Introduction

Le droit pénal international au sens strict est une partie du droit international public qui concerne la responsabilité pénale des individus pour des crimes internationaux. Les quatre principaux crimes internationaux, à savoir les crimes pour lesquels les tribunaux internationaux sont compétents en vertu du droit international, sont : le génocide, les crimes contre l'humanité, les crimes de guerre et les crimes d'agression. Les autres crimes considérés comme des crimes internationaux comprennent entre autres le terrorisme, les disparitions forcées, la torture, l'apartheid, l'esclavage, le mercenarisme et la piraterie. Le droit pénal international trouve son origine à la fois dans le droit international et le droit pénal et est étroitement lié à d'autres domaines du droit international. Les plus importants d'entre eux sont celui des droits de l'homme et celui du droit international humanitaire, ainsi que le droit sur la responsabilité des États. Les sources du droit pénal international sont les mêmes que celles du droit international général mentionnés à l'article 38(1) du statut de la Cour internationale de justice :  les traités, la coutume internationale, les principes généraux du droit, les décisions judiciaires et la doctrine écrite pas des universitaires de renom. Jusqu'à la création des tribunaux de Nuremberg et de Tokyo après la deuxième guerre mondiale, le droit pénal international consistait surtout en une coopération entre États visant à la lutte contre la délinquance et était centré sur l'extradition. Les tribunaux de Nuremberg et de Tokyo annoncent la naissance du droit pénal international actuel, à savoir la poursuite d'individus devant des tribunaux internationaux pour des crimes internationaux. Au début des années quatre-vingt-dix du siècle précédent, le droit pénal international a bénéficié d'un coup d'accélérateur avec l'établissement du Tribunal pénal international pour l'ancienne Yougoslavie et du Tribunal pénal international pour le Rwanda par le conseil de sécurité des Nations Unies.  De même, la création de différents tribunaux pénaux internationalisés ou mixtes et les propositions de la Commission du droit international, qui ont donné naissance à la création de la Cour pénale internationale en 2002, ont contribué au développement rapide du droit pénal international au cours des deux dernières décennies.

Le présent guide de recherche se veut un point de départ pour mener des recherches en droit pénal international. Il fournit les textes juridiques de base disponibles à la Bibliothèque du Palais de la Paix, qu'il s'agisse de documents imprimés ou de documents sous format électronique. La section intitulée "Bibliographie sélective" présente une sélection de manuels, d'articles importants, de bibliographies, de publications périodiques, de publications en série et de documents pertinents. Des liens permettent de rejoindre le catalogue PPL. Le code de classification de la bibliothèque 248. Ouvrages généraux et le mot-matière (mot-clef) Droit pénal international sont des instruments permettant de faire une recherche dans le catalogue. Une attention particulière est prêtée à nos inscriptions aux bases de données, revues électroniques, livres électroniques et autres ressources électroniques. Enfin, le présent guide de recherche contient des liens vers des sites Internet pertinents et d'autres ressources en ligne présentant un intérêt particulier.

Bibliographie

New titles

Choix de bibliothécaire

• Bergsmo, M., Rackwitz, K. and Tianying, S. (eds.), Historical Origins of International Criminal Law, Brussels, Torkel Opsahl Academic EPublisher, 2017.

  
  Editors' Preface:

  "This book seeks to make two contributions. First, the development of national capacity to investigate and prosecute core international crimes–genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and aggression–will continue for several decades into the future. (...) The book has been organised in four autonomous parts:

  Part I contains 41 individual expert opinions on investigations, prosecutions and questions of management, staffing and operations;

  Part II has three reports produced by groups of experts;

  Part III concerns the draft Code of Conduct and Regulations of the Office of the Prosecutor;

  Part IV explains some aspects of its first budget.

  (...) The second contribution we seek to make with this book is to open up this interesting interregnum to analysis and research, based on sound facts chronicled by first-hand materials. As such, the book contributes towards the institutional history of the ICC Office of the Prosecutor at the time of its birth. It is for this reason that the book appears as Volume 5 of Historical Origins of International Criminal Law."
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• Fitzpatrick, G., T. McCormack and N. Morris, Australia's War Crimes Trials 1945-51, Leiden; Boston, Brill Nijhoff, 2016.

