Criminal law: procedure and offences Books

Book SynopsisAi Kihara-Hunt’s Holding UNPOL to Account: Individual Criminal Accountability of United Nations Police Personnel analyzes whether the mechanisms that address criminal accountability of United Nations police personnel serving in peace operations are effective, and if there is a problem, how it can be mitigated. The volume reviews the obligations of States and the UN to investigate and prosecute criminal acts committed by UN police, and examines the jurisdictional and immunity issues involved. It concludes that these do not constitute legal barriers to accountability, although immunity poses some problems in practice. The principal problem appears to be the lack of political will to bring prosecutions, as well as a lack of transparency, which makes it difficult accurately to determine the scale of the problem.Table of ContentsExcerpt of table of contents: Foreword by William G. O’Neill Abstract; Acknowledgement; List of Cases; List of Treaties; Acronyms; CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1. The issue; 2. The evolution of UN Peace Operations; 3. The scope of this work; 4. Issues outside the scope of this work; 5. Structure; 6. Definitions and clarifications; 7. Conclusion; CHAPTER 2: UN POLICE IN PEACE OPERATIONS 1. Evolution of the functions of the UN Police in UN Peace Operations; 2. The growth in size of the UN Police; 3. Ensuring the deployment of the required types of personnel; 4. Conclusion; CHAPTER 3: EVIDENCE OF THE COMMISSION OF CRIMES BY UN POLICE 1. Findings regarding particularized allegations; 2. Possible patterns of criminal conduct; 3. Evidence of prosecution; 4. Conclusion; CHAPTER 4: CURRENT UN MACHINERY FOR COLLECTINGINFORMATION FOR DOMESTIC CRIMINAL PROCEEDINGS 1. Benchmarks; 2. Evolution of the approach to, and the mechanisms for, dealing with criminal misconduct; 3. Analysis of the mechanisms’ performance; CHAPTER 5: CRIMINAL JURISDICTION UNDER INTERNATIONAL LAW AND NATIONAL LAW 1. Introduction; 2. Criminal laws to which the UN Police are subject; 3. International law governing jurisdiction; 4. National laws dealing with jurisdiction; 5. Conclusion; CHAPTER 6: IMMUNITY AS A POTENTIAL LEGAL BARRIER 1. The law of immunity; 2. Application of immunity in practice; 3. Conclusion; CHAPTER 7: IS THERE AN OBLIGATION TO INVESTIGATE AND PROSECUTE? 1. IHRL monitoring mechanisms; 2. A State’s obligation to investigate and prosecute UN Police officers, in relation to serious crimes; 3. Scope of the obligation; 4. The obligation of the host State to investigate and prosecute; 5. The sending State’s obligation; 6. Special circumstances pertaining to Formed Police Units (FPUs); 7. Does immunity have any impact on the State’s obligation to prosecute?; 8. Does the UN have an obligation to investigate and prosecute crimes committed by UN Police officers?; 9. Conclusion; CHAPTER 8: CONCLUSION; Index.

