Written by a team of international lawyers with extensive academic and practical experience of international criminal law, the fourth edition of this leading textbook offers readers comprehensive coverage and a high level of academic rigour while maintaining its signature accessible and engaging style. Introducing the readers to the fundamental concepts of international criminal law, as well as the domestic and international institutions that enforce that law, this book engages with critical questions, political and moral challenges, and alternatives to international justice. Suitable for undergraduate and postgraduate students, academics and practitioners in the field, and cited by the International Criminal Tribunal for Yugoslavia, the International Criminal Court, the Special Court for Sierra Leone, the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, and the highest courts in domestic systems, this book is a must-read for anyone interested in learning more about international criminal law.

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An Introduction to International Criminal Law and Procedure

Book review of  An Introduction to the International Criminal Court  by  William A. Schabas and published by Cambridge University Press (Cambridge), 2001. (406 pp.)

An Introduction to the International Criminal Court

The gender-agenda is borderless. Arguably, legal justice for Indigenous girls and women survivors of violence is unfair, inequitable, and sometimes arbitrary. Systematic violence against girls and women pervades cultures and societies; operates at three main levels: institution and state, structural and cultural, and community and individual; and manifests in myriad shapes, forms and categories. Systematic violence in this research comprises historical, colonial and contemporary aspects of violence and its impact on Indigenous girls and women. Unlike comparative studies, this research is founded on heuristic arguments derived from validating the formation, establishment and continuity of the voices of Indigenous peoples in Liberia and Australia. While many studies isolate ‘gender-based violence’ and the ‘rule of law’ in separate contexts, none has explored the extent to which the Western concept of the rule of law impacts systematic violence against Indigenous girls and women in Australia and post-war Liberia. The research assesses the efficacy of the ‘rule of law’ in dispensing justice to Indigenous girls and women who have suffered systematic gender-based violence. The scope of the research demands a comprehensive and complex systematic empirical approach that draws on the principles of phenomenology, community-based participatory research, and feminist and Indigenous methods. The study adopts an interdisciplinary mixed-methods approach informed by theories of decolonization, feminist jurisprudence, intersectionality, critical legal/race studies, and social determinants of health. Data is drawn from case law, secondary data, empirical evidence, textual/content analysis, electronic mailing and informal participant observation. Over a period of two years, a survey of 231 social service providers working with Indigenous girls and women; in-depth interviews with 29 Indigenous Women Advocates; and 22 informal email exchanges with male colleagues were conducted in both Australia and Liberia. Statistical analyses were carried out on records of 127 708 convicts to Australia; 14 996 former slave returnees to Liberia; 2701 sexual and gender-based violence cases reported to the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection in Liberia; seven case files from the Sexual and Gender-based Crimes Unit in Liberia; and 1200 interview entries from the Longitudinal Study of Indigenous Children in Australia. This analysis of historical documents, jurisprudence and case studies triangulates a philosophical inquiry intended to migrate issues of violence against Indigenous girls and women from the margins of complex socio-legal structures towards the core of Western-centric perspectives, such as the rule of law. Situated between dominant academic conventions and resistance, the research provokes readers to consider ontological, epistemological and ethical arguments regarding access to justice outcomes for Indigenous girls and women. Contrary to the research hypothesis and despite socioeconomic differences between Australia and Liberia, findings show that: although the principle of the rule of law is an emancipatory tool for justice and redress generally, it can also be an apparatus for persistent systematic violence against Indigenous girls and women. Furthermore, the intersection of colonial history, race, gender, class and social status exacerbates the ongoing perpetration of institutional/state, structural/cultural and interpersonal/community violence against Indigenous girls and women. In conclusion, the research recommends adopting a holistic approach to educating girls and women and encouraging boys and men to participate equally in the gender justice agenda, to ensure justice for Indigenous girls and women. The research also suggests incorporating diverse and comprehensive conceptual and methodological frameworks into further research. Finally, throughout the work, this dissertation attempts to give agency to Indigenous ways of being, knowing and doing justice.

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Systematic Gender Violence and the Rule of Law: Aboriginal Communities in Australia and Post-War Liberia

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State secrecy and human rights violations

The authoritative introduction to the International Criminal Court, fully updated, discussing the work of the Court, its structures and institutions and current controversies.

An introduction to the International Criminal Court, sixth edition

Preface Abbreviations Arbitral Awards and Judicial Decisions Chapter 1: Introduction Chapter 2: General Principles of Law: A Source of International Law 2.1. Preliminary Remarks 2.2. Early International Arbitral Tribunals 2.2.1. The Formulation of Applicable Law 2.2.2. Five Examples from before the Adoption of the PCIJ Statute 2.2.3. A Brief Analysis of International Practice 2.3. The PCIJ and the ICJ 2.3.1. The Adoption of the PCIJ Statute 2.3.2. The Scope of Article 38 2.3.3. How to Find General Principles of Law in the Judgments and Advisory Opinions of the PCIJ and the ICJ 2.3.4. Eight Judgments and Advisory Opinions 2.3.5. An Analysis of the Judgments and Advisory Opinions 2.4. The Autonomy of General Principles of Law as a Source of International Law 2.4.1. Scholarly Views on General Principles as a Formal Source of International Law 2.4.2. General Principles as a Formal and Material Source of International Law 2.4.3. A Subtle Difference between General Principles of Law and General Principles of International Law 2.5. The Subsidiary Nature of General Principles of Law 2.6. The Determination of General Principles of Law 2.6.1. The 'Vertical Move' 2.6.2. The 'Horizontal Move' 2.6.3. The Absence of Comparative Legal Research in PCIJ and ICJ Practice 2.7. The Transposition of General Principles of Law 2.7.1. Application by Analogy 2.7.2. Traditional Arguments against Transposition 2.7.3. The 'Special Character' of International Law 2.7.4. Structural Differences between International Law and National Legal Systems 2.7.5. Transposition to New Branches of International Law 2.8. Concluding Remarks Chapter 3: General Principles of Law in the Decisions of International Criminal Courts and Tribunals 3.1. Preliminary Remarks 3.2. Early International Criminal Tribunals 3.2.1. The IMT 3.2.2. The IMTFE 3.3. Contemporary International Criminal Courts and Tribunals 3.3.1. The ICTY 3.3.2. The ICTR 3.3.3. The ICC 3.3.4. The SCSL Chapter 4: Analysis of Practice and of Relevant Scholarly Writing 4.1. The Autonomy of General Principles of Law as a Source of International Criminal Law 4.1.1. General Principles of Law as a Formal Source of International Criminal Law 4.1.2. General Principles of Law as a Formal and Material Source of International Criminal Law 4.1.3. A Difference between Three Sets of Legal Principles? 4.2. A Subsidiary Source of International Criminal Law? 4.3. The Determination of General Principles of Law 4.3.1. Recourse to Judicial Decisions and Scholarly Writing 4.3.2. The 'Vertical Move' 4.3.3. The 'Horizontal Move' 4.3.4. Last Observations on the Issue of Determination 4.4. The Transposition of General Principles of Law 4.4.1. Substantive and Procedural Criminal Law Analogies 4.4.2. The Problems of Transposition 4.5. Concluding Remarks Chapter 5: Conclusions Bibliography Index

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Fabián O. Raimondo

Papers

General Principles of Law in the Decisions of International Criminal Courts and Tribunals