A few days before the second anniversary of the ‘failed coup’ in Myanmar, a case was filed in Germany against senior Myanmar military generals and ‘other actors’ identified in the complaint for genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity. It was filed under universal jurisdiction enshrined in the German Code of Crimes against International Law (Völkerstrafgesetzbuch - VStGB) by the Thailand-based NGO Fortify Rights and 16 victims, including ten Rohingya ‘genocide survivors’ and six civilians belonging to other ethnic groups. The complaint requests the German Federal Prosecutor to open a structural investigation on allegations of crimes committed against the Rohingya people between 2016 and 2017, and against other civilians since the coup of February 1, 2021, and is the first-ever to address the full range of allegations to date. This post discusses how this latest initiative contributes to effective justice and accountability.
Jurisdiction
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EJIL:The Podcast! Episode 17 – “What’s wrong with the international law on jurisdiction?”
What conduct occurring where are states allowed to regulate? The international law on jurisdiction provides part of the answer. But international lawyers use different images when conceptualising the geographical reach of states' jurisdiction to prescribe their laws. In this podcast, the two contenders in a debate in issue 33(2) of the European Journal of International…
Jurisdictional Hierarchies between Form and Fact: A Rejoinder to Roger O’Keefe
To what extent is the law of jurisdiction implicated in (hierarchical) structures of global governance? My article, ‘Jurisdiction Unbound: (Extra)territorial Regulation as Global Governance‘, pursues this question and traces how the current law of jurisdiction, quite in contrast with the often territorial, sovereignty-based imagery surrounding it, is highly permissive, especially when it comes to extraterritorial business regulation.
Al-Masarir v Saudi Arabia: A route to state accountability for spyware
Background On 19 August 2022, Knowles J denied Saudi Arabia’s claim to immunity in the case of Al Masarir v Kingdom of Saudi Arabia [2022] EWHC 2199. The claimant was a human rights activist and critic of the Saudi Arabian government who had been residing in the UK. The factual background to his claim…
Territorial Jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court over the Russian Leadership: Locus Delicti in Complicity Cases
Note by the editors: this is a contribution from an author in Russia, whose identity, affiliation and qualifications are known to the editors. In line with our policy and in light of the grave and ongoing threats to academic freedom and freedom of expression in Russia, the author has requested to remain anonymous.