Recommended
Recommended
More Related Content
Viewers also liked
Viewers also liked (16)
Similar to Business Law
Similar to Business Law (20)
More from Sabrina Mergenthaler
More from Sabrina Mergenthaler (20)
Recently uploaded
Recently uploaded (20)
Business Law
- 1. MGM230-1103B-04: Introduction to Business Law Phase 5 Individual Project Sabrina Mergenthaler Colorado Technical University Professor Wendy McKain September 19, 2011
- 2. Presidents •Administration •Composed of three judges •Elected by fellow Judges •3-year term Judicial Divisions •18 judges •3 divisions Pre-Trial, Trial, and Appeals •Conducting proceedings of court Judge Sang-Hyun SONG (Republic of Korea) President Judge Fatoumata Dembele DIARRA (Mali) First Vice-President Judge Hans-Peter KAUL (Germany) Second Vice-President
- 3. Office of the Prosecutor •Receives referrals and substantial information •Headed by the Prosecutor •9-year term Registry •Non-judicial aspects of administration •Headed by the Registrar •5-year term Other Offices •Office of Public Counsel for Victims •Office of Public Counsel for Defense
- 4. “Road to Rome” •1872 Gustav Moynier founder of Committee of the Red Cross •Response to crimes of the Franco-Prussian War •1919 Treaty of Versailles •war criminals of World War I •Nuremberg and Tokyo tribunals •1948-Adoption of Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide by the United Nations General Assembly •1994-95 Preparatory committee formed •June 15-17, 1998 “Rome Conference” •July 1, 2002 the ICC comes into existence Claude Jorda, Mauro Politi, Anita Usacka, Sang-hyun Song, Karl T. Hudson-Phillips, Fatoumata Dembele Diarra, Akua Kuenyehia, Maureen Harding Clark, Sylvia H. de Figueiredo Steiner, Elizabeth Odio Benito, Philippe Kirsch, Gheorghios M. Pikis, Erkki Kourula, Adrian Fulford, Navanethem Pillay, Hans-Peter Kaul, René Blattmann and Tuiloma Neroni Slade.
- 5. Luis Moreno-Ocampo, Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda, Deputy Prosecutor Phakiso Mochochoko, Head of the Jurisdiction Complementarity & Cooperation Division Michel de Smedt, Head Investigations “Men are unable to forgive what they cannot punish and are unable to punish what turns out to be unforgivable” (The Human Condition, 1958) •Sudan and Democratic Republic of Congo (2005) •Pressure on Gadhafi (2011)
- 6. Registry of the International Criminal Court Treaties •Agreements between two or more nations •Written •Signed •Ratified •Conventions Customs •Consistent, recurring practices •Two or more nations •Over a period of time •Binding
- 7. (Continued) General principles of law •Derived from National Law •1949 Corfu Channel case Judicial Decisions •Outside cases •Must be cases from the nations involved
- 8. References About the Court. (n.d.). International Criminal Court. Retrieved from http://www.icc-cpi.int/Menus/ICC/About+the+Court/ Cheeseman, H. (2010). Business Law: Legal Environment, Online Commerce, Business Ethics, and International Issues, Seventh Edition. Pearson Prentice Hall: Upper Saddle River, New Jersey McKain, W. (2011). Colorado Technical University. Introduction to Business Law. Live Chat 9 and 10. Structure of the Court. (n.d.). International Criminal Court. Retrieved from http://www.icc- cpi.int/Menus/ICC/Structure+of+the+Court/ Judges and the Presidency. (n.d.). ICC Structure and Officials. Coalition for the International Criminal Court. Retrieved from http://www.iccnow.org/?mod=judgespresidency Office of the Prosecutor. (n.d.). ICC Structure and Officials. Coalition for the International Criminal Court. Retrieved from http://www.iccnow.org/?mod=prosecutor Office of the Registrar. (n.d.). ICC Structure and Officials. Coalition for the International Criminal Court. Retrieved from http://www.iccnow.org/?mod=registrar History of the ICC. (n.d.). Coalition for the International Criminal Court. Retrieved from http://www.iccnow.org/?mod=icchistory Baldo, S. (2007). The Impact of the ICC in the Sudan and DR Congo. Retrieved from http://www.peace-justice- conference.info/download/WS%207-expert%20paper-Baldo-2.pdf Amies, N. (2011). ICC investigation into war crimes increases pressure on Gadhafi. DW-World. Retrieved from http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,14942741,00.html M.U.S.E. (2011). Colorado Technical University. Introduction to Business Law. Apple, J. (2007). What are General Principles of International Law?. Judicialmonitor.org. Retrieved from http://www.judicialmonitor.org/archive_0707/generalprinciples.html
Editor's Notes
