international crime

1. INTERNATIONAL
CRIME

2. Definitions
• The authority of an independent state to govern itself, eg: to
make an apply laws, to impose and collect taxes, to make war
and peace and to form treaties with foreign states
State Sovereignty
• A broad term covering any crime that is punishable by a state
but that has international origins or consequences or a crime
recognised by the international community as punishable
International Crime
• A most serious crime of concern to the international community
as a whole, recognised by the international community as
requiring punishment
Crimes Against the
International
Community
• Crime that occurs across international borders, either actually
or potentiallyTransnational Crime

3. Categories of International
Crime
 Can be divided into 2 main categories:
 Crimes against the International Community
 Crimes outlined in international agreements, or part of
international customary law
 Transnational Crime
 Crimes that are committed in more than one country

4. Genocide War Crimes Piracy (at sea)
Hijacking of aircraft Slave trading
Crimes against the international community
There is no one list of Crimes that fit this category, but most nations agree
that the following are crimes against the international community

5. Specific Cases
 Darfur
 Began in 2003
 ICC issued warrant for
arrest of President Omar
Bashir
 Rwanda
 1994
 1,000,000 Rwandans killed
in 100 days
 mass
slaughter of Tutsi and
moderate Hutu by Hutu
majority
 First conviction in
2012
 Thomas Lubango
from the DRC
 Very large trials –
lengthy and
expensive
Genocide International Criminal Court

6. Transnational Crime
Drug importation Human Trafficking
Terrorism

7. Specific Cases
 “Deceptive recruitment” of
at least two Thai women;
possibly preparing to bring
more women from
Thailand to Australia.
 Initially pleading not guilty
Dobie changed his plea to
guilty and was sentenced
for 5 years imprisonment.
 The first person in
Australia to be convicted
for trafficking offences.

Recruited six women from
Malaysia to work at a brothel.

The women, who knew little to no
English, were not permitted to
leave the brothel premises
without permission until their
“debts“ were repaid and were
made to work up to 20 hours a
day.

Threatening violence and
deportation, Wong forced the
women to take medication to
prevent them menstruating and
perform unusual sex acts

Found guilty; sentenced to six
years
R v Dobie (2009) R v Chee Mei Wong (2013)

8. Problem:
 When a crime has been committed
in multiple countries, where do we
hold the trial?

9.  Domestic Measures
 International Criminal Court
Dealing with International
Crime

10. Domesticmeasures
Sign
international
agreements
Ratify
international
agreements
Fund law
enforcement
agencies to
deal with
international
crime

11. Sign international agreements
 Geneva
Conventions
 Rome Statute 1998
 Parlermo Protocol
2000
 Mutual Assistance in
Criminal Matters Act
1987
 Extradition Act 1988
 34 bilateral treaties
 London Scheme
(129 nations all
together)
About crimes against the
international community
Extradition Treaties & Mutual
Assistance agreements

12. Ratify these international
agreements
 Geneva Conventions Act 1957
 ICC Act 2002
 ICC (Consequential Amendments) Act 2002
 Crimes Legislation Amendment (Slavery,
Slavery-like Conditions and People Trafficking
Act) 2013
Pass domestic law which supports these agreements

13. Fund law enforcement agencies to
deal with international crime
 Australian Federal Police
 Australian Crime Commission
 Australian Border Force
 Attorney-General’s Department
 The Courts

14. International
measures
 The UN
cannot create
nor enforce
legally binding
laws
 There is no
“international
parliament”
 There is no
“international
police force”

15. Most serious International Crimes:
Crimes against humanity
 180 million victims
of genocide since
WWII
 Almost no
prosecutions
 Much progress in
prosecuting those
involved
 Rwanda
 Bosnia
 Darfur
 Is it enough?
1945-1990 1990-present

16. System of international criminal
justice
• ICTY
• ICTR
Ad hoc
Tribunals
• Since 2002
• Deals with current and future
crimes against humanity
International
Criminal
Court

17. International Criminal Tribunal for
the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY)
 Created by a UN Security Council Resolution in
1993
 Jurisdiction over breaches of the Geneva
Conventions and international customary law
committed in the former Yugoslavia since 1991
 Slobodan Milosevic – arrested 2001; trial began in
2002, died in 2006
 Radovan Karadzic – arrested 2008; still on trial
 Ratko Mladic – arrested 2011; on trial since 2012
 http://www.icty.org/sections/TheCases/KeyFiguresofthe
Cases

18. “The Tribunal
was the first
court to
undertake the
prosecution and
adjudication of
the gravest
international
crimes since the
post-World War
II Nuremberg
and Tokyo trials.
Over the past
two decades, it
has irreversibly
changed the
landscape of
international
criminal and
humanitarian
law.”

19. Is this enough?
House of
good and
evil
ED CAESAR
THE
AUSTRALIA
N
SEPTEMBE
R 08, 2012
“The question that is often asked of the
tribunal is this: justice for whom? Do the
victims of heinous crimes committed in the
Balkan wars feel that justice has been
done because a judgment is handed down
far away? Is it enough that these trials take
place, that facts are established, and
victims' voices heard?”
“Justice is never perfect... The ICTY might
be slow, and bureaucratic - but it has
transformed butchers and gods back into
men.”

20. International Criminal Tribunal for
Rwanda (ICTR)
 Created in 1994
 Jurisdiction over the 1994 Rwanda genocide
 Expected to formally close in 2015
 Kambanda (1998) – only Head of State to plead
guilty to genocide; life imprisonment
 Surprise acquittals of government officials by the
“Appeals chamber” in 2009 & 2013 lead to large
scale protests
 Has cost over $1.7 billion (traditional Rwandan
Gacaca courts have put 2mil ppl to trial for
$40mil)

22. International Criminal Court
 Created by the
Rome Statute in
1998, to avoid
having to create ad
hoc Tribunals each
time there is an
issue.
 In the Hague, in the
Netherlands

23. Issue with effectiveness
Despite
initially
signing the
Rome
Statute, the
US has
since
withdrawn
from the
ICC, and
encouraged
other nations
to not
cooperate

24. Issue with effectiveness
ICC was
established
in 2002; first
conviction
was not until
2012.

25. Issue with effectiveness
Ngudjolo
was the first
acquittal at
the ICC, also
in 2012.
Is this a
problem?
Are
acquittals
necessarily
a bad thing?

26. Issues with effectiveness
Significant
number of
ICC cases
have come
from African
nations.
What might
be the
consequenc
es of this
bias –
whether real
or
perceived?

27. Issues with effectiveness
Accusations of war
crimes against both
sides.
Case must be referred
to the ICC by the
UNSC – which means
the agreement of 5
permanent members
(incl. China, Russia &
US)
Since 2012, Palestine
has been able to sign
up to Rome Statute…
But this could threaten
peace negotiations.