Development Of International Justice Research Articles

The Promise and Challenges of New Actors and New Technologies in International Justice

Abstract This article addresses the role of new technologies in the international justice and accountability landscape, drawing from research we conducted into new United Nations (UN) accountability mechanisms that have the explicit mandate to collect, collate, analyse and preserve evidence of international crimes according to criminal justice standards. The article is divided in four parts. First, we contextualize our research by discussing some of our findings and situating them against what we define as a ‘third wave’ of institutional developments in international justice, prompted by an ‘accountability-turn’ affecting civil society groups and UN mandates. Secondly, we discuss — using real-world examples — both the opportunities and challenges arising from the use of digital and new documentation technologies in the field. Thirdly, the article pays particular attention to the role of UN mandates affected by the ‘accountability-turn’; our research reveals such UN mandates now often sit at the heart of the ‘life cycle’ of information and evidence collected for justice and accountability purposes. In this section of the article, we also briefly discuss issues relating to third party control of information, in particular by social media companies. Finally, we discuss the need (and welcome initiative) to develop better international guidance and best practices for actors across the board in order to maximize the effective use of new technologies and digital evidence in international justice and accountability processes.

The Ríos Montt case and universal jurisdiction

ABSTRACTThis article analyses the inter-relationship of developments in international justice and the prosecution of Efraín Ríos Montt for the crime of genocide in Guatemala. International justice processes, particularly concerning the application of ‘universal jurisdiction’, contributed to the advancement of the case against Ríos Montt, in Spain and Guatemala. In turn, the prosecution of Ríos Montt influenced the interpretation and application of universal jurisdiction, with ramifications beyond the Guatemalan case itself. The article traces the prosecution for genocide of Efraín Ríos Montt in the Spanish National Court, and situates this particular case within broader currents and networks associated with prosecuting grave violations of human rights. The prosecution of Ríos Montt demonstrates that, rather than a simple case of global norms trickling ‘down’ to the (lower) local level, mutually constituted activities of the global and the local continually shape each other. The interconnections of national and transnational processes were key to the prosecution of genocide in Guatemala.

In Pursuit of Justice: Debating the Statute of Limitations for Nazi War Crimes in Britain and West Germany during the 1960s

Up until 1979, the ability of West German courts to prosecute Nazi war criminals was hampered by a Statute of Limitations for acts of manslaughter and murder. Throughout the 1960s, the issue generated considerable public discussion, both within the Federal Republic and among the international community. As prosecutors, politicians, journalists and Holocaust survivors (among many others) debated the need for continued war crimes trials, it was clear that there remained significant limits to Western understandings of the Nazi genocide. This essay analyses public responses to the Statute in both West Germany and Great Britain and argues that the whole affair has had a crucial impact on the development of international justice and today’s pursuit of war criminals.

REVIEWS

Book reviewed in this article:Le Divorce, La Séparation de Corps et Leurs Effets en Droit International Privé Français et Anglais. (Étude de Droit Comparé.) By Peter Benjamin, m.a., ll.b. (Cantab.), Docteur en Droit.The Judicial Control of Public Authorities in England and in Italy. A Comparative Study. By Serio Galleotti, d.ph., dr.jur. (Milan). With a Foreword by Professor F. H. Lawson.American Government. Its Theory and Practice explained for the English Reader. By Richard H. Pear.The Law of Nations. Fifth Edition. By J. L. Brierly.The Development of International Justice. By Sir Arnold Duncan McNair. [New York: New York University Press. 1954. 34 pp. $2.50.]International Law. By L. Oppenheim. Volume I: Peace. Eighth Edition by H. Lauterpacht.The International Law of the Sea. Third Revised Edition. By C. John Colombos.Professional Negligence. By J. P. Eddy, q.c., with a Foreword by Sir Alfred Denning.The Law of Road Traffic. By M. R. R. Davies.Motor Claims Cases. Third Edition. By Leonard Bingham, Solicitor of the Supreme Court.The Law of Primitive Man. A Study in Comparative Legal Dynamics. By E. Adamson Hoebel.Outlines of Muhammadan Law. Second Edition. By Asaf. A. A. Fyzee.Groundwork of Nigerian Law. By T. O. Elias.Woodfall's Law of Landlord and Tenant. Twenty‐fifth Edition. By Lionel A. Blundell, ll.b., of Gray's Inn, Barrister‐at‐Law.The Landlord and Tenant Acts, 1927 and 1954. By Lionel A. Blundell and V. G. Wellings.Everyman His Own Lawyer. Sixty‐eighth Edition. By “A Barrister”.Civil Liberties Docket.Books and Publications Received

The Development of International Justice

The Development of International Justice