Subjects 2009
International Criminal Law 730639
- Credited Courses: Graduate Diploma in International Law 323; Graduate Diploma in Transnational Law 333; Master of Laws (LLM) 502; Master of Legal Systems 890; Master of Public and International Law 511
Prerequisite
Successful completion of Principles of International Law or equivalent.
Objectives
This subject will focus on individual accountability for human rights abuses, including both the substantive law providing for such responsibility and the range of mechanisms available for holding individuals accountable.
A student who has successfully completed this subject should:
- Locate the law of war crimes in the great moral and political dilemmas of the last half century
- Understand the concept of individual criminal responsibility for violations of international law
- Assimilate the core crimes, as well as critical extensions of culpability, such as command responsibility, and key defences, such as duress or superior orders
- Be aware of the historical development of international criminal law
- Appreciate the relationship between national and international jurisdiction for the prosecution of international crimes
- Be conversant with the advantages and disadvantages of prosecutions compared to other methods of individual accountability, including the debate over amnesties and pardons
- Understand the full range of non-prosecutorial mechanisms for holding individuals accountable, including truth commissions and civil suits
- Comprehend the basic workings of the UN’s ad hoc criminal tribunals and the permanent International Criminal Court.
Syllabus
Principal topics will include:
- The nature of law, war and crime
- Concept of individual criminal responsibility for violations of international law
- Elaboration of basic crimes
- Universal jurisdiction
- International criminal courts
- Truth commissions
- Civil remedies
- Case studies, e.g. Cambodia, Lebanon, Sierra Leone.
