Business and Human Rights

Irish Centre for Human Rights, National University of Ireland Galway

Introduction to International Criminal Law

LW520 - SEMESTER 1

- Course Outline 2017/2018 -

Objective / The course introduces postgraduate students to the subject of international criminal law. During the course, students will explore the history and development of international criminal law, the established crimes under international law, the mechanisms of international criminal justice and general principles of international criminal law.
Lecturer(s) / Name / Office / Ext / E-mail
Dr. Shane Darcy / Room 206
Office Hours:
Monday 2.30 - 3.30pm / 3947 /
Lecture Times / Day / Time / Venue
Tuesdays / 1.30pm-4.30pm / Seminar room, Irish Centre for Human Rights
Overall Learning Outcomes / On successful completion of this course, you will:
·  have knowledge and understanding of the rules, principles and institutions of international criminal justice
·  be familiar with the sources of international criminal law in treaty and customary law
·  have a general understanding of the applicable concepts of criminal law and the principles established in the major cases of the international tribunals
·  be able to carry out effective research in the field of international criminal law and be familiar with the major literature and policy documents and legal instruments
Format / The course will be taught by weekly seminars, each three hours, over twelve weeks. Students are expected to have read all prescribed readings in advance of each seminar, thus requiring independent study of 8-10 hours each week, and will be expected to engage actively in discussion and to participate in various hands on exercises and activities.
Programme(s) / LL.M in International Criminal Law, full-time and part-time.
Course Material / Syllabus will be available on the website of the Irish Centre for Human Rights (www.nuigalway.ie/human_rights) and can be downloaded from Blackboard at http://blackboard.nuigalway.ie.
Texts / Required:
·  Robert Cryer, Hakan Friman, Darryl Robinson and Elizabeth Wilmshurst, An Introduction to International Criminal Law and Procedure, 3rd edn., Cambridge University Press, 2014.
·  Cases and Materials on International Criminal Law, Galway: Irish Centre for Human Rights, 2010, available on Blackboard.
Additional:
·  William A. Schabas, Introduction to the International Criminal Court, 5th edn., Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2017.
·  Antonio Cassese & Paola Gaeta, Cassese’s International Criminal Law, 3rd edn., Oxford University Press, 2013.
·  Alexander Zahar and Göran Sluiter, International Criminal Law, Oxford/New York: Oxford University Press, 2008.
·  William A. Schabas and Nadia Bernaz, Routledge Handbook of International Criminal Law, Routledge, 2011.
·  William A. Schabas, The UN International Criminal Tribunals; for the former Yugoslavia, Rwanda and Sierra Leone, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006.
·  Douglas Guilfoyle, International Criminal Law, Oxford University Press, 2016
Resources / Blackboard
Course syllabus and certain materials will be posted at http://blackboard.nuigalway.ie. Books are available in the library and most other materials are available online.
Journals
International Journal of Criminal Justice, Criminal Law Forum, International Criminal Law Review, Yearbook of International Humanitarian Law, Journal of Conflict and Security Law etc.
Websites
Website of the International Criminal Court: www.icc-cpi.int
Website of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia: www.icty.org
Website of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda: www.ictr.org
Website of the Special Court for Sierra Leone: www.sc-sl.org
Website of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon: www.stl-tsl.org
Website of the Extraordinary Chambers in the courts of Cambodia: www.eccc.gov.kh
Oxford Reports on International Criminal Law: www.oxfordlawreports.com
Oxford Scholarship Online: www.oxfordscholarship.com
Assessment / Evaluation is undertaken through the submission of an essay (maximum 10,000 words including footnotes) which should demonstrate significant research, familiarity with the literature, independent thought and critical analysis. Essays are to be submitted in hardcopy and electronically via Blackboard. Class participation may be taken into account for up to 10% of the mark and may be combined with the essay mark to achieve the final conditional mark. Submission date is set out in the general ‘Guidelines for LLM students’.
Workload hours / Credit weighting: 15 ECTS
Lecture hours: 36
Associated hours: 24
Independent study: 290
Total Student Effort: 350 hours

Topics

Week 1: Introduction (September 12th)

