Course Details

Description:

The course consists of:

An introduction to international criminal law, including the coming into existence, functioning, and important cases of the International Criminal Tribunals for Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia, the issue of creating special courts (Sierra Leone, East- Timor, Cambodia, Iraq) cases of national prosecution of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity interaction between national and international law.

A discussion of the Statute of the International Criminal Court, including its adoption in 1998 its core articles, as well as the concepts underlying the Statute (like individual criminal responsibility, the irrelevance of official capacities, complementarity, etc.) cases in preparation.

A discussion of the US position in relation to international criminal law, including the US role at the conference establishing the International Criminal Court the issue of bilateral treaties, the American Servicemembers' Protection Act, the discussion on immunity for American soldiers in the UN Security Counci.

Any issue in relation to international criminal law as brought forward by the students.

Paper

Those who would like to earn 1 or 2 credits have to write a paper:

of some 6000 words (9000 for 2 credits), on a topic related to the seminar (more information during the seminar)

Marking the papers, use will be made of the following criteria/elements:

• A clear well-defined problem
• Originality of the topic
• Quality of the legal arguments presented
• Quality and clearness of the structure of presentation
• Use of literature (sources/footnotes)
• Analytical level of the conclusions

The major difference between the 1 and 2 credit papers is, apart from the length, the depth of the analysis. Please indicate on the top of the paper whether you would like to receive 1 or 2 credits.