Abstract
The Responsibility to Protect (RtoP) and the International Criminal Court (ICC) are two interconnected enterprises that seek to ensure that the world responds to mass atrocities, without however abandoning the primary responsibility of the states concerned. The RtoP is confined to four specific crimes — genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and ethnic cleansing — which are exactly the crimes that also fall under the jurisdiction ratione materiae of the ICC, together with the crime of aggression.1 Nonetheless, the RtoP is not limited to a reaction to atrocity crimes but constitutes a more holistic approach to addressing crisis situations, based on the idea that the response requires a non-military intervention by the international community that starts with preventative measures. What is more, most agree that prevention is the most important aspect of the RtoP, since the best way to protect populations from mass atrocities is to ensure that they do not occur in the first place (Rosenberg, 2009; Stamnes, 2009). Huber and Blätter even proclaim that “[t]he essence of the Responsibility to Protect is best characterized as international crimes prevention” (Huber and Blätter, 2012: p. 33). In the 2009 Report of the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon “Implementing the Responsibility to Protect”, the ICC is characterized as an institution that can act through dissuasion and deterrence, as just one of the atrocity prevention instruments under the third pillar of the RtoP designed to prevent or halt future atrocities (United Nations, 2009: para. 18).
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Black, I. (2013) “Syria deaths near 100,000, says UN — and 6,000 are children”, The Guardian. See www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jun/13/death-toll-syrian-conflict-93000. (Accessed 10 July 2013).
Broude, T. (2013) “The Court should avoid all considerations of deterrence, contributing to crime prevention by buttressing a durable, consistent, credible, and legitimate normative environment in which serious crimes are not tolerated”, Human Rights and International Criminal Law Online Forum. See http://uclalawforum.com/prevention#Broude. (Accessed 29 January 2013).
Burke-White, W. (2008) “Implementing a Policy of Positive Complementarity in the Rome System of Justice”, Criminal Law Forum, 19(1): pp. 59–61.
Burrows, O. (2013) “I deterred chaos in 2013 Kenya poll — Ocampo”, Capital News. See http://www.capitalfm.co.ke/news/2013/03/i-deterred-chaos-in-2013-kenya-poll-ocampo/. (Accessed 9 July 2013).
Council on Foreign Relations. (2012) “The International Criminal Court: A New Approach to International Relations”. See www.cfr.org/international-criminal-courts-and-tribunals/international-criminal-court-new-approach-international-relations/p29351. (Accessed 25 January 2013).
Cronin-Furman, K. (2013) “Managing Expectations: International Criminal Trials and the Prospects for Deterrence of Mass Atrocity”, The International Journal of Transitional Justice, 7(3): pp. 434–454.
Cronin-Furman, K. and Taub, A. (2013) “Lions and Tigers and Deterrence, Oh My: Evaluating Expectations of International Criminal Justice”, in Schabas, W.A., McDermott, Y. and Hayes, N. (eds.) The Ashgate Research Companion to International Criminal Law: Critical Perspectives (Surrey and Burlington: Ashgate): pp. 435–453.
Cryer, R., Friman, H., Robinson, D. and Wilmshurst, E. (2007) An Introduction to International Criminal Law and Procedure (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).
Drumbl, M. (2007) Atrocity, Punishment, and International Law (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).
Easterday, J. (2009) “Deciding the Fate of Complementarity: A Colombian Case Study”. See http://www.ajicl.org/AJICL2009/Easterday.pdf. (Accessed 9 December 2013).
Evans, G. (2006) “From Humanitarian Intervention to the Responsibility to Protect”, Wisconsin International Law Journal, 3(2): pp. 703–722.
Forsythe, D.P. (2013) “‘Political Trials’? The UN Security Council and the Development of International Criminal Law”, in Schabas, W.A., McDermott, Y. and Hayes, N. (eds.) The Ashgate Research Companion to International Criminal Law: Critical Perspectives (Surrey and Burlington: Ashgate): pp. 487–488.
Hubert, D. and Blätter, A. (2012) “The Responsibility to Protect as International Crimes Prevention”, Global Responsibility to Protect, Vol. 4: pp. 33–66.
Human Rights Watch. (2011) “Course Correction: Recommendations to the Prosecutor for a More Effective Approach to ‘Situations under Analysis’”. See http://www.hrw.org/news/2011/06/16/icc-course-correction#_Toc295292906. (Accessed 30 January 2013).