Required Reading:
·  Cryer et. al., An Introduction to International Criminal Law and Procedure, Chapters 1 & 2.
·  Principles of International Law Recognised by the Charter of the Nuremberg Tribunal and in the Judgment of the Tribunal, U.N. Doc. A/1316 (1950), Cases and Materials, p. 53.
·  Marlise Simmons, ‘Hague Judge Faults Acquittal of Serb and Croat Commanders’, New York Times, 14 June 2013.
·  Owen Bowcott, ‘Sudan President Omar Al-Bashir leaves South Africa as court considers arrest’, The Guardian, 15 June 2015.
·  ‘African leaders plan mass withdrawal from International Criminal Court’, The Guardian, 31 January 2017.
*** Film Screening ***
‘Judgment at Nuremberg’, Monday 18th September, 5.15pm, ICHR Seminar room
Week 2: History of International Prosecution (September 19th)
Required Reading:
·  Cryer et. al., An Introduction to International Criminal Law and Procedure, Chapter 6.
·  ‘Historical documents’, Cases and Materials, pp. 1-48.
·  Nuremberg judgment, France et al. v. Goering et al., Cases and Materials, pp. 85-106.
·  William A. Schabas and Nadia Bernaz, Routledge Handbook of International Criminal Law, Chapter 1 ‘Trial at Nuremberg’ (Guénaël Mettraux) and Chapter 2 ‘The Tokyo Trial’ (Neil Boister).
·  United States v. Ohlendorf, Cases and Materials, pp. 160-179.

Week 3: International, ‘internationalised’ and national tribunals and the enforcement of international criminal law (September 26th)

Required Reading:
·  Cryer et. al., An Introduction to International Criminal Law and Procedure, Chapters 7, 8 & 9.
·  William A. Schabas, Introduction to the International Criminal Court, Chapters 1 and 2.

·  Statute of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, Cases and Materials, pp. 54-60.

·  Statute of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, Cases and Materials, pp. 61.

·  Statute of the Special Court for Sierra Leone, Cases and Materials, pp. 62-66.

·  Statute of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, Cases and Materials, pp. 67-72.

·  Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, Cases and Materials, pp. 73-84.

*** Film Screening ***
‘A Good Man in Hell’, Monday 2nd October, 5.15pm, ICHR Seminar room
Week 4: The Crime of Genocide (October 3rd )
Required Reading:
·  Cryer et. al., An Introduction to International Criminal Law and Procedure, Chapter 10.

·  William A. Schabas, ‘The Genocide Mystique’, in William Schabas, Unimaginable Atrocities, Oxford University Press, 2012, pp. 99-124.

·  Alexander Zahar & Göran Sluiter, International Criminal Law, Chapter 5, pp. 155-181.
·  Prosecutor v. Bashir, Decision on the Prosecution’s Request for an Arrest Warrant, 4 March 2009, Cases and Materials, pp. 355-373.
·  Prosecutor v. Bashir, Judgment on the appeal against the “Decision on the Prosecution’s Request for an Arrest Warrant”, Appeals Chamber, 3 February 2010, available at: https://www.icc-cpi.int/CourtRecords/CR2010_00656.PDF.
·  Report of the Commission of Inquiry on Darfur, Cases and Materials, pp. 506-512.
·  Genocide Convention, Cases and Materials, pp. 49-50.
·  Article 6, Elements of Crimes, Cases and Materials, pp. 51-52.
*** Film Screening ***
‘The Killing Fields’, Monday October 9th, 5:15am, ICHR Seminar room
Week 5: Crimes Against Humanity (October 10th)
Required Reading:
·  Cryer et. al., An Introduction to International Criminal Law and Procedure, Chapter 11.

·  International Law Commission, First report on crimes againts humanity, Sean D. Murphy, Special Rapporteur, 17 February 2015, A/CN.4/680, available at: http://legal.un.org/docs/?symbol=A/CN.4/680.

·  ICC, Authorisation to Open an Investigation in the Situation in Kenya, 31 March 2010, paragraphs 77-99; Dissenting Opinion of Judge Kaul, paragraphs 21-70.

*** Film Screening ***
‘Katyn’, Monday October 16th, 5.15pm, ICHR Seminar room
Week 6: War Crimes (October 17th)
Required Reading:
·  Cryer et. al., An Introduction to International Criminal Law and Procedure, Chapter 12.
·  Prosecutor v. Tadic, Interlocutory Appeal on Jurisdiction, 1995, Cases and Materials, pp. 208-225.

