International crimes, such as crimes against humanity, genocide and war crimes, are committed by individuals. However, individuals rarely commit such crimes for their own profit. Instead, such crimes are often caused by collective entities. Notable examples include the ‘dirty war’ in Argentina in the 1970s and 1980s, the atrocities committed during the Balkan Wars in the early 1990s and the crimes committed during the ongoing armed conflicts in the Darfur area in Sudan. Referring to Darfur, the Prosecutor of the ICC noted in 2008 that although he had indicted a few individuals, ‘the information gathered points to an ongoing pattern of crimes committed with the mobilization of the whole state apparatus’.
This book reviews the main legal avenues that are available within the international legal order to address the increasingly important problem of system criminality and identifies possible improvements.
Harmen van der Wilt is Professor of International Criminal Law at the Faculty of Law, University of Amsterdam.
André Nollkaemper is Professor of Public International Law and Director of the Amsterdam Center for International Law at the Faculty of Law, University of Amsterdam.
CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS
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© Cambridge University Press 2009
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First published 2009
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Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication Data
System criminality in international law / Harmen van der Wilt (editor), André Nollkaemper p. cm. Includes index. ISBN 978-0-521-76356-1 (hardback) 1. Criminal jurisdiction. 2. International offenses. I. Wilt, Harmen van der, 1955– II. Kleffner, Jann K. III. Title. K5036.S97 2009 345’.0235–dc22 2009010961
ISBN 978-0-521-76356-1 hardback
Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this publication, and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate.
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Preface
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vii |
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Table of cases
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ix |
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Table of treaties and international instruments
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xvii |
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List of abbreviations
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xxviii |
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List of contributors
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xxxi |
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1 Introduction
André Nollkaemper
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1 |
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2 The policy context of international crimes
Herbert C. Kelman
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26 |
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3 Why corporations kill and get away with it: the failure of law to cope with crime in organizations
Maurice Punch
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42 |
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4 Men and abstract entities: individual responsibility and collective guilt in international criminal law
Gerry Simpson
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69 |
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5 A historical perspective: from collective to individual responsibility and back
Andrea Gattini
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101 |
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6 Command responsibility and Organisationsherrschaft: ways of attributing international crimes to the ‘most responsible’
Kai Ambos
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127 |
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7 Joint criminal enterprise and functional perpetration
Harmen van der Wilt
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158 |
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8 System criminality at the ICTY
Elies van Sliedregt
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183 |
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9 Criminality of organizations under international law
Nina H. B. Jørgensen
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201 |
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10 Criminality of organizations: lessons from domestic law – a comparative perspective
Albin Eser in cooperation with Felix Rettenmaier
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222 |
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11 The collective accountability of organized armed groups for system crimes
Jann K. Kleffner
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238 |
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12 Assumptions and presuppositions: state responsibility for system crimes
Iain Scobbie
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270 |
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13 State responsibility for international crimes
A. Zimmermann and M. Teichmann
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298 |
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14 Responses of political organs to crimes by states
Nigel D. White
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314 |
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15 Conclusions and outlook
André Nollkaemper and Harmen van der Wilt
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338 |
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Index
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355 |
This book explores the state of international law in respect of situations of system criminality, that is: situations where collective entities such as states or organised armed groups order or encourage international crimes to be committed, or permit or tolerate the committing of international crimes. The book emanated from a widely felt discomfort with the mismatch between the dominant role of collective entities in situations where international crimes are committed, on the one hand, and the current fashionable focus on individual (criminal) responsibility, exemplified by the mushroom of international criminal tribunals, on the other.
Against the background of a discussion of the mechanisms through which collective entities induce or cause international crimes to be committed, the book focuses in particular on the power and limitations of forms of international responsibilities in regard to system criminality, covering individual responsibility, responsibility of organizations and organized armed groups, and state responsibility.
While separate aspects of the role of collective entities in regard to international crimes have been subject to scholarly analysis, we felt that there was a lack of comprehensive assessments of the state of the law, the lacunas in the law of international responsibility and the prospects for strengthening the law. This book aims to fill part of the gap and contribute to an understanding of this increasingly important area of law.
The chapters in this book were originally presented at a conference held at the Amsterdam Center for International Law, University of Amsterdam, on 20 and 21 October 2006. They were reworked on the basis of the discussions at the conference and in light of later developments. The conference was made possible by contributions from the Universiteit van Amsterdam, the Amsterdam Center for International Law, the Department of Criminal Law of the Universiteit van Amsterdam and the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW).
We would like to thank Stefanie Küfner and Caitilin McGivern for their excellent editorial assistance in the preparation of the book.
André Nollkaemper
Harmen van der Wilt (editors)
Menno Dolman
Jann Kleffner (assistant editors)
1 July 2009
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