{"title":"The German Code of Crimes Against International Law at Twenty","authors":"Stefanie Bock","doi":"10.1093/jicj/mqad041","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Abstract More than 20 years ago — on 30 June 2002 and thus one day prior to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court — the German Code of Crimes Against International Law (CCAIL) entered into force and since then allows for the national prosecution of the international core crimes. The most far-reaching innovation of the CCAIL is its broad jurisdictional reach. It is based on the principle of universal jurisdiction and empowers the German judicial authorities to prosecute genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes even when they are committed abroad and have no specific link to Germany. After some initial hesitation, Germany today plays an active role in the international fight against impunity for core crimes. Prominent examples are the Koblenz torture trial against former members of the Assad Regime, the conviction of Taha Al-J. for genocide against members of the Yazidi community by the Higher Regional Court of Frankfurt and the decision of the Federal Court of Justice on the irrelevance of functional immunities. Sometimes, however, the Higher Regional Courts do not seem to be sufficiently aware of the international dimension and meaning of the cases. This negatively affects the trial management and the communication of the Courts with the (international) public.","PeriodicalId":46732,"journal":{"name":"Journal of International Criminal Justice","volume":"24 2 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":1.5000,"publicationDate":"2023-10-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of International Criminal Justice","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1093/jicj/mqad041","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"LAW","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Abstract More than 20 years ago — on 30 June 2002 and thus one day prior to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court — the German Code of Crimes Against International Law (CCAIL) entered into force and since then allows for the national prosecution of the international core crimes. The most far-reaching innovation of the CCAIL is its broad jurisdictional reach. It is based on the principle of universal jurisdiction and empowers the German judicial authorities to prosecute genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes even when they are committed abroad and have no specific link to Germany. After some initial hesitation, Germany today plays an active role in the international fight against impunity for core crimes. Prominent examples are the Koblenz torture trial against former members of the Assad Regime, the conviction of Taha Al-J. for genocide against members of the Yazidi community by the Higher Regional Court of Frankfurt and the decision of the Federal Court of Justice on the irrelevance of functional immunities. Sometimes, however, the Higher Regional Courts do not seem to be sufficiently aware of the international dimension and meaning of the cases. This negatively affects the trial management and the communication of the Courts with the (international) public.
期刊介绍:
The Journal of International Criminal Justice aims to promote a profound collective reflection on the new problems facing international law. Established by a group of distinguished criminal lawyers and international lawyers, the Journal addresses the major problems of justice from the angle of law, jurisprudence, criminology, penal philosophy, and the history of international judicial institutions. It is intended for graduate and post-graduate students, practitioners, academics, government officials, as well as the hundreds of people working for international criminal courts.