  

  This unique volume provides a detailed analysis of Australia’s 300 war crimes trials of principally Japanese accused conducted in the immediate aftermath of the Second World War. Part I contains contextual essays explaining why Australia established military courts to conduct these trials and thematic essays considering various legal issues in, and historical perspectives on, the trials. Part II offers a comprehensive collection of eight location essays, one each for the physical locations where the trials were held. In Part III post-trial issues are reviewed, such as the operation of compounds for war criminals; the repatriation of convicted Japanese war criminals to serve the remainder of their sentences; and reflections of some of those convicted on their experience of the trials. In the final essay, a contemporary reflection on the fairness of the trials is provided, not on the basis of a twenty-first century critique of contemporary minimum standards of fair trial expected in the prosecution of war crimes, but by reviewing approaches taken in the trials themselves as well as from reactions to the trials by those associated with them. The essays are supported by a large collection of unique historical photographs, maps and statistical materials. There has been no systematic and comprehensive analysis of these trials so far, which has meant that they are virtually precluded from consideration as judicial precedent. This volume fills that gap, and offers scholars and practitioners an important and groundbreaking resource.

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• Zeegers, K., International Criminal Tribunals and Human Rights Law: Adherence and Contextualization, The Hague, Asser Press, 2016.

  

  This book addresses the interpretation and application of human rights norms by International Criminal Tribunals (ICTs). Such Tribunals are widely heralded as humanrights defenders. At the same time, however, they employ activities that necessarilyentail the risk of human rights violations: they conduct criminal investigations, arrest and detain individuals, and put them on trial. This book investigates this flip-side of the ICTs’ relationship with international human rights law, and focuses on the ICTs’own interpretation and application of human rights norms.
  Firstly, the book addresses whether and how ICTs are bound by human rights law, since unlike states they do not sign or ratify human rights conventions. Secondly, the book provides an in-depth analysis of the way in which ICTs interpret and apply human rights norms, compared to the way in which these norms are interpreted in a traditional state-context. Relying on the unique circumstances in which they operate, ICTs have often deviated from generally accepted interpretations of human rights. The author critically examines this so-called contextual approach and seeks to recommend ways in which ICTs can improve their interpretative practice by giving due regard to the context in which they operate, while still providing adequate human rights protection.

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• Liu, D. and Zhang, B. (ed.), Historical War Crimes Trials in Asia, Brussels, Torkel Opsahl Academic EPublisher, 2016.

  

  This book offers analyses of historical war crimes trials in Asia from a variety of perspectives. Compared to their counterparts in Europe, the post-WWII war crimes trials in Asia have received much less attention. This is especially true for domestic trials by national authorities in Asia. The book examines the historical trials from different perspectives, including the legal concepts used and debates that took place; the influence of the trials within a broader social context, both at their time and later; the collection of evidence; and preservation, compilation and research of historical documents. It not only analyses the trials in their historical and social contexts, but emphasises their present day significance, also as regards the prevention of core international crimes, especially in Asia.

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• Bergsmo, M., Ling, C. W. and Ping, Y. (eds.), Historical Origins of International Criminal Law, Volume I, Brussels, Torkel Opsahl Academic EPublisher, 2014

  

  The historical origins of international criminal law go beyond the key trials of Nuremberg and Tokyo but remain a topic that has not received comprehensive and systematic treatment. This anthology aims to address this lacuna by examining trials, proceedings, legal instruments and publications that may be said to be the building blocks of contemporary international criminal law. It aspires to generate new knowledge, broaden the common hinterland to international criminal law, and further consolidate this relatively young discipline of international law. The anthology and research project also seek to question our fundamental assumptions of international criminal law by going beyond the geographical, cultural, and temporal limits set by the traditional narratives of its history, and by questioning the roots of its substance, process, and institutions. Ultimately, we hope to raise awareness and generate further discussion about the historical and intellectual origins of international criminal law and its social function. The contributions to the three volumes of this study bring together experts with different professional and disciplinary expertise, from diverse continents and legal traditions.

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• O’Keefe, R., International Criminal Law, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2015

  

  International Criminal Law provides a comprehensive overview of an increasingly integral part of public international law. It complements the usual accounts of the substantive law of those international crimes tried to date before international criminal courts and of the institutional law of those courts with in-depth analyses of fundamental formal juridical concepts such as an 'international crime' and an 'international criminal court'; with detailed examinations of the many international crimes provided for by way of multilateral treaty and of the attendant obligations and rights of states parties; and with sustained attention to the implementation of international criminal law at the national level. Direct, concise, and precise, International Criminal Law should prove a valuable resource for scholars and practitioners of the discipline of international criminal law.

