Complementarity in the Rome Statute and National Criminal Jurisdictions

by Jann Kleffner, Jann K. Kleffner

Overview

This book provides an in depth-examination of the principle of complementarity in the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court and the implications of that principle for the suppression of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes on the domestic level. The book is set against the general background of the suppression of these crimes on the domestic level, its potential and pitfalls. It traces the evolution of complementarity and provides a critical and comprehensive analysis of the provisions in the Rome Statute and the Rules of Procedure and Evidence relevant to complementarity. In so doing, it addresses both substantive and procedural aspects of admissibility, while taking account of the early practice of the ICC. Further attention is devoted to the question whether and to what extent the Rome Statute imposes on States Parties an obligation to investigate and prosecute core crimes domestically. Finally, the book examines the potential of the complementary regime to function as a catalyst for States to conduct domestic criminal proceedings vis-à-vis core crimes.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780199238453
Publisher:	Oxford University Press, USA
Publication date:	02/15/2008
Series:	International Courts and Tribunals Series
Pages:	400
Product dimensions:	6.40(w) x 9.30(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

Jann Kleffner is Assistant Professor of International Law at the University of Amsterdam Centre for International Law. He has co-authored Internationalized Criminal Courts and Tribunals: Sierra Leone, East Timor, Kosovo, and Cambodia with Andre Nollkaemper and Cesare Romano, (OUP, 2004). Jann K. Kleffner studied law in Germany, the UK and The Netherlands. He obtained his LL.M. and PhD degrees from the University of Amsterdam, where he currently holds a position as Assistant Professor of International Law. His main research and teaching activities are in the fields of international criminal law and the laws of armed conflict. He is Managing Editor of the Yearbook of International Humanitarian Law and holds a number of other appointments, including as Member of the Committee on compensation for victims of war of the International Law Association and as Visiting Lecturer at the Netherlands Defense Academy. Previously, he also served as a Member of the Informal Expert Group consulting the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court on Complementarity in Practice and as General Rapporteur on the "Compatibility of national legal systems with the Statute of the Permanent International Criminal Court (ICC)" for the International Society of Military Law and the Law of War.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements xiii

List of Abbreviations xv

Table of Cases xvii

Table of Treaties xxvii

I Introduction 1

II National Suppression of Core Crimes 7

III The Context and Emergence of Complementarity 57

IV Complementarity as a Legal Principle and as Criteria for Admissibility 99

V The Procedural Setting of Complementarity 163

VI Complementarity and the Obligation to Investigate and Prosecute 235

VII Complementarity as a Catalyst for Compliance 309

VIII Conclusions 341

Bibliography 351

Documents 375

Index 381