You can support IJT with a donation starting at €2.50.

Home

Latest articles and blogs

blog

UN diplomatic conference for the establishment of an international criminal court, Rome 1998 (Photo: Flickr/ICC-CPI)

Looking beyond The Hague

16 July 2018 by Stephanie van den Berg, The Hague (The Netherlands)

The past few weeks have not been good for the public image of the International Criminal Court. After the much discussed and dissected acquittal of Congolese politician Jean Pierre Bemba the court has been embroiled in internal conflict.

At a time when the court is celebrating 20 years of its founding Rome Statute, the office of the prosecutor seems determined to be on a collision course with the judges over the Bemba acquittal, even though the appeals chambers verdict is final and without appeal. The prosecutor, even after the appeals chamber verdict, stressed she had a strong case against Bemba and that the judges departed from the usual standard of review on appeal.

blog

Former ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo at the confirmation of charges hearing for Jean Pierre Bemba in 2009 (Photo: Flickr/ICC-CPI)

Ocampo's shadow still hangs over the ICC

18 June 2018 by Janet H. Anderson, The Hague (The Netherlands)

These last weeks have been all about the unexpected acquittal of former Congolese vice president Jean Pierre Bemba Gombo at the International Criminal Court (ICC) on war crimes charges. Or rather: it’s been about the many reactions and interpretations of this decision on a narrow 3-2 majority by the appeals chamber.

article

Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko, the main focus of the Ukrainian People's Tribunal (Photo: Flickr/Oleg Dubnya)

Separatist regions in Ukraine set up war crimes tribunal

27 April 2018 by Maxence Peniguet (Moscow)

Citizens of the separatist regions in Eastern Ukraine have created a court to try those responsible for war crimes allegedly committed by government forces. Civil society groups have dismissed it as a “political show”.

article

A painter spruces up the former premises of the The Hague Institute for Global Justice to ready it for a new tenant after the demise of the institute (Photo: Janet Anderson)

The death of a white elephant in The Hague

06 April 2018 by Irene van der Linde and Tjitske Lingsma

In 2011 a new prestigious institution - The Hague Institute for Global Justice - was set up with huge ambitions and 20 million euros of Dutch government funding. But after only a few years, the institute is broke and Dutch politicians are asking questions in parliament. How did such a high-profile think-tank end up as a white elephant?

blog

In 2012 ICC judges in the case against Germaine Katanga visited Ituri in eastern Congo (Photo: Flicker/ICC-CPI)

Come up and see me: Will there ever be an ICC hearing in a situation country?

29 March 2018 by Benjamin Duerr, The Hague (The Netherlands)

Judges at the International Criminal Court (ICC) have decided not to hold “in situ“ hearings in Eastern Congo where much of the court’s attention for the past fifteen years has been focused. As violence in the region is increasing, questions arise as to what impact the court has had and whether it will ever be able to hold hearings closer to the victims.