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• Fichtelberg, A., Hybrid Tribunals: A Comparative Examination, New York, Springer, 2015

  

  This book examines hybrid tribunals created in Sierra Leone, Kosovo, Cambodia, East Timor, and Lebanon, in terms of their origins (the political and social forces that led to their creation), the legal regimes that they used, their various institutional structures, and the challenges that they faced during their operations. Through this study, the author looks at both their successes and their shortcomings, and presents recommendations for the formation of future hybrid tribunals. Hybrid tribunals are a form of the international justice where the judicial responsibility is shared between the international community and the local state where they function. These tribunals represent an important bridge between traditional international courts like the International Criminal Court (ICC), the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY), the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) and various local justice systems. Because hybrid tribunals are developed in response to large-scale atrocities, these courts are properly considered part of the international criminal justice system. This feature gives hybrid tribunals the accountability and legitimacy often lost in local justice systems; however, by including regional courtroom procedures and personnel, they are integrated into the local justice system in a way that allows a society to deal with its criminals on its own terms, at least in part. This unique volume combines historical and legal analyses of these hybrid tribunals, placing them within a larger historical, political, and legal context. It will be of interest to researchers in Criminal Justice, International Studies, International Law, and related fields.

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• Stahn, C. (ed.), The Law and Practice of the International Criminal Court, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2015

  

  The International Criminal Court is a controversial and important body within international law; one that is significantly growing in importance, particularly as other international criminal tribunals close down. After a decade of Court practice, this book takes stock of the activities of the International Criminal Court, identifying the key issues in need of re-thinking or potential reform. It provides a systematic and in-depth thematic account of the law and practice of the Court, including its changes context, the challenges it faces, and its overall contribution to international criminal law. The book is written by over forty leading practitioners and scholars from both inside and outside the Court. They provide an unparallelled insight into the Court as an institution, its jurisprudence, the impact of its activities, and its future development. The work addresses the ways in which the practice of the International Criminal Court has emerged, and identifies ways in which this practice could be refined or improved in future cases. The book is organised along six key themes: (i) the context of International Criminal Court investigations and prosecutions; (ii) the relationship of the Court to domestic jurisdictions; (iii) prosecutorial policy and practice; (iv) the applicable law; (v) fairness and expeditiousness of proceedings; and (vi) its impact and lessons learned. It shows the ways in which the Court has offered fresh perspectives on the theorization and conception of crimes, charges and individual criminal responsibility. It examines the procedural framework of the Court, including the functioning of different stages of proceedings. The Court's decisions have significant repercussions: on domestic law, criminal theory, and the law of other international courts and tribunals. In this context, the book assesses the extent to which specific approaches and assumptions, both positive and negative, regarding the potential impact of the Court are in need of re-thinking. This book will be essential reading for practitioners, scholars, and students of international criminal law.

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• Cryer, R., An Introduction to International Criminal Law and Procedure (3rd ed.), Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2014

  

  This market-leading textbook gives an authoritative account of international criminal law, and focuses on what the student needs to know - the crimes that are dealt with by international courts and tribunals as well as the procedures that police the investigation and prosecution of those crimes. The reader is guided through controversies with an accessible, yet sophisticated approach by the author team of four international lawyers, with experience both of teaching the subject, and as negotiators at the foundation of the International Criminal Court and the Rome conference. It is an invaluable introduction for all students of international criminal law and international relations, and now covers developments in the ICC, victims' rights, and alternatives to international criminal justice, as well as including extended coverage of terrorism. Short, well chosen excerpts allow students to familiarise themselves with primary material from a wide range of sources.

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Database

Blogs

• Are Syria and Iraq the Middle Eastern Bloodlands?

  Deir az-Zor is a sleepy town on the banks of the Euphrates in the Syrian desert, and did not ring much of a bell for most non-Syrians. Except for Armenians. During the 1915 Armenian Genocide, the Ottoman government deported hundreds of thousands of Ottoman Armenians to Deir az-Zor, where they were left to die or were killed outright. A German diplomat who was stationed in that area wrote that the Armenians were “slaughtered like sheep”. To the casual observer this looked allegorical or even hyperbolical, in any case unreal, removed far away in geography, time, and culture. Until recent times, when ISIS videos surfaced online. And again the desert soil of Deir az-Zor shone red with blood, and once more the word ‘Deir az-Zor’ served as a symbol of bloodshed.

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• An Ad Hoc Hybrid Special Court for Sri Lanka: What Does It Take?

  On 16 September 2015, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and the OHCHR Investigation on Sri Lanka issued two reports on promoting reconciliation, accountability and human rights in Sri Lanka. Their recommendation: the creation of an ad hoc hybrid special court to try war crimes and crimes against humanity. Which crimes were committed and how did the international community reach such a recommendation? This post will take a look at the civil war which plagued Sri Lanka for 25 years, the subsequent international response and finally, what does it take to create an ad hoc hybrid tribunal?

