Proving International Crimes

In Evidence in International Criminal Trials Mark Klamberg compares procedural activities relevant for international criminal tribunals and the International Criminal Court, including evaluation, collection, disclosure, admissibility and presentation of evidence. The author analyses what objectives are recognized in relation to the aforementioned procedural activities and whether it is possible to establish a priority between them. The concept of “robustness” is introduced to discuss the quantity of evidence in addition to concepts that deal with quality. Finally, the exclusion of every reasonable hypothesis of innocence method is examined as one of several analytical steps that may contribute to the systematic evaluation of evidence. The book seeks to provide guidance on how to confront legal as well as factual issues.

Proving International Crimes elucidates how international criminal tribunals have tackled the immense and complex task of proving international crimes such as genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity. The challenges posed by the scale and scope of these crimes and the distance in time and space between their commission and their prosecution are well-known. Nevertheless, investigators, lawyers, scholars, and policy makers often look to the law and practice of international criminal tribunals to establish what standards need to be met in the collection, preservation, presentation, and analysis of evidence to prove international crimes. In offering a comprehensive account of the law and practice of evidence before international criminal courts and tribunals to date, as well as recommendations for future practice, this book aims to inform domestic, regional, and international accountability processes for crimes going forward. This book demonstrates that, owing to the flexibility built in to the legal and procedural frameworks of international criminal courts and tribunals, the law of international criminal evidence is often unpredictable and uncertain. To this end, McDermott argues for the development of a coherent epistemic framework driven by two guiding principles: rectitude of decision and the highest standards of fairness.

Principles of Evidence in International Criminal Justice provides an overview of the procedure and practice concerning the admission and evaluation of evidence before the international criminal tribunals. The book is both descriptive and critical and its emphasis is on day-to-day practice, drawing on the experience of the Yugoslavia, Rwanda and Sierra Leone Tribunals. This book is an attempt to define and explain the core principles and rules that have developed at those ad hoc Tribunals; the rationale and origin of those rules; and to assess the suitability of those rules in the particular context of the International Criminal Court which is still at its early stages. The ICC differs in structure from the ad hoc Tribunals and approaches the legal issues it has to resolve differently from its predecessors. The ICC is however confronted with many of the same questions. The book examines the differences between the ad hoc Tribunals and the ICC and seeks to offer insights as to how and in which circumstances the principles established over years of practice at the ICTY, ICTR and SCSL may serve as guidance to the ICC practitioners of today and the future. The contributors represent a cross-section of the practicing international criminal bar, drawn from the ranks of the Bench, the Prosecution and the Defence and bringing with them different legal domestic cultures. Their mixed background underlines the recurring theme in this book which is the manner in which a legal culture has gradually taken shape in the international Tribunals, drawing on the various traditions and experiences of its participants.

This book covers the developing field of open source research and discusses how to use social media, satellite imagery, big data analytics, and user-generated content to strengthen human rights research and investigations. The topics are presented in an accessible format through extensive use of images and data visualization (éditeur).

"[This anthology] addresses the gap betwen international standard-setting prohibiting international sex crimes and actual accountability for individuals who are responsible for such crimes. The book provides detailed analysis of the legal requirements of international sex crimes and types of fact that can be used to meet these requirements. It includes a unique knowledge-base that digests international case law on such crimes. The anthology also contains several studies of institutional and evidentiary challenges in the prosecution of international sex crimes"--Series pref.

'International Criminal Law' presents a full and systematic overview of the field, placing it in the context of wider international law. It offers a high-level, analytical examination with particular reference to the concept of an international crime and the role of domestic courts in prosecuting international crimes.--

Fact-Finding Without Facts explores international criminal fact-finding - empirically, conceptually, and normatively. After reviewing thousands of pages of transcripts from various international criminal tribunals, the author reveals that international criminal trials are beset by numerous and severe fact-finding impediments that substantially impair the tribunals' ability to determine who did what to whom. These fact-finding impediments have heretofore received virtually no publicity, let alone scholarly treatment, and they are deeply troubling not only because they raise grave concerns about the accuracy of the judgments currently being issued but because they can be expected to similarly impair the next generation of international trials that will be held at the International Criminal Court. After setting forth her empirical findings, the author considers their conceptual and normative implications. The author concludes that international criminal tribunals purport a fact-finding competence that they do not possess and, as a consequence, base their judgments on a less precise, more amorphous method of fact-finding than they publicly acknowledge.

At the dawn of the International Criminal Court, the rich experience of the "ad hoc" International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) will prove to be the primary source of legal authorities for many years. The creation of the ICTY in 1993 heralded a new-found willingness of the international community to bring to book perpetrators of war crimes and gross or systematic violations of human rights. Written by academics and practitioners, and notably many "insiders" at the ICTY, this volume focuses particularly on the international and criminal law developments that have taken place in the practice and procedure of the Tribunal. Throughout are threads concerning the development and application of international criminal law not only by the ICTY, but also by the "ad hoc" International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and the new International Criminal Court.

This book provides practitioners, scholars and students with an in-depth analysis of the law of evidence before international criminal tribunals. It treats subjects such as admissibility; hearsay; identification evidence; forensic and documentary evidence. It also discusses procedural issues arising from fair trial rights, state cooperation, witness protection, and the compulsive powers of the court. The main focus of this work is the practice of the United Nations ad hoc International Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda. However, it traces the developments of the law of evidence back to the trials conducted by the Allied powers after the Second World War. The authors also discuss the future of the law in this field, with comments on the projected implementation of the Statute and the Rules of Procedure of the permanent International Criminal Court. They conclude with some general remarks on trends in international criminal evidence that will be helpful to international tribunals, "mixed" tribunals (such as those proposed for Sierra Leone and Cambodia), and national courts alike. Published under the Transnational Publishers imprint.