Weissbrodt, David; Zinsmaster, Kristin K. --- "Protecting the fair trial rights of the accused in international criminal law" [2011] ELECD 103; in Brown, S. Bartram (ed), "Research Handbook on International Criminal Law" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2011)

Book Title: Research Handbook on International Criminal Law

Editor(s): Brown, S. Bartram

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781847202789

Section: Chapter 11

Section Title: Protecting the fair trial rights of the accused in international criminal law

Author(s): Weissbrodt, David; Zinsmaster, Kristin K.

Number of pages: 23

Extract:

11 Protecting the fair trial rights of the accused in
international criminal law: comparison of the
International Criminal Court and the military
commissions in Guantánamo
David Weissbrodt and Kristin K. Zinsmaster



INTRODUCTION

The United States government has been reluctant to ratify the Rome Statute of the
International Criminal Court1 (ICC) for a number of reasons,2 including concerns about the
absence of fair procedures. Instead of using the ICC for trying individuals who have
arguably committed war crimes and other criminal offenses during the War on Terror, the
US government has established military commissions to try `unlawful enemy combatants'.3
This chapter compares the fairness of the procedures afforded by the ICC and the US mili-
tary commissions in an effort to examine the larger issue of the fundamental right to a fair
trial.4
The concept of a fair trial is `rather amorphous', but included within it are `several more
concrete, clear-cut guarantees', without any of which, fair proceedings are impossible.5
Specific international fair trial standards have been established in such treaties and instru-
ments as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,6 common article 3 of the Geneva



1 Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, 2187 UNTS 90, entered into force 1 July
2002.
2 See John B. Bellinger, Legal Advisor, `The United States and the International Criminal Court:
Where We've Been and Where We're Going', Remarks to the DePaul University College of Law, 25
April 2008, available at www.state.gov/ ...