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• AAIL-AFIL Distinguished Lecture Series

  The African Association of International Law and the African Foundation for International Law are organizing the second lecture in the AAIL-AFIL Lecture Series in association with the Hague Academy of International Law. The lecture will take place on 19 June 2015 at 6.00 p. m. in the Historical Reading Room at the Peace Palace. The lecture will be followed by a reception. Earlier this month, on June 3, Justice Hassan B. Jallow addressed the United Nations Security Council and presented a progress report on the work of the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda.

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• International Corporate Criminal Liability at the Special Tribunal for Lebanon: Prosecutor v. Karma Al Khayat and Al Jadeed

  On Thursday the 16th of April, the trial against journalist Karma Al Khayat and television network Al Jadeed started at the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) in Leidschendam, the Netherlands. Both Ms. Karma Al Khayat and Al Jadeed are charged with contempt of court and obstruction of justice. Because the alleged crimes are media-related and the accused have argued that the trial threatens the freedom of press, the case has already attracted much attention. However, what is more striking is the fact that this is the first time a legal person is prosecuted by an international or internationalized criminal court.

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• A Supreme Offence against International Morality and the Sanctity of Treaties: William II of Hohenzollern and the Treaty of Versailles

  Early during World War I, jurists and statesmen in both France and Great-Britain, such as Larnaude and Lapradelle, had advocated the German Emperor William II to be arrested and brought to trial. The principle that military officers should be held personally responsible for orders in violation of the laws and customs of war, if pushed to its logical limits, would render commanders-in-chief, that is heads of State, liable for illegal acts for which they are responsible, directly or indirectly. And in Germany, there was one commander-in-chief: the Emperor William II.

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• Crimes against Cultural Property in Mali

  In an earlier Peace Palace Library blog (Cultucide in Timbuktu: Shari’a and war crimes) Ingrid Kost wrote that the Islamist Group Ansar (Ed)dine (“Defenders of the Faith”) destroyed some of the age-old mausolea of Sufi Saints in Timbuktu, Mali. One of the major causes of destruction of cultural property (the illicit trading, stealing and looting of cultural property is not covered in this blog) over the ages has been armed conflict. Crimes against cultural property should therefore be addressed properly.

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• Achievements of the ICTY

  Twenty years ago the United Nations Security Council unanimously adapted Resolution 827. With this resolution the international community envisaged to put to trial those individuals that were alleged to be responsible for grave crimes against humanity, infractions of international humanitarian law and the law of war which have been committed during the Yugoslav wars (1991-1999). The United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), was the first ad hoc criminal tribunal that came into existence since the erection of the Nuremberg and Tokyo Tribunals after World War II.

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• Homeland, Zero Dark Thirty and Jack Bauer: Rendition, Torture and the Demise of American Values

  The latest in a series of Hollywood productions which reopened a debate about torture and extraordinary rendition is Zero Dark Thirty. Real life variations of Hollywood-scenarios have been unfolding as the US government has engaged in a program of extraordinary rendition since the Clinton Administration and which became widespread under the Bush Administration following the September 11 terrorist attacks.This blog examines Obama’s policy towards torture and (extraordinary) rendition.

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• The International Criminal Prosecution Of Gender Crimes

  When we first think about wars and armed conflicts, we very often think about battlefields, burned villages, wounded soldiers, air-bombs and tanks. We tend to forget that civilians, women and children in particular, are at the centre of warfare and frequently fall victim to sexual violence in staggering numbers. The international community and the UN Security Council have established that gender crimes are part of the most serious of international crimes and should therefore be of great concern to the international community as a whole. In spite of this, international crimes involving sexual violence continue to be one of the most difficult crimes to prosecute.

  This blog will briefly discuss the international criminal prosecution of gender crimes by various international legal institutions.

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• The ICC's 10th Anniversary

  Ten years ago, on 1 July 2002 the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) entered into force. At the moment there are 121 States Parties to the Rome Statute. The ICC is the first permanent international court for the prosecution of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.

  What has been achieved by the Court since 2002?

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• Cultucide in Timbuktu: Shari’a and War Crimes

  Last weekend the Islamist Group Ansar Eddine (“Defenders of the Faith”) destroyed some of the age-old mausolea of Sufi Saints in Timbuktu. Despite the fact that recently on June 28 2012, these mausolea were placed on the UNESCO List of World Heritage in Danger.

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• The African Union and the International Criminal Court

  The handling of the ICC arrest warrant against the Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir continues to create major problems for the African Union. The planned attendance by Al-Bashir of the 19th AU Summit in Malawi coming July and the threat of the Malawi government to arrest him if he did attend has forced the African Union to move the summit to its headquarters in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa.

