ICJ 703 International Criminal Law

The course is an introduction to the study of international criminal law. It will survey the basic tenets of public international law and the evolution of the international legal process and explore-through the study of specific issues and incidents - the principal challenges facing the international community. It will then proceed to an examination of substantive international criminal law and of the fundamentals of international criminal responsibility and offer an overview of key features of the international criminal justice regime. More specifically, it will examine the political and legal dimensions of the work of the International Criminal Court, of the ad hoc international tribunals -International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR)-  and of the hybrid tribunals, such as the Special Court for Sierra Leone, the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, and the Special Tribunal for Lebanon. The course will conclude with an assessment of the role of these mechanisms and corresponding processes in advancing accountability.