·  Shane Darcy, Judges, Law & War; the Judicial Development of International Humanitarian Law, Cambridge, 2013, pp. 265-292.

·  Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, Article 8.
·  Prosecutor v. Ntaganda, Appeals Chamber, Judgment on the appeal of Mr Ntaganda against the “Second Decision on the Defence’s challenge to the jurisdiction of the Court in respect of Counts 6 and 9, Case No. ICC-01/04-02/06 OA5, 15 June 2017
Week 8: The Crime of Aggression (October 24th)
Required Reading:
·  Cryer et. al., An Introduction to International Criminal Law and Procedure, Chapter 13.
·  William A. Schabas and Nadia Bernaz, Routledge Handbook of International Criminal Law, Chapter 10 ‘Aggression’ (Nicolas Strapatsas).
·  Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, Articles 5, 8bis, 15bis, 15ter, 25.
·  Review Conference Resolution on the Crime of Aggression, Cases and Materials, pp. 536-538.
·  Mary Ellen O’Connell and Mirakmal Niyazmatov, ‘What is Aggression? Comparing the Jus Ad Bellum and the ICC Statute’, Journal of International Criminal Justice 10 (2012) 189-207.
Week 9: Jurisdiction and Admissibility (October 31st)
Required Readings:
·  William A. Schabas, Introduction to the International Criminal Court, Chapters 3 (pp. 46-74), 4 and 5.
·  Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, Articles 11-20
·  Statement of the Office of the Prosecutor on Iraq, Cases and Materials, pp. 513-517.
·  Decision on the request of the Union of Comoros to review the Prosecutor’s decision not to initiate an investigate, Pre-Trial Chamber I, Situation on the Registered Vessels of the Union of the Comoros, the Hellenic Republic and the Kingdom of Cambodia, 16 July 2015, ICC-01/13. Available at: http://www.icc-cpi.int/iccdocs/doc/doc2015869.pdf
Week 9: Modes of Criminal Liability (November 7th)
Required Readings:
·  Cryer et. al., An Introduction to International Criminal Law and Procedure, Chapter 15.
·  Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, Articles 25 & 28.
·  Statute of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, Article 7.
·  Prosecutor v. Lubanga, ICC-01/04-01/06, Trial Chamber, Judgment, 14 March 2012, paragraphs 917-1018.
·  Prosecutor v. Perišić, Case No. IT-04-81-A, Appeals Chamber, Judgment, 28 February 2013, paragraphs 26-36.
·  Prosecutor v. Bemba Gombo, Case No. ICC-01/05/-01/08, Trial Chamber III, Judgment, 21 March 2016, paragraphs 170-213.
Week 10: Defences and Immunities (November 14th)
Required Reading:
·  Cryer et. al., An Introduction to International Criminal Law and Procedure, Chapters 16 & 21.
·  Paola Gaeta, ‘Does President Al Bashir Enjoy Immunity from Arrest?’, 7(2) Journal of International Criminal Justice (2009) 315.
·  Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, Articles 31-33.
·  Case Concerning Arrest Warrant (Yerodia case), Cases and Materials, pp. 226-229.
·  Prosecutor v. Erdemovic, Cases and Materials, pp. 292-348.
Week 11: Amnesties and Transitional Justice (November 21st)
Required Reading:
·  Naomi Rohi-Arriaza, ‘The new landscape of transitional justice’, in Naomi Rohi-Arriaza and Javier Mariezcurrena (eds.), Transitional Justice in the Twenty-First Century; Beyond Truth v. Justice, Cambridge University Press, 2006, pp. 1-15.
·  Mark Freeman, Necessary Evils; Amnesties and the Search for Justice, Cambridge University Press, 2010, Chapter 5.
·  Report of the Secretary-General, The rule of law and transitional justice in conflict and post-conflict societies, 12 October 2011, S/2011/634, available online and on Blackboard.
·  Prosecutor v. Kallon and Kamara, Case Nos. SCSL-2004-15-AR72(E) and SCSL-2004-16-AR72(E), Appeals Chamber, Decision on Challenge to Jurisdiction: Lomé Accord Amnesty, 13 March 2004: available on Blackboard and www.sc-sl.org
·  Report of the Sierra Leone Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Cases and Materials, pp. 534-535.

Week 12: Reading Week (November 28th)

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