Implementing International Humanitarian Law: From the Ad Hoc Tribunals to a Permanent International Criminal Court

344 Pages·2004·0.7 MB·English

by  Yusuf Aksar

IMPLEMENTING INTERNATIONAL HUMANITARIAN LAW

Implementing IInternational
Humanitarian LLaw
From TThe Ad HHocTribunals tto aa
Permanent IInternational
Criminal CCourt
YUSUF AKSAR
Assistant Professor of Public International Law
LL.B. (Ankara), LL.M. (Ankara),
LL.M. (Sheffield), Ph.D. (Bristol)
First published 2004
by Routledge
11 New Fetter Lane,London EC4P 4EE
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
29 West 35th Street,New York,NY 10001
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2005
“To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s
collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.”
© 2004 Yusuf Askar
All rights reserved.No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic,
mechanical,or other means,now known or hereafter
invented,including photocopying and recording,or in any
information storage or retrieval system,without permission in
writing from the publishers.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Implementing International Humanitarian Law:from the ad hoc tribunals to a permanent
International Criminal Court 1.International Criminal Court 2.International Tribunal for the
Prosecution of Persons Responsible for Serious Violations of International Humanitarian Law 3.
International Tribunal for Rwanda 4.Humanitarian law 5.War crimes – Yugoslavia 6.War crimes –
Rwanda 9.Trials (Genocide) – Yugoslavia 10.Trials (Genocide) – Rwanda I.Title 341.6’7
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Aksar,Yusuf,1972–
Implementing international humanitarian law:from the ad hoc tribunals to a permanent
International Criminal Court/ Yusuf Aksar.
p.cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1.Humanitarian law 2.International criminal courts 3.International Tribunal for the prosecution
of Persons Responsible for Serious Violations of International Humanitarian Law Commited in
the Territory of the Former Yugoslavia since 1991.4.International Tribunal for Rwanda I.Title
KZ6471.A39 2004
341.6’7–dc22
ISBN 0-203-64610-X Master e-book ISBN
ISBN 0-203-67796-X (Adobe eReader Format)
ISBN 0–714–65584–8 (hbk)
ISBN 0–714–68470–8 (pbk)
To the Memory of My Mother,
Dilber Aksar

Table oof CContents
Table of Cases xiii
Table of Treaties xvii
Acknowledgements xix
List of Abbreviations xx
Foreword xxiii
Introduction 1
Part 11
The EEstablishment oof tthe Ad HHocTribunals ((the IICTY aand tthe IICTR) aand
the IInternational CCriminal CCourt ((the IICC)
1 –– TThe EEstablishment oof tthe IICTY aand IICTR 7
Introduction 7
The Situations in the Former Yugoslavia and Rwanda 8
The Former Yugoslavia 9
Rwanda 14
The Establishment of the International Criminal Tribunals 16
The Legality of the Establishment and Competence of
the Security Council 18
The Legal Basis for the Establishment of an International
Criminal Tribunal 18
An International Treaty 19
A General Assembly Resolution 19
A Security Council Resolution 20
The Justification of the Security Council’s Action 21
The Practice of the ICTY 24
In the Trial Chamber 25
The Matter of Judicial Review of the Security
Council Powers 25
The Matter of Ad HocTribunals as a Measure under
Article 41 of the UN Charter 28
The Matter of Characterisation of Armed Conflict
(International or Non-International) 29
The Matter of Creation of Ad HocTribunals as a
Subsidiary Organ 30
The Matter of Protection of Humanitarian and
Human Rights Law 33
viii IMPLEMENTING INTERNATIONAL HUMANITARIAN LAW
In the Appeals Chambers 34
The Principle of Compétence de la Compétence 35
The Matter of ‘Political Questions’and ‘Non-Justiciable’
Disputes 37
The Matter of the Legality of and Appropriateness of the
ICTY as a Measure 38
The Matter of Established by Law 38
Conclusions 40
2 –– TThe CCreation oof tthe IInternational CCriminal CCourt 43
Introduction and Historical Background 43
Before the First World War 43
After the First World War 44
After the Second World War 45
The Establishment of the International Criminal Tribunals
for the Former Yugoslavia and for Rwanda and the
International Criminal Court 47
Obstacles to the Establishment of the International Criminal
Court (the ICC) 49
The Principles of State Sovereignty and Criminal Jurisdiction 50
Jurisdiction of the ICC 57
The Possibility of Creating Ad HocTribunals 58
The Issue of Procedural Laws to Apply 59
The Legal Basis for the Establishment of the ICC 60
The United Nations Diplomatic Conference of Plenipotentiaries
on the Establishment of an International Criminal Court
(15 June–17 July 1998) 62
Conclusions 67
Part 22
The SSubstantive LLaw ((Subject-MMatter JJurisdiction) oof tthe Ad HHoc
Tribunals: TTheir PPractice aand TTheir CContribution tto IInternational
Humanitarian LLaw aand IImpact oon tthe IICC
3 –– IIndividual CCriminal RResponsibility iin IInternational LLaw 71
Introduction 71
The Concept of Individual Criminal Responsibility in
International Law 72
War Crimes 74
The Grave Breaches System 75
Violations of the Laws or Customs of War 76
The Crime of Genocide 77
Crimes Against Humanity 78
The Crime of Aggression (Crimes Against Peace) 79
Other International Humanitarian and Human Rights Law
Instruments 81
CONTENTS ix
The Practice of the Ad HocTribunals,Their Contributions to
International Humanitarian Law and Their Impact on the ICC 81
Individual Criminal Responsibility under Article 7 (1)
of the ICTY Statute and Article 6 (1) of the ICTR Statute 84
The Elements of the Principle of Individual Criminal
Responsibility 84
The Mental Element (Mens Rea) 86
The Physical Element (Actus Reus) 86
The Significance of the Tadic Judgementin International
Humanitarian Law 87
The Concept of ‘Aiding’,‘Abetting’in International
Humanitarian Law 88
The Elements of ‘Aiding’,‘Abetting’ 89
The Mental Element (Mens Rea) 89
The Element of Actus Reus 90
The Distinction Between the Concept of ‘aiding’,
‘Abetting’and Co-perpetration 91
The Significance of the Furundzija Judgement in
International Humanitarian Law 93
Concluding Remarks 93
Individual Criminal Responsibility under Article 7 (2) of
the ICTY Statute and Article 6 (2) of the ICTR Statute 94
Individual Criminal Responsibility under Article 7 (3) of
the ICTY Statute and Article 6 (3) of the ICTR Statute 97
The Legal Character of Superior Responsibility and
the Importance of the Use of the Term ‘Objective
Responsibility’ 99
The Elements of Superior Responsibility 100
The Element of Superior–Subordinate Relationships 101
The Mental Element (Mens Rea):Knew or Had
Reason to Know 102
The Element of Necessary and Reasonable Measures 106
The Element of Causation 106
Individual Criminal Responsibility under Article 7 (4) of
the ICTY Statute and 6 (4) of the ICTR Statute 107
Conclusions 109
4 –– WWar CCrimes 113
Introduction 113
The Grave Breaches System 115
The Practice of the Ad HocTribunals and Their Contribution to
International Humanitarian Law and Their Impact on the ICC 119
The Conditions for the Applicability of the Grave
Breaches System 120
General Conditions 120
The Existence of an Armed Conflict 120
The Link (Nexus) between the Acts of the
Accused and the Armed Conflict 123