CREDITS 3 ECTS - 32 Contact Hours
One of the most significant developments in international law and international relations over the last three decades has been the (re-)emergence of an international legal order grounded in a robust interpretation 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-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 vital realm of public international law. In a first take, the course provides an overview of both international criminal law’s theoretical foundations and 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. The course relies on a dual approach in which theory is followed by practice.
- Teacher: Monica Migliarotti