International Crimes, Local Justice

This study is focused on what Judge Sang-Hyun Song, the former president of the International Criminal Court (ICC), has called “one of the most burning challenges for the further development of the emerging system of international justice”: how to ensure that national court systems, and not just the ICC, have the capacity to prosecute war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide. 

The handbook takes a step-by-step approach to the elements required to ensure that a trial meets international fair trial standards, while engaging the local affected communities in the process of justice, steps ranging from the provision of witness protection capacity, to efforts to educate local journalists and community leaders.

Examples drawn from support for existing international tribunals show that existing rule-of-law funders are already engaged in the kind of work needed to create the needed complementarity between local judicial systems and the International Criminal Court.