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• Judgment in the Trial of Former Liberian President Charles Taylor

  On Thursday 26 April, Trial Chamber II of the Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL) delivered its verdict in the case against Charles Taylor, former president of Liberia. Taylor was found criminally responsible of aiding and abetting rebel forces in the commission of 11 counts of war crimes, crimes against humanity and other serious violations of international humanitarian law in neighboring Sierra Leone during its civil war.

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• The International Criminal Court Delivers Judgment on Child Soldiers

  On Wednesday 14 March, Trial Chamber I of the International Criminal Court (ICC) delivered it’s first verdict. In a unanimous decision three judges convicted Thomas Lubanga Dyilo of the war crimes of conscripting, enlisting, and using children under the age of 15 to participate actively in hostilities. With this judgment the ICC firmly establishes the use of children in armed conflict as an international crime and also focuses renewed attention on the many thousands of children still used in various other conflicts in the world.

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• Eichmann Trial 50 years

  Lecture in the Peace Palace Library on the Eichmann trial, that took place 50 yeras ago.

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• Ratko Mladić's arrest and the ICTY

  It was all over the news that Ratko Mladić, one of two remaining the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) fugitives, was arrested on Thursday 26th of May in the village of Lazarevo, northern Serbia. After 16 years on the run, the arrest of this Colonel General, former Commander of the Main Staff […]

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• Libya and the International Criminal Court (ICC)

  On February 16th 2011- following a wave of uprisings throughout the Middle-East- Libya experienced a so-called Day of Rage which led to protests breaking out to challenge Colonel Muammar Qadhafi’s 41 year old iron rule- the region’s longest. This blog will briefly discuss the actions taken by the United Nations Security Council and the ICC in response to the unfolding humanitarian crisis in Libya.

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• Dresden 1945: An Allied War Crime?

  Since 1945, the bombing of Dresden is considered by many as a violation of international law and as a crime against humanity, even though positive rules of international humanitarian law were absent at the time. The Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907, were among the first formal statements of the laws of war and war crimes in the nascent body of international law. However these conventions, adressing the codes of wartime conduct on land and at sea, were adopted before the rise of air power. Despite repeated diplomatic attempts (→ The Hague Rules of Air Warefare 1922/1923) to update international humanitarian law to include aerial warfare, it was not done before the outbreak of World War II. The absence of positive international humanitarian law does not mean that the laws of war did not cover aerial warfare, but there was no general agreement of how to interpret those laws. The aerial bombardment of Dresden does not only raise the question as to whether or not it was an Allied war crime, but it also makes a moral appeal to prevent total war against civilian populations. It’s memory is kept alive.

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• Arabian leaders try to tackle tension in Lebanon

  King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia and Syrian President Bashar Assad visited Beirut on Friday 30th July in a show of unity before the Special Tribunal for Lebanon’s indictments in the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. Lebanon’s president, prime minister and parliamentary speaker stood side by side to receive the heads of state as they descended from a Saudi jet onto a red carpet at Rafik Hariri International Airport. The visit appeared to be an attempt to quell anxiety in Lebanon that followed a speech last week by Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of the militant group Hezbollah, in which he denied links between his party and Hariri’s death.

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• Karadžić located and arrested

  During the night of the 21st of July Radovan Karadžić was located and arrested by Serbian security officers.

  Radovan Karadžić is charged with genocide for the murder of close to 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys in Srebrenica in 1995. The indictment alleges that Radovan Karadžić also committed genocide, persecutions and other crimes when forces under his command killed non-Serbs during and after attacks on towns throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina.

  The arrest of Radovan Karadžić was welcomed as a “milestone” by war crimes prosecutors of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia [ICTY]in The Hague.

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• Judgement of the ICTY Appeals Chamber in the 'Dubrovnik' Case

  On Thursday, 17 July, the Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) rendered its judgement [PDF document] on the appeals of both the Prosecution and the Defense against the conviction and sentence of the former Yugoslav People’s Army (JNA) General Pavle Strugar (Case No. IT-01-42-A).

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• ICC Prosecutor Presents Second Case on Crimes in Darfur

  On Monday, 14 July, Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo of the International Criminal Court (ICC) filed an application for an arrest warrant and submitted to the Judges of the ICC Pre-Trial Chamber evidence of crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes committed in Darfur by the Sudanese President, Omar Hassan al-Bashir (Read here the Application for warrant of arrest [PDF]).

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Liens

See also

More Research guides on Droit pénal international

• Terrorisme
• Criminalité transnationale
  • Traite des personnes
  • Piraterie

PPL keywords

• Aggression
• Special Court for Sierra Leone

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