negative attitudes towards the cost of international criminal justice. Secondly, it describes ICC budgetary practice between 2002 and 2012. Thirdly, it considers the principle factors that should drive the ICC's workload and therefore its budget. Finally, it examines proposals to cut costs and their potential impact on the ICC's work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The International Criminal Court (ICC) is a judicial body that has been created as a politically independent judicial institution to prosecute the most serious international crimes. However, the political independence of the Court has been questioned considerably in the past decade because of the relationship between the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), which has the power to refer or defer situations to the Court, and the ICC. In this work, I argue that in analyzing the relationship between the UINSC and ICC it is evident that clashing political and judicial interests have done a disservice to the implementation of international justice. I will focus on the two instances of referrals so far approved by the UNSC and highlight some of the political aspects that seem to be hindering and delaying, in spite of international pressures for UNSC attention, a referral of the situation in Syria. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of an international criminal system to provide justice for international crimes must be complemented by national processes of prosecution and adjudication. In order to guarantee international standards of justice it is necessary to support national efforts of accountability by creating infrastructure and capacity in those countries where the atrocities took place. The War Crimes Chambers of the State Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and its accompanying Special Department for War Crimes of the Prosecutor's Office, represent one of the most salient examples of these complementary efforts. In their six years of existence these institutions have accumulated a solid record of prosecutions, developed a considerable practice and established themselves solidly within the Bosnian judicial system and the international network of hybrid and national tribunals. This article considers these years of practice and the lessons that can be learnt for future national processes of prosecution of mass atrocity after conflict. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]