(Read On! ... occasional posts on writing worth reading)
The International Criminal Law Interest Group of the American Society of International Law (of which I am pleased to serve as Co-Chair along with Linda Malone (right), has just issued its most recent issue of "Accountability," the Group's newsletter. The newsletter includes articles by our own Valerie Oosterveld. Here is editor Margaret Zimmerman's (below right) introduction to the volume:This issue of Accountability takes account of recent trends in
international criminal law with a particular eye towards the future of prosecuting international crimes. In doing so, the issue opens with Keith Petty and Dov Jacobs discussing the crime of aggression. In a point-counter-point format, these authors examine the arguments for and against the UN Security Council playing a role in defining the crime and determining jurisdiction over the crime. While this section of the newsletter focuses on the progression of the ICC, the next two articles bring to light the challenges faced by the closing ad hoc tribunals highlighted by Valerie Oosterveld in her recap of the ASIL conference roundtable which took place in March 2010.This is explored further by Ousman Njikam’s article examining the ICTY’s procedures of pardoning, sentencing and early release which, he points out, act to ensure the continuation of the tribunal’s efforts towards justice. The pursuits of justice continue at the Special Court for Sierra Leone where Haydee Dijkstal studies an accused’s right to counsel as it has played out in the Charles Taylor trial
court over the past year.
Pubudu Sachithanandan in his article regarding the Office of the Prosecutor’s Policy Paper on Victim Participation provides an overview of the procedural safeguards and way forward for victims at the ICC.The newsletter wraps up with a domestic look at prosecuting international crimes when Olga Martin-Ortega and Rosa Ana Alija-Fernandez highlight the efforts of Argentinean courts to open cases under the principle of universal jurisdiction for those crimes committed during Francoist Spain.
[The articles provide] a glimpse into the progression of international criminal law from a substantive viewpoint regarding the future of the crime of aggression, procedural safeguards at both the ICC and ad hoc tribunals and the rise of national prosecutions.
Check it out!
