World Day for International Justice 2020
World Day for International Justice promotes international criminal justice, that is law that creates rights and obligations between countries, or states in the context of criminal actions.
International criminal law makes it unlawful for states to perpetrate actions like genocide, torture, war crimes, and other abuses which are so serious and systemic that they constitute crimes against humanity. In other words, it forbids the actions thought to be most harmful to other humans.
The purpose of international criminal law is to provide justice for victims of these actions and to hold states accountable for carrying them out. It is ground-breaking as a form of law because, unusually, it regulates the actions of states, not individuals.
International criminal justice is monitored by rules that states have agreed they will follow, which forms a treaty. In this case, the collection of laws is called the Rome Statute. States actions are overseen by a court called the International Criminal Court, in accordance with these laws. The court has the power to investigate state actions and, if the evidence suggests, decide that a state has committed one or more of the crimes and acted unlawfully.
According to the International Criminal Court (ICC), we celebrate today because:
“ 17 July unites all those who wish to support justice, promote victims' rights, and help prevent crimes that threaten the peace, security and well-being of the world”
If states agree to be bound by treaties themselves, who is bound by the ICC?
According to the ICC, many states have signed up to the treaty. 33 are African States, 19 are Asia-Pacific States, 18 are from Eastern Europe, 28 are from Latin American and Caribbean States, and 25 are from Western European and other States.
This is a wide cross-section of states, but it’s clearly fewer than the total number around the world. That’s because some states have chosen not to be bound by the rules of the ICC, and therefore they cannot be found to have acted unlawfully even if they do commit one of the crimes it includes.
The argument has been made that this is a weakness of international law, which by comparison national law does not have – individual citizens of a country do not choose whether to be bound by their criminal law, they are automatically bound and they will face consequences if they break it. The fact that states have to consent to international law means it will not be able to sanction those who break it.
It is long established that state governments regulate the behaviours of citizens through law, but it is a comparatively recent idea that there is a body or court more powerful than states with the authority to make decisions about state actions.
International criminal justice is still controversial, which is why today is important. In order to improve or critique the system of international criminal justice, and to achieve justice for victims of atrocities, it is first necessary to understand what it means.
Further reading – how is international criminal law used in practice?
Below are some examples of the decisions of the international Criminal Court, which highlight its power:
The conviction of Mr Lubanga – for ‘war crimes of conscripting and enlisting children under the age of 15 years and using them to participate actively in hostilities’ in the Democratic Republic of Congo’.
The transitional government in Sudan in September 2019 expressed ‘their commitment to cooperate with the’ ICC, which have outstanding arrest warrants for ‘al-Bashir, for genocide, war crimes or crimes against humanity committed in Dafur’.
There has been a complaint at the ICC against China against it crackdowns on Muslims in their jurisdiction.
Finally, international criminal law has implications within national law for example a court in Germany is charging a German national with war crimes against a Yazidi.
By Ceri Blower and Olivia English
What Do the Terms Mean?
State - A legal term for a country, a geographical area that has its own government, for example France.
Crimes Against Humanity - A widespread attack directed against civilians, there are 11 defined in the ‘Rome Statute’ mentioned in the article, these include things such as murder, rape and torture.
Treaty - A formal written agreement between two states.