Duty to Repatriate: The Case of Foreign Combatants in Kurdish Prisons

I. Introduction The Kurdish militias in Northern Syria have taken hundreds of foreign detainees over the course of their recent offensive against the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).[1] The Kurdish position is that their home countries should repatriate them, but few countries have consented to do so.[2] The situation of the detainees … Read more

70 Years of Justice

This week we celebrate a very important birthday – on April 18th, 1946, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) was born. Since its birth 70 years ago, the ICJ has had the opportunity to hear 161 cases. These cases have been entered from large countries like the United States and the former Soviet Union all … Read more

ICC Convicts Former President Bemba for Atrocities in Central Africa

On Monday March 21, 2016 the International Criminal Court (ICC) convicted former Congolese vice-president Jean-Pierre Bemba of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during the 2002-2003 situation in the Central African Republic (CAR). Bemba was convicted by the ICC of two counts of crimes against humanity, for murder and rape, and three counts of … Read more

25 Dead, 1 Apology, No Clear Answers: Has the U.S. Committed a War Crime?

Fires burn in the MSF emergency trauma hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan, after it was hit and partially destroyed by aerial attacks on October 3, 2015. In the wake of the Taliban’s takeover over the Afghan city of Kunduz last week, United States and Afghan military forces have waged a fight to reclaim control of the … Read more

Critical Analysis: Will the Crimes Against Humanity perpetrated in North Korea be prosecuted in the ICC?

October 28, 2014 Speaking before the UN General Assembly on Oct. 28, 2014, Marzuki Darusman, the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) encouraged action to stem the ongoing human rights abuses in the country.  Specifically, Mr. Darusman encouraged submitting the Commission of Inquiry’s report to … Read more

Critical Analysis: Gaza Conflict, Palestine, and the ICC

After a cease-fire ended the fifty day war between Gaza and Israel, Palestine wants to bring charges against Israeli individuals for war crimes and crimes against humanity. Therefore, Palestine has an important decision to make: become a state to the Rome Statute, which grants the ICC jurisdiction, or remain a non-member observer state and submit … Read more

Critical Analysis: Kenya’s Deputy President William Ruto to be Tried at the International Criminal Court, and the ICC to be tried by the Kenyans

William Ruto, Kenya’s Vice President appeared before the International Criminal Court (ICC) for the first time on September 10, 2013 for his trial.  Ruto is charged with crimes against humanity in response to the ethnic cleansing that occurred shortly after the 2007 presidential election.  During this cleansing, more than 1,000 people died and 600,000 people … Read more

Critical Analysis: Don’t forget the “Lost Boys” of Sudan

The name “Lost Boys” was given to a group of over 20,000 boys, between the ages of 5 and 17, who were separated from their families during the Second Sudanese Civil War (1983-2005).  These “Lost Boys” of Sudan trekked enormous distances over a vast unforgiving wilderness, seeking refuge from the fighting that emerged when their … Read more

Why are War Crimes Sentences So Short?

Earlier this summer, a US District Court issued sentences in a international maritime piracy case that involved four US victims. The defendant was not an actual pirate but a ransom negotiator for the piracy financiers. A Somali man who acted as a ransom negotiator for pirates who seized a yacht last year and killed four … Read more

ICC’s Sentence for Lubanga is a Shaky Conclusion to a Troubled Case

After ten years, the International Criminal Court issued its first verdict on March 14th, finding Congolese warlord Thomas Lubanga guilty of three child soldier related war crimes offenses: conscripting, enlisting, and using child soldiers. The trial phase of the case concluded this summer when the ICC sentence Lubanga to 14 years in July. The paltry … Read more