International lawNovember 25, 2014

Consists of…

• traditionally – rules and principles governing the relations between nations

• nowadays – rules and principles governing the relations between states and individuals and relations between international organizations

Classification

public international law- deals with questions of rights between:

a) nations

b) nations and their citizens

c) nations and subjects of other nations

private international law- deals with controversies between private persons (natural or juridical) arising out of situations having significant relationship to more than one nation

Subjects of international law

• private individuals

• states

• inter-govermental organizations

• multinational corporations

Major substantive fields

• International economic law

• International security law

• International criminal law

• International environmental law

• International humanitarial law or law of war

• International human rights law

• Diplomatic law

International economic law

• regulates the behavior of states, international organizations and firms operating in the international arena

- regional economic integration agreements (EU, ASEAN…)

- International trade law

- International commercial arbitration

- International tax law

- International intellectual property law

- aspects of international environmental law

International security law

• deals with national or state security in the global arena

• a sub-field of international relations

• covers fileds such as:

- military power; causes and consequences of war

- ethnic, religious, ideological conflicts

- trade and economic conflicts

- environmental degradation, climate change, infectious diseases

International environmental law

• collective term describing the network of treaties, statutes,

regulations, and common and customary laws addressing the effects of human activity on the natural environment

Rio declaration, 1992

- consists of 27 principles intended to guide future sustainable development around the world

International humanitarian law

•  the law that regulates the conduct of armed conflict

and seeks to limit its effects by protecting persons

who are not or no longer participating in hostilities

and by reducing the means of warfare to combatants

- serious violations are called war crimes

- Geneva conventions – 4 treaties and 3 protocols

Diplomatic law

• governs permanent and temporary diplomatic missions

- key concepts: the immunity of diplomatic staff, the inviolability of the diplomatic mission and its grounds, and the security of diplomatic correspondence and diplomatic bags

- the Dikko Affair, 1983

Umaru Dikko, the man who was nearly spirited away in a diplomatic bag

Sources of international law

Primary source customary law and conventional law

a) customary international law

- results when states follow certain practices generally and consistently out of a sense of legal obligation

- was codified in the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, 1969

b) conventional international law

- derives from international agreements and may take any form that the contracting parties agree upon

Secondary source general principles common to systems of national law

- when niether customary nor conventional international law can be applied

History

• The Lieber Code, 1863

- an instruction signed by President Lincoln to the Union Forces of the United States during the American Civil War that dictated how soldiers should conduct themselves in wartime

• Geneva Conventions, 1864, ….

• Permanent Court of Arbitration, 1899, the Hague

• The Hague Convention, 1907

• International Court of Justice, 1921, the Hague

• Genocide Convention, 1948

• International Criminal Court, 2002, the Hague

UN bodies

• General Assembly Sixth Committee

• International Law Commission

• United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL)

”Who, after all, today, remembers the fate of

the Armenians?”

International criminal law

• part of public international law that deals with the criminal responsibility of individuals for international crimes

- crimes based on international customary law apply universally

- crimes resulting from breaching specific treaties

• origin = criminal law and international law

- closely relates to other areas of international law

International core crimes

• crimes over which international tribunals have been given jurisdiction under international law

a) genocide

b) war crimes

c) crimes against humanity

d) aggression

Genocide

• the deliberate and systematic destruction of a racial, political, or cultural group (?)

- Armenian genocide

- The Holocaust

- Bosnian genocide

- Rwandan genocide

• genocide denial

Crimes against humanity

• particularly odious offences in that they constitute a serious attack on human dignity or grave humiliation or a degradation of human beings

- massacres, dehumanization, extermination, human experimentation, extrajudicial punishments, military use of children, kidnappings, unjust imprisonment, slavery, cannibalism, torture, rape, political, racial, or religious persecution

History

•  the Treaty of Versailles stated that an international tribunal was to be set up to try Wilhelm II of Germany

• the Nuremberg Tribunal and the International Military Tribunal for the Far East

• International Criminal Court established in 1998 under the Rome Statute

ICC

• July 1, 2002 – the Rome Statute entered into force

• only allowed to prosecute crimes committed after that date

• first arrest warrant issued in 2005

2014

• 122 states are parties to the Statute of the Court

• 31 states have signed but not ratified the Rome Statute (Russia)

• the law of treaties obliges these states to refrain from “acts which would defeat the object and purpose” of the treaty until they declare they do not intend to become a party to the treaty

• 41 states have neither signed nor ratified the Statute (China,India)

Work

• opened investigations into 9 situations (all in Africa)

• publicly indicted 36 people

• 26 ongoing trials

• 10 proceedings completed: 1 conviction, 3 died during the proceedings

Ad hoc tribunals and ”hybrid courts”

• International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia

• International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda

• Special Court for Sierra Leone, (investigating the crimes committed the Sierra Leone Civil War)

• Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, (investigating the crimes of the Khmer Rouge era)

• Special Tribunal for Lebanon, (investigating the assassination of Rafik Hariri)

Recent developments

• terrorism – definition? agreement?

One man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter.

International conventions and treaties

• hijacking

• aircarft sabotage

• hostage taking

• maritime hijacking

• attacks on diplomats

• attacks on UN peacekeepers

• bombing of civillians

• bilogical or chemical attacks

• terrorist financing

Modern day piracy

• Law of the Sea Convention, 1982

”Illegal acts of violence for private ends committed by crew or passengers of a private ship against another ship on the high seas.”

- anyone defined as a pirate can be prosecuted and tried under universal jurisdiction

- courts in Kenya, Seychelles and Mauritius

Thank you!