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Universal Jurisdiction: Past, Present and Future

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 February 2017

Peter Weiss*
Affiliation:
Center for Constitutional Rights

Abstract

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Type
Universal Jurisdiction: It’s Back!
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of International Law 2008

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References

1 In the latter category, the 2006 Preliminary Report of the International Law Commission’s Special Rapporteur on the obligation to extradite or prosecute (“aut dedere aut judicare”) lists no less than twenty four crimes, ranging from war crimes and crimes against humanity to counterfeiting and international traffic in obscene materials, ¶ 36, UNGA Document A/CN.4/571.

2 S.65.1.2 gave Austrian courts jurisdiction over crimes committed abroad if they were also crimes under Austrian law and the suspect was in Austria and could not be extradited to the locus delicti. Id., ¶ 44. For more on the history of UJ in the form of aut dedere laws and conventions, see Amnesty International’s comprehensive report, The Evolution of the Practice of Universal Jurisdiction, available at http://web.amnesty.org/library/index/engior530042001.

3 For the text of the 14 Principles, without commentaries, see the website of the University of Minnesota Human Rights Library, at http://www1.umn.edu/humanrts/instree/princeton.html. The complete text of the principles, commentaries and papers was published by the University of Pennsylvania Press in 2003 under the title Universal JurisdictionNational Courts and the Prosecution of Serious Crimes Under International Law.

4 1985 R.S., c. G-3; 18 U.S.C. 2441 (2004); 18 U.S.C. 2340 (2004).

5 For a history of the ground-breaking Pinochet litigation and some of its progeny see Naomi Roht-Arriaza. The Pinochet Effect: Transnational Justice in the Age of Human Rights (2005).

6 Mevlut Katie, Former Afghan Warlord Sentenced in Britain in Landmark Case, Eurasianet, Jul. 20, 2005. available at http://www.globalpolicy.org/intljustice/universal/2005/0720afghan.htm

7 Amin Tarzi, Afghanistan: Dutch Verdicts Could Reopen Old Wounds, Radio Liberty, Oct. 19, 2005, available at http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2005/10/d3185711-2419-4fb5-b5f3-f4c613773c70.html.

8 Human Rights for All, Ely Ould Dah convicted after six years of proceedings. Our perseverance paid off!, Jul. 2, 2005, available at http://www.fidh.org/article.php3?id_article=1809.0.html.