UNIVERSAL JURISDICTION OVER WAR CRIMES Based on the notion that certain crimes are so grave that they affect the international community as a whole, the principle of universal jurisdiction, which entitles a State to prosecute offenders even in the absence of any link between the crime committed and the prosecuting state, is one means of facilitating and securing the repression of such crimes. [...] UNIVERSAL JURISDICTION Universal jurisdiction refers to the assertion of jurisdiction over offences regardless of the place where they were committed and the nationality of the perpetrator or the victim. [...] It is held to apply to a range of offences the repression of which by all States is justified, or required, as a matter of international public policy due to the gravity of the crimes, and the importance of their repression Universal jurisdiction refers to the in the eyes of the international community. [...] of international public policy due to the gravity of the crimes, and the The exercise of universal jurisdiction may either take the importance of their repression in the form of the enactment of national law (legislative universal eyes of the international community. [...] Other instruments relevant to international humanitarian law, such as the Hague Convention of 1954 for the protection of cultural property in the event of armed conflict, and its Second Protocol, provide for a similar obligation, requiring States Parties to repress serious violations of these instruments on the basis of the principle of universal jurisdiction.
- Pages
- 5
- Published in
- Canada
