ICD Briefs

ICD Briefs 2019

ICD Brief 26 - HUMAN RIGHTS REMEDIES FOR VIOLATIONS OF THE LAW OF ARMED CONFLICT: REFLECTIONS ON THE RIGHT TO REPARATION IN LIGHT OF RECENT DOMESTIC COURT DECISIONS IN THE NETHERLANDS AND DENMARK, September 2019

Vessela Terzieva is an international criminal lawyer and an external PhD researcher at the University of Amsterdam. Her research, which is supervised by Prof. Harmen van der Wilt and Dr. Christophe Paulussen, examines the remedies for victims of international crimes available at the domestic level, focusing on the differences between remedies for violations of international humanitarian and human rights law. She has previously served as a senior legal officer in Chambers at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.

ICD Brief 25 - THE EVACUATION OF EASTERN ALEPPO: FORCED DISPLACEMENT UNDER INTERNATIONAL LAW?, January 2019

Matt Brown currently works as a UK Civil Servant seconded to Welsh Government. Previously he interned at the International Criminal Court in the Situation Analysis Section, for the defence at Jovica Stanišić at the MICT, and as a research assistant for the Asser Institute on their ICD project. During his LL.M studies at Leiden University, Matt was also a research assistant for the Kalshoven-Gieskes Forum, where he worked on the ICRC's project 'IHL in Action', finding examples of positive compliance with IHL. He maintains an active interest in international law and hopes to pursue a career within this field.

The views expressed herein are those of the author alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of the UK or Welsh Government.

ICD Briefs 2018

ICD Brief 24 - THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE DEFENCE AT THE ICTY FROM AN INSTITUTIONAL PERSPECTIVE: LESSONS LEARNED WITH REGARD TO COUNSEL’S QUALIFICATION, REMUNERATION AND PARTICIPATION, September 2018

Fiana Reinhardt and Lisa Feirabend: Fiana Reinhardt currently serves as the Head of the Office for Legal Aid and Defence at the Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals and previously served as the Head of OLAD at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia until its closure in December 2017. Lisa Feirabend previously served as Associate Legal Officer in OLAD at the Mechanism and as Associate Legal Officer in OLAD at the ICTY. The views expressed herein are those of the authors alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of the ICTY, Mechanism or the United Nations in general.

ICD Brief 23 - THE MLADIĆ TRIAL – THE LAST CASE BEFORE THE ICTY, September 2018

Jonas Nilsson: The author was the Senior Legal Officer assisting ICTY Trial Chamber I, to which this case was assigned throughout the pre-trial and trial phases of the case. This article is based on a number of lectures and presentations the author prepared and held during the spring of 2018, including at the T.M.C Asser Institute (The Hague, The Netherlands), University of Groningen (The Netherlands), University of Oxford (United Kingdom), the Irish Centre for Human Rights (Galway, Ireland), University of Amsterdam (The Netherlands), University of Copenhagen (Denmark), Stockholm University (Sweden), and the Grotius Centre for International Legal Studies (Leiden/The Hague, The Netherlands). The author is grateful for comments by Robert Schaeffer and Lucia Catani on earlier versions of the article. Any views expressed in this brief are those of the author alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of the ICTY or the United Nations in general.

ICD Brief 22 - APPEALS ON ERRORS OF FACT – ASSESSING THE REPUTATIONAL CONSEQUENCES OF THE ICTY APPEALS CHAMBER’S INTERVENTIONIST APPROACH, August 2018

Rupert Elderkin MA: Rupert Elderkin MA (Hons.), Oxford University; Graduate Diploma in Law, City University, London; Master in Public Policy, Princeton University. From 2006-2013, he worked on a series of Srebrenica-related cases (Popović et al., Tolimir and Mladić) as a lawyer in the Trial Division of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia’s Office of the Prosecutor. He continues to work in international criminal law in The Hague.

ICD Briefs 2016

ICD Brief 21 - Duress as a Defence for Former Child Soldiers? Dominic Ongwen and the International Criminal Court?, December 2016

Nadia Grant wrote this ICD Brief during her internship at the T.M.C. Asser Institute. Currently working with Médecins Sans Frontières, Nadia holds an LL.B. from the University of Glasgow and an LL.M. in International Law and Languages from Maastricht University. Nadia has specialized in international criminal, humanitarian and human rights law, and has previously worked in these fields across several countries, including the Netherlands, Spain, the UK, Austria and South Africa.

ICD Brief 20 - Gender Jurisprudence For Gender Crimes?, June 2016

Laetitia Ruiz is currently a PhD candidate at the International Victimology Institute Tilburg (INTERVICT), Tilburg University. She received a master degree in international relations from the Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Lille, France and a LLM in International Law with International Relations.

ICD Brief 19 - Gravity Threshold before the International Criminal Court: An Overview of the Court's Practice, January 2016

Megumi Ochi is a Post-Doctoral research fellow of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) at Kyoto University (Japan) and specialises in International Criminal Law. She completed her Ph.D. in Law at Osaka University (Japan) and LL.M. at Leiden University (the Netherlands). She interned at the Pre-Trial Chamber II of the International Criminal Court from April to September 2012.

