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Casebook Read Credits
Humans, Rights, and their Protection under International Law
Section 6 . 5

Int’l Criminal Justice in National Courts

Andrew R. DeLoach

1. Universal Jurisdiction (explained in Section 6.2.1)

2. Complementarity: the two ad hoc tribunals and the ICC have "concurrent" rather than "exclusive" jurisdiction, which means that the crimes which it covers can also be prosecuted in the domestic courts of States. However, the Rome Statute incorporates a preference for prosecution at the national level, through the concept of Complementarity.

Thus, the ICC is not intended to be a substitute for national courts, but is required to defer to national courts unless it makes certain determinations, e.g., that the national court is unwilling or unable to investigate or prosecute.

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