Blog
Rayner my parade! The importance of specialist advice.
Jemma Brimblecombe
18 July 2019
International Criminal Court at 21: controversy still remains
Yesterday, 17th July, as the anniversary of the adoption of the Rome Statue, is celebrated as International Criminal Justice Day. The Rome Statute led to the formation of the International Criminal Court (ICC), which tries the most serious international crimes of genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and the crime of aggression.
3 July 2019
London Climate Action Week: International criminal law and the environment – considering a law of ‘ecocide’
In April 2019, Polly Higgins, a British barrister, passed away after devoting ten years of her life to a campaign for a new law of ‘ecocide’ – a law that would make corporate executives and government ministers criminally liable for the damage they cause to the environment. In this blog, we consider the current framework for punishing environmental crime at international level, and what the proposed crime of ecocide might look like.
1 May 2019
Widening the net: investigating and prosecuting offences overseas
The Domestic Abuse Bill (currently at the Committee Stage) contains a significant set of provisions which has the effect of extending extra-territorial jurisdiction for a number of criminal offences.
21 March 2019
The International Criminal Court - Limits to Jurisdiction in the US
Last week, it was reported that the US has denied visas to members of the International Criminal Court (ICC), which is investigating war crimes that are alleged to have been committed by the US armed forces and the CIA in Afghanistan. So, what does this mean for the ICC? This blog explores the extent to which the ICC has jurisdiction over the US, and considers where the ICC can go from here.
28 February 2019
‘No deal’ is a backwards step for solving crime across borders
Shortly after the referendum result, I attended a meeting in Whitehall to which representatives of a wide range of criminal justice agencies had been invited. Our host, a policy official, told us that Brexit was to be viewed as an opportunity and asked us to identify the specific opportunities Brexit afforded us in our work. There was a stony silence; a tumbleweed moment. We all knew that, as the Institute for Government would later pithily observe, the UK would struggle to invent an arrangement on law enforcement co-operation with the EU that suits it better than the one it has now. What’s more, as matters stand, these arrangements will come to a grinding halt in little over a month. Where will that leave those agencies tasked with dealing with serious cross-border crime?