ICD Briefs 2015

ICD Brief 9 – Torture - in search of a definition..., January 2015

Steven Dewulf is a lawyer and visiting professor criminal law and international criminal law at the University of Antwerp (Belgium). He is specialised in international, European and transnational criminal law, human rights, IHL and terrorism.

ICD Brief 10 – Protecting child soldiers from sexual violence by members of the same military force: A re-conceptualisation of international humanitarian law?, April 2015

Rosemary Grey is a PhD Candidate, sessional lecturer and researcher at the University of New South Wales, Australia. Her research explores gender issues in international criminal law, with a particular focus on the prosecution of sexual and gender-based crimes in the International Criminal Court (ICC). Rosemary has previously completed an internship in the International Bar Association's ICC Programme in The Hague.

ICD Brief 11 – The War Crime of Terror: An analysis of international jurisprudence, June 2015

Laura Paredi is a PhD Candidate in International Law and teaching assistant in International Law of Armed Conflict and Human Rights Law at the University of Milan. After her studies, she worked as junior researcher at the University of Milan on a project aimed at drafting a proposal for the implementation of the Rome Statute in Italy. Her PhD research explores the issue of implementation of international crimes and its major challenges.

ICD Brief 12 - Protection of Schools During Armed Conflict, October 2015

Alina Balta wrote this ICD Brief during her internship with the T.M.C. Asser Instituut. Alina interned with the Public International Law (PIL) cluster of the Institute for one year and, prior to that, she completed internships with the Coalition for the International Criminal Court and INTERVICT. She holds an LL.M. in International and European Public Law and an M.Sc. in Victimology and Criminal Justice, both obtained at Tilburg University.

ICD Brief 13 - The 'Private Ends' of International Piracy: The Necessity of  Legal Clarity in Relation to Violent Political Activists, October 2015

Arron N. Honniball is a PhD Candidate at Utrecht University, specialising in the jurisdiction framework of public international law. As part of the research group on unilateralism and the protection of global interests (UNIJURIS), Arron is examining the use of port state jurisdiction to regulate extraterritorial conduct of global/regional/individual concern. Additionally, he is a member of the Netherlands Institute for the Law of the Sea and the Utrecht Centre for Water, Oceans and Sustainability Law.

ICD Brief 14 - Prosecuting Journalists at the Special Tribunal for Lebanon: A Challenge to Freedom of Speech?, December 2015

Anne-Marie Verwiel, partner at law firm Verwiel & Van der Voort, holds a bachelor and master in both political science and law from the University of Amsterdam. She has wide legal experience in the area of international (criminal) law and human rights law, and worked on cases before the SCSL, ICTY and ICTR. María Barral Martínez graduated in public international law at the University of Amsterdam. She holds a master in law from the University of Santiago de Compostela and has completed an internship at Verwiel & Van der Voort. Karlijn van der Voort is also a partner at Verwiel & Van der Voort, with master's degrees from New York University and Leiden University. She has extensive experience in working for the defence of various accused persons before the SCSL, ICTY, ECCC and ICC, in addition to experience in domestic criminal law and human rights law. Karlijn and Anne-Marie have been monitoring the proceedings at the STL since the beginning of the trial.

ICD Brief 15 - The Impact of Cooperation of States on the Right to Liberty of Detained Suspects before the ICC: A Contextual Approach, December 2015

Maria Laura Ferioli is a PhD candidate in international criminal law in a joint doctorate between the University of Bologna and the University of Amsterdam, researching on the rights of defendants before the International Criminal Court. She coordinates the development of the legal database in cooperation with the War Reparation Centre of the University of Amsterdam. She has worked for an Italian criminal law firm for two years and was admitted to the bar in September 2013.

ICD Brief 16 - Can War Crimes be Committed by Military Personnel against Members of Non-opposing Forces?, December 2015

Joanna Nicholson is a guest researcher at PluriCourts - Centre for the Study of the Legitimate Roles of the Judiciary in the Global Order at the Faculty of Law, University of Oslo. Her PhD thesis was written at the Norwegian Centre for Human Rights and is entitled 'Fighters as Victims in International Criminal Law'. Prior to working in academia, she spent several years practicing as a lawyer and public prosecutor in Scotland.

ICD Brief 17 - Regulating the Arms Trade - The Potential of International Criminal Law, December 2015

Tomas Hamilton is a PhD candidate at King's College London and his research focuses on accomplice liability under international criminal law, in particular its implications for arms traders. Tomas is a former Visiting Researcher at the Asser Institute and he has previously worked in the serious crime department of a London solicitors, at the International Criminal Court, and for the United Nations at the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia. Tomas also completed an interview for the International Crimes Database on the same topic. His interview can be viewed here.

