Roht-Arriaza, Naomi; Fernando, Menaka --- "Universal jurisdiction" [2011] ELECD 107; 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 15

Section Title: Universal jurisdiction

Author(s): Roht-Arriaza, Naomi; Fernando, Menaka

Number of pages: 12

Extract:

15 Universal jurisdiction
Naomi Roht-Arriaza and Menaka Fernando



Universal jurisdiction is a jurisdictional principle of international criminal law that allows a
state to prosecute certain crimes based on the nature of the crime, regardless of where the
crimes occurred or whether the prosecuting state has any territorial or nationality-based
connection to them. Crimes for which universal jurisdiction may apply include war crimes,
crimes against humanity, genocide, torture and enforced disappearances.1
The doctrine of universality was traditionally associated with the crime of piracy, but
gained wider application in the post-Second World War era with the prosecution of Nazi-era
crimes. For example, Israel utilized the concept of universal jurisdiction in prosecuting Adolf
Eichmann in Jerusalem in 1961 when the Israeli Attorney-General charged Eichmann with
war crimes and crimes against humanity. He was abducted from Argentina and brought to
stand trial in Israel, a state that did not exist at the time the crimes were committed. He was
convicted and executed.2
Universal jurisdiction was not used extensively again until the 1990s, when ­ for the first
time ­ the doctrine was utilized for crimes outside the post-Second World War context. In
1993, Belgium passed its expansive Act Concerning Grave Breaches of International
Humanitarian Law in order to implement its obligations under the 1949 Geneva Conventions.
The first prosecutions and convictions under the new law were four Rwandan defendants
present in Belgium, who were prosecuted for war crimes against Tutsi and internally
displaced persons during Rwanda's genocide ...