Cultural defences, i.e. claims that certain aspects of a defendant’s cultural background should be taken into consideration by courts when adjudicating on their guilt or innocence, have been raised before domestic courts in a variety of jurisdictions. This has been a very sensitive and controversial issue. However, the issue of cultural defences at international tribunals is one that has not yet been fully explored. The main objective of this book is to analyse if the International Criminal Court can, and should, accommodate cultural defences as answers to legal charges, or if the Court should accommodate cultural considerations in other ways.

This pioneering book explores the intersections of law and culture at the International Criminal Court (ICC), offering insights into how notions of culture affect the Court’s legal foundations, functioning and legitimacy, both in theory and in practice.

A practical guide to what motivates international crimes and how these are structured and investigated in theory and practice.

This collection of cases and materials attempts for the first time to provide a compendium of the most important legal texts, relevant documents and cases, as well as explanatory commentary on the law of defence in international criminal proceedings by scholars and practitioners who have a wealth of relevant experience in the field. The book provides students in law school courses on international human rights law and ICL with the essential materials to understand the vital importance of an adequate defence in international criminal proceedings. Further, the text gives legal practitioners who may consider extending their field of practice to the international level a look at the diversity of the tasks they will encounter and prepare them for the legal culture shock inevitable at the international tribunals and courts.

The idea of an International Criminal Court has captured the international legal imagination for over a century. In 1998 it became a reality with the adoption of the Rome Statute. This book critically examines the fundamental legal and policy issues involved in the establishment and functioning of the Permanent International Criminal Court. Detailed consideration is given to the history of war crimes trials and their place in the system of international law,the legal and political significance of a permanent ICC, the legality and legitimacy of war crimes trials, the tensions and conflicts involved in negotiating the ICC Statute, the general principles of legality, the scope of defences, evidential dilemmas, the perspective of victims, the nature and scope of the offences within the ICC's jurisdiction – aggression, genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity, questions of admissibility and theories of jurisdiction, the principle of complementarity, national implementation of the Statute in a range of jurisdictions, and national and international responses to the ICC. The expert contributors are drawn from a range of national jurisdictions – UK, Sweden, Canada, and Australia. The book blends detailed legal analysis with practical and policy perspectives and offers an authoritative complement to the extensive commentaries on the ICC Statute.

In the past twenty years, international criminal law has become one of the main areas of international legal scholarship and practice. Most textbooks in the field describe the evolution of international criminal tribunals, the elements of the core international crimes, the applicable modes of liability and defences, and the role of states in prosecuting international crimes. The Oxford Handbook of International Criminal Law, however, takes a theoretically informed and refreshingly critical look at the most controversial issues in international criminal law, challenging prevailing practices, orthodoxies, and received wisdoms. Some of the contributions to the Handbook come from scholars within the field, but many come from outside of international criminal law, or indeed from outside law itself. The chapters are grounded in history, geography, philosophy, and international relations. The result is a Handbook that expands the discipline and should fundamentally alter how international criminal law is understood.

Summary: "Written by seasoned scholars and practitioners, this collection of essays provides a most comprehensive analysis of the institutional dynamics and political underpinnings of international criminal justice. They explore and provide critical comment on the main institutional difficulties experienced by International Tribunals."--Publisher description.