ICD Brief 18 - Defining the Protected Groups of Genocide Through the Case Law of International Courts, December 2015

Carola Lingaas is a PhD candidate at the University of Oslo (Norway). Her research explores the concept of race in international criminal law, with a particular focus on the crime of genocide. After her Master's studies in law at the University of Zurich (Switzerland) she worked at the Public Prosecutor's Office, the District Court and a law firm. She then joined the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), where she worked as a field delegate (2002 - 2003) in South Sudan during the second civil war. She completed an LL.M. in Public International Law at the University of Oslo in 2005. From 2006 - 2013, Carola worked for the Norwegian Red Cross.

ICD Briefs 2014

ICD Brief 4 – Intervention in Libya: a Crime of Aggression?, March 2014

Niels Rijke is a young lawyer, specialised in human rights, international law and the rule of law, with experience in politics, (legal) research, policy work, board governance and in working and living in an international environment. He graduated in International Criminal Law (LLM, Columbia University / University of Amsterdam) in the summer of 2013 and has worked for the ICD project of the T.M.C. Asser Instituut. Currently, he is working at the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO).

ICD Brief 5 - The International Criminal Court on Presence at Trial: the (In)validity of Rule 134quater, September 2014

Abel S. Knottnerus is a PhD Researcher in International Law and International Relations at the University of Groningen. He is currently working on his dissertation “the Contested Legitimacy of the International Criminal Court”, in which he explores the ongoing legitimation process of the ICC. His research interests are in the fields of International Relations, Modern History, International Legal Theory and International Criminal Law. In recent and forthcoming publications he focusses on the concepts of social legitimacy and legal ambiguity, the relationship between the Security Council and the ICC, and the growing rift between African States and the ICC.

ICD Brief 6 – Realising Justice for victims before the International Criminal Court, September 2014

Luke Moffett is a lecturer at Queen's University Belfast School of Law. His PhD (graduated 2012) focused on the role of victims within the International Criminal Court and has been developed into a monograph 'Justice for victims before the International Criminal Court’ (Routledge 2014). He is a member of the International Law Association's Committee on Non-State Actors. His current research examines the role of reparations in Northern Ireland and other contexts in dealing with the past.

ICD Brief 7 – Beyond the State: the future of international criminal law, September 2014

Clare Frances Moran is a teaching fellow in law at Abertay University, Dundee (Scotland). She is currently working on her PhD thesis “Can Serious Violations of International Criminal Law be Justified?”, which she is due to submit at the University of Glasgow in late 2014.

ICD Brief 8 – Controversy on the characterization of the Cambodian genocide at the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, October 2014

Mélanie Vianney-Liaud is a PhD Candidate at the Aix-Marseille University in France. In 2012-2013, she did a six-month internship at the Office of the Co-Prosecutors at the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC). She is currently working as a legal assistant at the Marseille District Court and she is writing her PhD thesis "The Cambodian Extraordinary Chambers: What Model for International Criminal Justice?".

ICD Briefs 2013

ICD Brief 1 – The Definition of the Crime of Aggression and its Relevance for Contemporary Armed Conflict, June 2013

About the Author:

Anouk Boas is a postgraduate student in the International Peace and Security programme at King's College London. She graduated with honours from Amsterdam University College in June 2013 with a  focus on international law and international relations. Besides her studies, she has been an editor at the Amsterdam Law Forum and is currently an intern at the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation in London. 

ICD Brief 2 – The State or Organisational Policy Requirement within the Definition of Crimes Against Humanity in the Rome Statute: An Appraisal of the Emerging Jurisprudence and the Implementation Practice by ICC States Parties, October 2013

About the Author:

Mathias Holvoet  is a PhD-Researcher in International Criminal Law at the Faculty of Law and Criminology of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Research Group Fundamental Rights and Constitutionalism (FRC) and currently a Visiting Researcher at the Institute for International Peace and Security Law, University of Cologne. His PhD-project is researching the State or organizational policy requirement in the definition of crimes against humanity in the ICC Statute. This research has been funded by the Interuniversity Attraction Poles Programme initiated by the Belgian Science Policy Office, more specifically the IAP “The Global Challenge of Human Rights Integration: Towards a Users’ Perspective”.

ICD Brief 3 – The Phenomenon of “Baby Factories” in Nigeria as a New Trend in Human Trafficking, October 2013

About the Author:

Svetlana S. Huntley is an Independent Legal Researcher, with an academic and professional background in human rights issues. Education: Juris Doctor, 2005, Department of Economics and Law, Moscow State Linguistic University; LL.M. in International Legal Studies, 2011, Georgetown University Law Center. In the course of her professional career Ms. Huntley completed several research projects related to human rights and child protection issues. Among them are two analytical surveys prepared for the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation, several articles published in Russian legal journals, and a report on “Russian Legislation on the Protection of Children Against Sexual Abuse and Sexual Exploitation” prepared during her research fellowship at the International Centre for Missing and Exploited Children.