- The International Criminal Court (ICC) is an independent international organization that is not part of the United Nations system. The ICC is regulated by the Rome Statute and is the first permanent, treaty-based, international criminal court determined to put an end to exemptions from punishment for the perpetrators of the most serious crimes to the international community (About the Court, n.d.). International law is important to both nations and businesses. The laws are a set of cooperative agreements and guidelines established by countries to govern the actions of individuals, businesses, and nations (McKain, 2011). However, there is no specific legislative source of international law. All countries of the world and numerous international organizations are responsible for endorsing international law. There is also no particular world court that is responsible for interpreting international law. Several courts and tribunals hear and decide international legal disputes of parties that agree to appear before them. There is no world executive branch, though, that can enforce international law and as a result nations are not required to obey international law passed by other countries or international organizations (Cheeseman, 2010). The following presentation will provide you with a brief history of the ICC, as well as define some of the impacts of the court. Upon the conclusion of this presentation, I hope you will find adequate information to take with you to the international law conference being held in Madrid.
- Let us begin by understanding the organization of the International Criminal Court. The Court is an independent institution set apart from the United Nations. It maintains a cooperative relationship with the United Nations, however. The Court is based in the Hague , the Netherlands , although it may also sit elsewhere. The court structure is maintained by four departments. They include the Presidency, the Judicial Divisions, the Office of the Prosecutor and the Registry (Structure, n.d.). The presidents are responsible for the overall administration of the Court and for specific tasks assigned to the Presidency in accordance with the Statute. Composed of three judges, the presidents are elected to the Presidency by their fellow judges, for a term of three years (Structure, n.d.). In a plenary session held on 11 March 2009, ICC judges elected Judge Sang-hyun Song as the new ICC President. Judge Fatoumata Dembele Diarra and Judge Hans-Peter Kaul will serve as First and Second Vice-President respectively (Judges and the Presidency, n.d.). The current Presidency consists of Judge Sang-Hyun Song, Fatoumata Dembele Diarra, and Hans-Peter Kaul (Structure, n.d.). The Judicial Division is made up of 18 judges situated into three divisions: the Pre-Trial Division, the Trial Division and the Appeals Division. Each Division holds Chambers which are responsible for conducting the proceedings of the Court at different stages. The appointment of judges to divisions is based the nature of the functions performed by each division as well as the qualifications and experience of the judge. This is done to ensure each division benefits from the appropriate combination of expertise in criminal law, procedure and international law (Structure, n.d.). The first bench of judges was elected in February 2003. The judges were sworn in at a ceremony hosted by the government of the Netherlands in The Hague on 11 March 2003 (Judges, n.d.).
- Article 42 of the Rome Statute deals with the Office of the Prosecutor, which is to act independently as a separate organ of the Court (Office of the Prosecutor, n.d.). Headed by the Prosecutor—currently Luis Moreno-Ocampo of Argentina—the Office of the Prosecutor is responsible for receiving referrals and any substantiated information on crimes within the jurisdiction of the Court, for examining them and for conducting investigations and prosecutions before the Court (Structure, n.d.). The Rome Statute also indicates that the Prosecutor will be assisted by one or more Deputy Prosecutors and that the Prosecutor and the Deputy Prosecutors must be of different nationalities (Office of the Prosecutor, n.d.). Article 43 of the Rome Statute commences with the Registry, which is responsible for the non-judicial aspects of administration and servicing of the Court. Headed by the Registrar, who is the principal administrative officer of the Court the duties of the registrar are exercised under the authority of the President of the Court. The Registrar must be a person of high moral character, be highly competent and have an excellent knowledge of and be fluent in at least one of the working languages of the Court. On February 28, 2008, ICC judges elected by Ms. Silvana Arbia of Italy as ICC Registrar for a five-year term (Office of the Registrar, n.d.). The Court also includes a number of offices such as the Office of Public Counsel for Victims and the Office of Public Counsel for Defense. While these offices fall under the Registry for administrative purposes they function as independent offices (Structure of the Court, n.d.).
