Course info

CREDITS 2 (LV) 3 (ECTS) - 32 Contact Hours

One of the most significant developments both in international law and international relations throughout the last three decades has been the (re-)emergence of an international legal order based on a robust interpretation of the concept of international criminal justice. By establishing both international and hybrid criminal courts addressing international core crimes such as genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes, the international community has demonstrated an ever more growing commitment to end impunity for the most heinous crimes affecting mankind as a whole and to hold those bearing individual criminal responsibility personally liable. 

This course offers a comprehensive introduction to international criminal law (ICL) and familiarizes students with a fundamental understanding of this increasingly important realm of public international law. In a first take, the course provides an overview both of international criminal law’s theoretical foundations as well its historical development before turning towards its fundamental principles, including individual criminal responsibility. Subsequently, the course will turn towards (some of) the key actors in past and present international criminal justice, most importantly the ad-hoc tribunals for the Former Yugoslavia and Rwanda as well as the International Criminal Court (ICC) before turning towards both the procedural and substantive dimensions of international criminal law, including an in-depth assessment of the four core international crimes genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression. Subsequently, contemporary ICL-related developments – such as most importantly in the context of the War in Ukraine – will be addressed and complemented by an invited guest lecture.

The course relies on a dual approach where theory is followed by practice: thus, several lectures are followed by a seminar where the material of the preceding session is discussed and applied in concreto.