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Book SynopsisThis book canvasses the autonomous position of victims before the International Criminal Court. It seeks to provide an objective and balanced perspective, and neither rejects the idea of victims’ participation nor seeks to extend it beyond the contours determined by the founders of the ICC. The author contributes to the existing debate in academia and in practice by delineating the core, most complex and contentious matters ensuing from the role assigned to victims. The scrupulously selected issues unveil and blueprint the essential characteristics that delimit the standing of victims as independent actors in the ICC’s arena, distinct from the parties and other non-party participants. As an integral part of the ICC’s synergy, victims converge and interact with its other components. Therefore, the position and role of victims are contemplated in the context of the Court’s procedural mechanism and the mission pursued by the parties and the Chamber. The philosophy underpinning the ICC’s design and the standing of victims therein also requires analysis from a wider perspective. Accordingly, the volume draws an in-depth parallel with relevant developments and trends at the international and domestic level. Close attention is paid to the legal instruments and jurisprudence of international(ized) criminal justice bodies, human rights institutions and non-criminal jurisdictions to the extent useful for shedding further light on the issues at hand. Recourse is also made to various national systems, whenever relevant.Table of ContentsForeword  William Schabas Foreword  Georghios M. Pikis/i> Acknowledgements Introduction 1 Victims’ Eligibility under Rule 85  The Victim Definition and the Presumption of Innocence  Application of Rule 85  The First Criterion: Natural Persons and Legal Entities   Natural Persons   Legal Persons  The Second Criterion: Harm   Definition of Harm   Types of Harm   Harm Sustained by Legal Persons  The Third Criterion: Jurisdiction  The Fourth Criterion: Causal Link 2 Classification of Victims’ Rights  General and Specific Rights  Rights of Uniform Applicability and Case-dependent Rights  Express and Implied Rights  Imperative and Non-imperative Rights  Conditional and Non-conditional Rights  Passive and Active Rights; Rights of a Mixed Character  Positive and Negative Rights  Rights Employed in Person; Rights Exercised in Person and through Another; Rights Effectuated Exclusively through Another  Any-victim Rights and Group-specific Rights  Service Rights and Procedural Rights  Exclusive and Non-exclusive Rights  Rights Falling within Several Classifications 3 Purpose and Quintessence of Article 68(3)  Article 68(3) Participation Scheme and Existing Models of Victims’ Intervention  icc’s Participatory Scheme and Intervention of Interested Persons in Ongoing Litigation  Genesis and Overall Rationale of Article 68(3)   ‘Personal Interests’ Requirement   The Requirement ‘Are Affected’   The ‘Appropriateness’ Criterion   Manner of Participation   Views and Concerns 4 Duality of Victim-Witness Status  Duality of Status at the Domestic Level  Duality of Status at the International Level  Duality of Status in the Context of Trials of Mass Atrocities  Acquiring Duality of Status  Applications for Participation and Written Statements; Disclosure-Related Issues   Access to Victims’ Applications for Participation; Disclosure of Applications of Dual Status Individuals  Views and Concerns as Compared to Testimony  Admissibility and Probative Value of the Testimony of Dual Status Individuals  Impact of Information from Dual Status Individuals on Their Victim Standing and Trustworthiness  Withdrawal of Victim Standing before Other Adjudicative Bodies. Consequences and Possible Remedies  Practical Matters Occasioned by the Participation of Dual Status Individuals   Role of the Registry in the Protection of Dual Status Individuals   Exchange of Information Concerning Dual Status Individuals   Contact between Dual Status Individuals, the Parties and Other Participants 5 icc’s Evidentiary Procedure and Victims’ Role Therein  The Role of the Parties in the Processing of Evidence on the Merits of the Criminal Case  The Role of the Chamber in the Fact-finding Mechanism  Victims’ Role in the Fact-finding Process on the Merits of the Criminal Case  The Essence of Reparation Proceedings in a Nutshell and Victims’ Role in Related Evidence Gathering Concluding Remarks Index

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Book SynopsisThe last decades have witnessed a growing emphasis on the relationship between environmental law and criminal law. Legislation aimed at tackling environmental crime has been adopted at national, EU, and international level and has been gradually evolving over time. These developments notwithstanding, the current legal framework faces a number of challenges in tackling the largely inter-related phenomena of transnational, organised and economic environmental crime. This study by Valsamis Mitsilegas and Fabio Giuffrida addresses these challenges by focusing on the role of the European Union- and more specifically its criminal justice agencies (Europol and Eurojust)- in tackling transnational environmental crime. The study analyses the role of Eurojust and Europol in supporting and coordinating the competent national authorities dealing with investigations and/or prosecutions on transnational environmental crime, and it shows that, for the time being, the full potential of these agencies is not adequately exploited with regard to fighting this phenomenon effectively

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Book SynopsisCultural objects have a protected status on account of their intangible value, as symbols of an identity. This has been so since the early days of international law, and today there is an extensive legal framework that ensures this protection. Yet, when it comes to claims by former owners to items such as Nazi-looted art, colonial booty, or more recently looted antiquities, the situation is less straightforward. On the one hand, such claims are often not supported by positive law at all. On the other hand, non-binding regulations urge present possessors to find `just' solutions to claims – not as a legal obligation but as a matter of morality. This raises a fundamental question: if we believe that the application of the law leads to injustice, is it not time to change the way the law is applied?This study explores how cross-border claims to cultural objects fit in the wider legal framework, and where blind spots or clashes occur. It consists of seven chapters, five of which each dealing with different categories of claims that were published in international (cultural heritage) law journals. The overall aim of this dissertation is to identify new directions that can help further develop this field, with the ultimate aim of fostering just solutions.This is a volume in the series of the Meijers Research Institute and Graduate School of the Leiden Law School of Leiden University. This study is part of the Law School’s research programme ‘Exploring the Frontiers of International Law’.Table of ContentsTABLE OF ABBREVIATIONS; 1 INTRODUCTION; 2 PRIVATE TITLE CLAIMS; 3 THE INTERSTATE MODEL; 4 CLAIMS TO NAZI-LOOTED ART; 5 COLONIAL LOOTING AND INDIGENOUS PEOPLES’ LOST HERITAGE; 6 CROSS-BORDER TRADE AND CLAIMS: A SYNTHESIS; 7 CONCLUDING OBSERVATIONS; TABLE OF INSTRUMENTS; TABLE OF CASES; SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY; OTHER RESOURCES; ANNEX: ORIGINAL SOURCES

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