- The ICC is an independent international organization, and is not part of the United Nations system (About, n.d.). The history of the ICC dates back more than a century. While efforts to create a global criminal court can be traced back to the early 19th century, the story began in 1872 with Gustav Moynier a founder of the International Committee of the Red Cross. It was at that time he proposed an international court address the crimes of the Franco-Prussian War (History, n.d.). Although the international community long aspired for the creation of a permanent international court, the next serious call did not come until the drafting of the Treaty of Versailles in 1919, when the people sought to try the Kaiser and German war criminals of World War I. However, it wasn’t until after World War II that the Allies set up Nuremberg and Tokyo tribunals to try the war criminals (History, n.d.). The next important contribution did not occur until 1948, when the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (History, n.d.). It was at this time the UN GA reached consensus on definitions of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes (About, n.d.). Unfortunately, drafting of the statute were abandoned due to the Cold War. It wasn’t until June of 1989 that the Assembly revisited the idea. On account of an effort to combat drug trafficking, the General Assembly resumed the process of drafting the statutes. Committees of plenipotentiaries were formed in order to negotiate the treaties and statutes that would become the foundation for the ICC (History, n.d.). On July 17, 1998, the international community reached an historic milestone when 120 States adopted the Rome Statute, the legal basis for establishing the permanent International Criminal Court at the Rome Conference (About, n.d.). On July 1, of 2002, the International Criminal Court is officially brought into existence (McKain, 2011). The ICC is a court of last resort. It will not act if a case is investigated or prosecuted by a national judicial system unless the national proceedings are not genuine, for example if formal proceedings were undertaken solely to shield a person from criminal responsibility. In addition, the ICC only tries those accused of the gravest crimes. In all of its activities, the ICC observes the highest standards of fairness and due process (About, n.d.).
- The ICC has jurisdiction over war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide. Legal commentators are anticipating an extension of the ICC’s jurisdiction to include the prosecution of crimes of aggression. As a result of the consequential carriage of the acts, many have come to question the necessity and efficiency of the ICC. However, in researching the cases in which the ICC has been directly involved we can come to understand the impact this court has had on war crimes. In 2005, the ICC began an investigation of three countries: Uganda, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Central African Republic. From the onset, Sudan challenged the jurisdiction of the ICC on grounds of complementarity and sought to undermine it. Sudan’s response consisted of the establishment of the Special Criminal Court for Events in Darfur, only days after the ICC Prosecutor had announced the launch of his investigation. As a result, the Prosecutor strategically aimed at exposing the inherent contradictions of Sudan government’s response to the ICC’s proceedings (Baldo, 2007). Sudanese rights and justice activists joined efforts with peer organizations regionally and internationally to press the government to comply with its international obligations. Sudanese lawyers and journalists benefited from training opportunities to better engage with the ICC process. The public debate reached such a level of intensity that the government at one point banned the discussion of ICC proceedings in newspapers until further notice, but the internal debate continued unabated nonetheless (Baldo, 2007). In neighboring Congo, the impact of the ICC involvement is of a totally different nature. The implosion of central government authority under decades of Mobutu’s corrupt rule and similarly autocratic and ineffective governments of his successors, Presidents Laurent and Joseph Kabila, had led to the emergence of alternate power structures in the form of Churches, civil society organizations, and community based associations. These remain the lead actors providing the minimal social and community development services reaching population with the backing of their international partners. They are also the drivers of Congo’s grassroots movements for democratic governance and the rule of law. The ICC was an essential component in the strategy to end impunity in the country (Baldo, 2007). International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo is currently focusing his investigation into the events which happened between February 15 and February 26, the period before Libyan rebels took up arms against the regime. The ICC prosecutor has confirmed that pictures, videos and testimonies of people who fled Libya before fighting began support allegations that unarmed demonstrators were killed by security forces during the early protests. The Libyan regime's spokesman, the commander of its 32nd Brigade and the national security advisor are among those under investigation by the ICC along with a group of Gadhafi aides - including the foreign minister, the head of security and military intelligence, the head of Gadhafi's personal security