Human Rights Watch. (2006) “Universal Jurisdiction in Europe: The State of the Art” 18(5). See: www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/reports/ij0606web.pdf. (Accessed 3 February 2013).
International Coalition for the Responsibility to Protect. (2013) “Clarifying the Third Pillar of the Responsibility to Protect: Timely and Decisive Response”. See http://responsibilitytoprotect.org/Clarifying%20the%20Third%20Pillar.pdf. (Accessed 9 July 2013).
Kersten, M. (2011) “Uganda’s Controversial First War Crimes Trial: Thomas Kwoyelo”. See http://justiceinconflict.org/2011/07/12/ugandas-controversial-first-war-crimes-trial-thomas-kwoyelo/. (Accessed 10 July 2013).
Kress, C. and von Holtzendorff, L. (2010) “The Kampala Compromise on the Crime of Aggression”, Journal of International Criminal Justice, 8(5): pp. 1179–1217.
Lawyers Committee for Human Rights. (1996) “Establishing an International Criminal Court: Major Unresolved Issues in the Draft Statute”. See www.iccnow.org/documents/2PrepCmtEstablishICCLCHR.pdf. (Accessed 1 February 2013).
Megret, F. (2010) “ICC, R2P, and the International Community’s Evolving Interventionist Toolkit”, The Finnish Yearbook of International Law, 21(1): pp. 21–53.
Nouwen, S. (2013) “Legal Equality on Trial: Sovereigns and Individuals Before the International Criminal Court”, Netherlands Yearbook of International Law, 43: pp. 151–181.
Ohlin, J.D. (2009) “Attempt to Commit Genocide”, in Gaeta, P. (ed.) The UN Genocide Convention: A Commentary (Oxford: Oxford University Press): pp. 193–207.
Olasolo, H. (2012) “The ICC’s Timely Intervention as a Result of Threats of Future Atrocity Crimes”, in Olasolo, H. (ed.) Essays on International Criminal Justice (Oxford: Hart Publishing): pp. 1–19.
Pauletto, E. and Patel, P. (2010) “Challenging Child Soldier DDR Processes and Policies in the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo”, Journal of Peace, Conflict and Development, 19(16): pp. 35–57.
Paulus, A. (2010) “Second Thoughts on the Crime of Aggression”, The European Journal of International Law, 20(4): pp. 1117–1128.
Rosenberg, S.P. (2009) “Responsibility to Protect: A Framework for Prevention”, Global Responsibility to Protect, 1(4): pp. 442–477.
Sands, P. (2013) “Referring Syria to the international criminal court is a justified gamble”, The Guardian. See www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/jan/16/syria-international-criminal-court-justified-gamble. (Accessed 11 July 2013).
Schabas, W.A. (2013) “The Banality of International Justice”, Journal of International Criminal Justice, 11(3): pp. 549–550.
Schabas, W.A. (2012) Unimaginable Atrocities (Oxford: Oxford University Press).
Schabas, W.A. (2011) An Introduction to the International Criminal Court (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).
Stamnes, E. (2009) “‘Speaking R2P’ and the Prevention of Mass Atrocities”, Global Responsibility to Protect, 1(1): pp. 70–89.
United Nations. (2009) “Implementing the Responsibility to Protect: Report of the Secretary General”, A/63/677.
US Department of State. (2011) “Determination and Certification of the Colombian Government with Respect to Human Rights Related Conditions”. See http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2011/09/172462.htm. (Accessed 30 January 2013).
Van Schaack, B. (2011) “The Crime of Aggression and Humanitarian Intervention on Behalf of Women”, International Criminal Law Review, 11(3): pp. 477–493.
Wegner, P. (2011) “Universal Jurisdiction in Germany: The FDLR Trial in Stuttgart”. See: http://justiceinconflict.org/2011/12/27/universal-jurisdiction-in-germany-the-fdlr-trial-in-stuttgart/. (Accessed 10 July 2013).
Wisniew, S.M. (2012) “Early Warning Signs and Indicators to Genocide and Mass Atrocity”. See http://www.hsdl.org/?view&did=732038. (Accessed 6 December 2013).
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 2015 Mathias Holvoet and Medlir Mema
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Holvoet, M., Mema, M. (2015). The International Criminal Court and the Responsibility to Protect. In: Fiott, D., Koops, J. (eds) The Responsibility to Protect and the Third Pillar. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137364401_3
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137364401_3
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-47326-7
Online ISBN: 978-1-137-36440-1
eBook Packages: Palgrave Intern. Relations & Development CollectionPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)