The International Criminal Court in Hague

Dominic Ongwen convicted by the International Criminal Court

On February 4, 2021, the trial chamber issued its judgment in the Dominic Ongwen case, a senior commander in the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) under Joseph Kony. In a very lengthy judgment (1077 pages and 3116 paragraphs), he was convicted of 61 of the original 70 charges related to war crimes and crimes against humanity. (paragraph 3116) The trial chamber also issued an order setting the hearing dates for sentencing for the week of April 12-16, 2021.
Illustration of a conflict concept between Georgia and Russia

Judgment of the European Court of Human Rights In the case of Georgia vs. Russia

On 21 January 2021, the European Court of Human Rights delivered a judgment in the case of Georgia vs. Russia. Georgia had lodged an application in the context of the armed conflict that occurred between Georgia and the Russian Federation in August 2008. It thus took the Court 12 years to come to a judgment – another example of the excessive length of proceedings before the Court.
Silhouettes of refugees people

The “Unknown” Child – Zhao V. The Netherlands Brings to Light Problems with Statelessness Procedures

Denny Zhao v. Netherlands – a December 2020 decision of the UN Human Rights Committee - is being lauded as a significant advance towards ending childhood statelessness. The case reflects the strategic efforts of various advocates following a 2011 UNHCR report which revealed that 83,000 people in the Netherlands were registered as having an ‘unknown nationality’, a designation which left them in an ongoing state of limbo.
Hassan Diab

The Hassan Diab Case: Injustice expands, need for redress and reform deepens

It is the latest outlandish development in a thirteen-year saga of injustice and utter disregard for key human rights norms that has been Kafkaesque at every turn. In a crushing decision that defies fundamental precepts of justice, and in the face of not even a scintilla of credible and reliable evidence, a French appeal court ruled on January 27 that Canadian citizen Hassan Diab should indeed face trial on charges related to a harrowing synagogue bombing in Paris four decades ago. What happens next is not yet clear.
EOD officials are investigating evidence

The “Accountability Turn” in the Global Struggle Against Impunity: What Does this Mean for Canada?

Researchers at University of Oxford are conducting a study to determine whether some form of permanent investigative mechanism should be created to support investigations of international criminal law offenses or “core crimes” (crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide).
International Court of Justice Building in Netherlands

Important développement dans l’affaire dite « des biens mal acquis » : Arrêt de la Cour internationale de Justice dans Guinée équatoriale c. France

Le 11 décembre 2020, la Cour internationale de Justice (ci après « la CIJ » ou « la Cour ») a rendu son arrêt dans l’affaire Immunités et procédures pénales (Guinée équatoriale c. France) introduite le 13 juin 2016.
Sad Yemeni girl

Some recent remarks to the UN Security Council on the Situation in Yemen by the United Nations Group of Eminent International and Regional Experts on Yemen

On 3 December 2020, the United Nations (UN) Group of Eminent International and Regional Experts on Yemen (the Group) presented its third annual report to members of the UN Security Council to help integrate the human rights dimension of the conflict in Yemen more fully into its agenda. On 29 September 2017, the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) requested the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to establish the Group.
Cos_s Bazer

A Commentary on the mandate of the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar

The Human Rights Council resolution 39/2, adopted in September 2018, established “an ongoing independent mechanism to collect, consolidate, preserve and analyze evidence of the most serious international crimes and violations of international law committed in Myanmar since 2011, and to prepare files in order to facilitate and expedite fair and independent criminal proceedings, in accordance with international law standards, in national, regional or international courts or tribunals that have or may in the future have jurisdiction over these crimes, in accordance with international law.”
Two puzzle pieces with the flags of USA and Canada

The United States is not a Safe Third Country?

On October 26, 2020, the Federal Court of Appeal ordered a stay (FCA2020) of the July judgment Canadian Council for Refugees (CCR) v. Canada (Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship) (FC2020) where McDonald J of the Federal Court struck down provisions of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA) and regulations that implemented the “Agreement between the Government of Canada and the Government of the United States of America For Cooperation in the Examination of Refugee Status Claims from Nationals of Third Countries” (STCA) under s. 7 of the Charter but suspended her declaration for six months.
The International Criminal Court entrance sign at the ICC building

ICC Moot Court Competition 2020: Mooting Whether Social Media Posts Can Constitute Incitement of Genocide and the Scope of Liability for Social Media Executives

Can posts made on social media amount to incitement of genocide? What is the scope of liability when social media posts have real life consequences? And how does the International Criminal Court (ICC) establish jurisdiction over a crime that occurs in cyberspace?
Exterior of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon in Leidschendam

Does the Special Court for Lebanon have jurisdiction over three attacks “connected” to the Hariri assassination?

Now that the Trial Chamber of the Special Court for Lebanon (STL) has issued its decision in its main case, the Ayyash et al. case about the assassination of Harari in 2005, and while the Trial Chamber is deliberating the sentence for the only person convicted, Salim Jamil Ayyah, attention has turned to the “another” Ayyash case.
The Legal Legacy of the Special Court

An Interview with Charles C. Jalloh on his new book: The Legal Legacy of the Special Court for Sierra Leone (Cambridge University Press, July 2020)

This book examines whether the Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL), which was established jointly through an unprecedented bilateral treaty between the United Nations (UN) and Sierra Leone in 2002, has made jurisprudential contributions to the development of the nascent and still unsettled field of international criminal law
View of the Mavi Marmara ship

The Prosecutor and Pre-Trial Chambers lock horns over the Comoros case – again

On September 16, 2020, the Pre-Trial Chamber (PTC) of the International Criminal Court (ICC) released its decision on a judicial review application made by the Union of the Comoros of the Prosecutor’s second reconsideration of her decision not to investigate the referral of the May 31, 2010 Israeli Defence Force (IDF) raid on the Humanitarian Aid Flotilla bound for the Gaza strip.
Exterior of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon in Leidschendam

Special Court for Lebanon Conviction for Terrorism

On August 20, the Trial Chamber of the Special Court of Lebanon (STL) issued a historic judgment in the case of Ayyash (the Prosecutor v. Ayyash, Merhi, Oneissi and Sabra. Of the four people charged with terrorism related offences under the Lebanese Criminal Code for the killing in a bomb attack of Mr. Rafik Hariri, the former prime minister of Lebanon, namely conspiracy to commit a terrorist act by means of an explosive device, committing a terrorist act by means of an explosive device, the intentional homicide of Hariri and of 21 others, the attempted intentional homicide of the 226 people injured in the blast and of being accomplices to these crimes (paragraph 14 of the judgment), only one was convicted, namely Salim Jamil Ayyash (paragraph 6904).
Jalloh the African Court of Justice

A Conversation with Prof. Charles C. Jalloh, Lead Editor of The African Court of Justice and Human and Peoples’ Rights in Context: Development and Challenges (CUP, 2019) edited by Charles C. Jalloh, Kamari M. Clarke and Vincent O. Nmehielle

The treaty creating the African Court of Justice and Human and Peoples’ Rights, which was adopted by all 54 countries that were members of the regional organization known as the African Union in June 2014, is the first international legal instrument that combines in a single court three distinctive jurisdictions over criminal, human rights, and general matters.