14 September 2026
Kosovo’s Justice Gap
The countdown clocks in Kosovo are ticking. The public protests have begun. On September 16, the EU-backed Kosovo Specialist Chambers in The Hague will deliver a much-awaited verdict in the war crimes trial of former President Hashim Thaçi and three co-defendants. The four men – senior figures in the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) – are charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity, including murder, torture, and enforced disappearances committed during and after the 1998-99 Kosovo war. Whatever the verdict, one fact stands clear: the foreign governments and international forces in Kosovo at the time largely watched as these crimes took place. Continue reading >>
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05 February 2026
Reflexive Globalisation, Law and Placemaking
Students demand the decolonization of curricula. Civil society debates the presentation of Non-Western artefacts and entangled histories in museums across the world. European governments apologize for slavery and genocidal killings, while former colonies request reparations, and the Indian legislature decolonizes the Indian Penal Code. The legacies of colonialism and empire are debated everywhere these days. We propose that these developments signal a new phase in the dynamics of globalisation. Continue reading >>
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24 June 2025
The Future of International Criminal Law is Domestic
Domestic courts are increasingly stepping in where international institutions falter, becoming key enforcers of international criminal law. The conviction of Syrian doctor Alaa M. in Germany exemplifies the potential of universal jurisdiction to deliver justice beyond borders. While the ICC remains blocked in the Syria situation, national trials offer credible, survivor-driven accountability. Rather than being a fallback, domestic prosecutions are emerging as a central pillar of international criminal justice. Continue reading >>07 June 2025
U.S. Sanctions on the International Criminal Court
Since the negotiation of the Rome Statute, U.S. relations with the Court have zig-zagged between quiet support and open hostility. With President Trump’s return to office, we are back to confrontation. On June 5, Secretary of State Marco Rubio made sanction designations of four ICC judges – two of whom authorized the investigation into Afghanistan and two of whom approved the Netanyahu and Gallant arrest warrants. This post describes these developments and situates them within the broader context of U.S.-ICC relations. Continue reading >>26 March 2025
The Price of Getting Duterte
The arrest and transfer of Rodrigo Duterte to the ICC was certainly good news for the heavily beleaguered Court. But the price of getting Duterte could be considerable. The manifest entanglement with Philippine politics is likely to harden Southeast Asian skepticism towards international criminal justice. Existing fears of external politicization are enhanced with a scenario of internal political turmoil, reinforcing Southeast Asian hesitation toward the ICC. Continue reading >>
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14 June 2024
Without Fear or Favour
Germany, like any other State Party to the Rome Statute, would be obliged under international law, and would be capable under German law, to arrest any person against whom the ICC has issued an arrest warrant, be it President Putin or, in future, perhaps one of the Hamas leaders, Defence Minister Gallant or Prime Minister Netanyahu. The opposing view not only misrepresents the current state of international law, but it also contradicts the Nuremberg legacy, which must be upheld particularly by Germany. Continue reading >>
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04 May 2024
The Battle for Immunity
The International Law Commission is preparing to continue discussions on Draft Articles on the Immunity of State Officials from foreign criminal jurisdiction at its forthcoming 75th summer session. This article focuses on two issues: the scope of immunity and its exceptions. These issues, which are widely discussed internationally, are far from being resolved. In this state of flux, a common ground is needed to move forward, which I try to outline in this blog post. Continue reading >>
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01 February 2024
An Unfortunate Trend of Vagueness
The German Government is planning to change the procedural and substantive legal framework on international criminal law in Germany, with an expert hearing having taken placed on 31 January 2024 before the German Parliament’s (Deutscher Bundestag) Legal Affairs Committee. One aspect appears to have been totally neglected by the current draft proposal: the issue of functional immunity from foreign criminal jurisdiction in case of core crime charges. In this post, I highlight an ambiguity regarding the personal scope of functional immunity arising from German case law which the German Government and Parliament should take the opportunity to clarify with the current reform proposal. This is particularly important given that the ambiguity appears to have traveled to other jurisdictions as illustrated by the case of Ziada v. Netherlands. Continue reading >>
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06 January 2023
A Ukraine Special Tribunal with Legitimacy Problems?
The call for a Special Tribunal for the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine ('UkrTrib') is also getting louder in the German political discourse. The proposal goes back to an initiative by the British international lawyer and writer Philippe Sands, who was quickly joined by a number of prominent politicians and international (criminal) lawyers), but this is misleading for several reasons, not least because the IMT was a consequence of the defeat of Nazi Germany and the following regime change, which in the case of Russia is unforeseeable. Continue reading >>
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01 August 2022
Fighting on the Business Front
Since 24th February 2022, international criminal justice has moved to ‘warp speed’: Russia’s flagrant aggression against the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine as well as the ensuing (and continuing) war has spawned a plurality of transformative developments across the whole realm of international criminal law. Last week, on 26th June 2022, these developments were further amplified by a statement issued by the Ukrainian government, which called for bringing war crimes charges against leaders and chairpersons of major international banks, including JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, or HSBC. Continue reading >>
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