and the head of the Libyan External Security Organization - who may be liable to prosecution for "not preventing, stopping or punishing these crimes (Amies, 2011)." The "wave of enforced disappearances" of Libyans who called for demonstrations against the regime could amount to a crime against humanity, a statement released by the UN watchdog this week said. The disappearances of a number of military personnel who refused to comply with orders to use deadly force are also being investigated (Amies, 2011). A certain fact remains in all endeavors pursued by the ICC. That is—war crimes continue to exist. It is due to the continued existence of crimes of this nature that the ICC continues to have a role. As with any establishment that deals punishments for crimes, there will always be those who question the validity of those establishments. There will continue to be those who feel criminal rights are more important than human rights. As a result, the attempt to measure the impacts of this court are impossible. It is possible to conclude that those who have been punished by the statutes will pose no further threat, however, there are many more to replace those who have been prosecuted. While the ICC may pose a large deterrent to those considering acting on a criminal offense, this court is one that witnesses crimes by those who do not fear the consequences of their actions. The possibility of war is always a threat that will reside in our world—some might even say—in spite of the ICC. As psychology tells us, when you tell someone what they cannot do, they only wish to do it more. The establishment of a court dealing with international criminals, in the minds of some, begs to have its statutes broken (Personal reflection).
- In the design of international law, there are four source which have the largest influence. These sources include treaties, customs, general principles of law, and judicial decisions. Treaties are agreements between two or more nations. Treaties must be written, signed, and ratified by the highest power of each nation to the treaty. A convention is a treaty that is sponsored by an international organization such as the World Trade Organization (WTO), United Nations (UN), or General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). Conventions are usually signed by numerous nations (M.U.S.E., 2011). Similarly, customs are consistent, recurring practices between two or more nations over a period of time. Generally, there will be a common understanding between the countries that the custom is binding. Examples include original laws of war, in the Statute of the International Court of Justice which acknowledges the existence of customary international law in Article 38(1)(b), and in the immunity of visiting foreign heads of state (M.U.S.E., 2011).
- When there is no provision in an international treaty or statute nor any recognized customary principle of international law available for application in an international dispute, the general principles of law can be used to preside over the case. As a result general principles of law are derived from the national law common to the parties in dispute. They are used by courts as a means to clarify the law (M.U.S.E., 2011). In 1949 the Corfu Channel case, the question was raised regarding Albanian civil liability for the mining of the Corfu Channel and subsequent damage to two British naval vessels that resulted from striking mines. In discussing whether the United Kingdom could establish the knowledge and responsibility of Albania for the laying of the mines, the Court’s opinion stated: “The fact of this exclusive territorial control exercised by a State within its frontiers has a bearing upon the methods of proof available to establish the knowledge of that State as to such events. By reason of this exclusive control, the other State, the victim of a breach of international law, is often unable to furnish direct proof of facts giving rise to responsibility. Such a State should be allowed a more liberal recourse to inferences of fact and circumstantial evidence. This indirect evidence is admitted in all systems of law, and its use is recognized by international decisions. It must be regarded as of special weight when it is based on a series of facts linked together and leading logically to a single conclusion (Apple, 2007).” International courts also use judicial decisions of outside cases to interpret the law. The judicial decisions must be from the nations involved in the dispute. In any situation, though treaties and customs are given first preference by international courts. General principles of law and judicial decisions are utilized if a court needs assistance in interpreting a treaty or custom or if no treaty or custom exists (M.U.S.E., 2011).
- As you have come to see, the International Criminal Court has been a long awaited response to the crimes of international war. It will meet battles of its own as it ventures further into the years ahead. As with any court in the world, the purpose is to hold accountable those who have done wrong to others. In many cases, the compensation for the crime hardly seems fitting. In the continued growth of the ICC she will see unlimited challenges that will continue to test her perseverance and determination in righting the wrongs of the most wicked criminals. It is my hope that you have pulled more than information from this presentation. Rather, I hope you have found, as I have, a deep rooted respect for the goals and achievements of this court.