International Prosecution of Human Rights Crimes

• Corporate Author: SpringerLink (Online service)
• Other Authors: Kaleck, Wolfgang (Editor), Ratner, Michael (Editor), Singelnstein, Tobias (Editor), Weiss, Peter (Editor)
• Format: Electronic eBook
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin, Heidelberg : Springer Berlin Heidelberg, 2007.
• Subjects: Law.; Human rights.; International humanitarian law.; International criminal law.; International Humanitarian Law, Law of Armed Conflict.; International Criminal Law.; Human Rights.

 1 In his separate opinion in the Nuclear Weapons case, Judge Mohammed Bed- oui, then the President of the International Court of Justice, called nuclear we- ons “the absolute evil. ” There are a few other things which merit being called - solutely evil. They are the predicates of the International Criminal Court and of various domestic laws patterned on the Rome Statute: war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide, and aggression. A conference organized by the Berlin-based Republikanischer Anwältinnen- und Anwälteverein (Republican Lawyers As- ciation) and the New York-based Center for Constitutional Rights was held in Berlin in June 2005 under the title Globalverfassung versus Realpolitik (Global Constitution versus Realpolitik). It dealt with the tension between these univ- sally accepted norms and the actual practice of governments in an age charact- ized by the ill-defined concept of the “war on terror. ” This book is the outcome of that conference. It is intended for a wide variety of readers: academics, all kinds of jurists, as well as human rights activists, who sometimes know more about the applicable law than the legal experts. It owes its existence to a paradox: On the one hand, new structures for dealing with the most serious international crimes are being put into place. 

 Fundamental Questions -- Protection of Human Rights by Means of Criminal Law: On the Relationship between Criminal Law and Politics -- Global Constitutional Struggles: Human Rights between colère publique and colère politique -- The Future of Universal Jurisdiction -- On the Aims and Actual Consequences of International Prosecution of Human Rights Crimes -- Developments in Law and Practice -- Prosecuting International Crimes at the National and International Level: Between Justice and Realpolitik -- Addressing the Relationship between State Immunity and Jus Cogens Norms: A Comparative Assessment -- Universal Jurisdiction: Developing and Implementing an Effective Global Strategy -- German International Criminal Law in Practice: From Leipzig to Karlsruhe -- The Pinochet Effect and the Spanish Contribution to Universal Jurisdiction -- Implementing the Principle of Universal Jurisdiction in France -- The Political Funeral Procession for the Belgian UJ Statute -- The Approach of the United Kingdom to Crimes under International Law: The Application of Extraterritorial Jurisdiction -- Coming to Terms with Genocide in Rwanda: The Role of International and National Justice -- The “War on Terror” in Particular -- Military Necessity, Torture, and the Criminality of Lawyers -- The Prohibition of Torture: Absolute Means Absolute -- Litigating Guantánamo -- Universality, Complementarity, and the Duty to Prosecute Crimes Under International Law in Germany.