Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, Adopted by the United Nations Diplomatic Conference of Plenipotentiaries on the Establishment of an International Criminal Court, Jul. 17 1998, UN Doc. A/CONF.183/9 [hereinafter cited as Rome Statute ]. عربي, 中文, English, Français, Ελληνικά, Русский, Español.

See Preamble: “[d]etermined to put an end to impunity for the perpetrators of these crimes and thus to contribute to the prevention of such crimes”

United Nations Security Council Resolution 1973, UN Doc. S/RES/1973 (Mar. 17, 2011), available online.

Katherine A. Marshall, Prevention and Complementarity in the International Criminal Court: A Positive Approach. 17 Hum. Rts. Br. 21 (2010). Available online, archived.

The author argues that, through Complementarity, the ICC can encourage national courts to establish systems to try international crimes.

Eric Fish, Peace Through Complementarity: Solving the Ex Post Problem in International Criminal Court Prosecutions. 119 Yale L.J. 1703. (May 2010). Available online, archived.

“The ICC’s inability to suspend those warrants undermined the Ugandan government’s negotiating position and may have contributed to the failure of the peace process and Kony’s refusal to stop fighting.” The author argues that the Rome Statute should be amended to allow for a greater opportunity for peace negotiations to succeed.

James F. Alexander, The International Criminal Court and the Prevention of Atrocities: Predicting the Courts Impact. 54 Vill. L. Rev. 1 (2009). SSRN paywall.

“To judge whether the [ICC] will actually contribute to a reduction in humanitarian atrocities, one must therefore examine all preventative effects, including the impact on public order.”

William Burke-White and Scott Kaplan, Shaping the Contours of Domestic Justice: The International Criminal Court and an Admissibility Challenge in the Uganda Situation. 7 J. Int’l Crim. Just. 257 (May 2009). Available online, archived.

The authors discuss various mechanisms for domestic justice including amnesty and courts-martial.

Linda M. Keller, Achieving Peace with Justice: The International Criminal Court and Ugandan Alternative Justice Mechanisms. Conn. J. Int’l L. (Spring 2008). Available online, archived.

The author argues that prosecution in the International Criminal Court is not the only means to achieve justice; she argues that the conflict between peace and justice is a false dichotomy.

Alexander K. A. Greenawalt, Justice without Politics? Prosecutorial Discretion and the International Criminal Court. 39 N.Y.U. J. Int’l L. & Pol. 583 (2007). Available online, archived.

“By prosecuting the few, rather than the many the transitional state may seek to acknowledge past wrongs, assign blame, mark a break from the past, and provide some sense of collective justice without jeopardizing the forward-looking goals of liberalizing political transition.”

Martin Mennecke, Punishing Genocidaires: A Deterrent Effect or Not?, 8 Hum. Rts. Rev. 4, 319–339 (Jul. 2007). SpringerLink paywall.

“ More than sixty years after the seminal Nuremberg trials, different forms of transitional justice mechanisms abound around the world. Above all, the International Criminal Court started recently the hearings in its very first case. Reading the document containing the charges against Thomas Lubanga Dyilo, a militia leader accused of horrendous war crimes committed in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the question of why to punish perpetrators of atrocity crimes seems almost ludicrous. However, concerns that international prosecutions inadvertently prolong or even exacerbate conflicts do require a response. Most proponents of international criminal tribunals argue that prosecutions have a deterrent effect. This article reviews the deterrence argument, highlights its inherent complexities, and proposes a refined approach to meet both the realities of atrocity crimes and international prosecutions.”

Kimberly Hanlon, Peace or Justice: Now That Peace is Being Negotiated in Uganda, Will the ICC Still Pursue Justice?, 14 Tulsa J. Comp. & Int’l L. 295 (Spring 2007). Lexis/Nexis paywall

The author discusses competing interest of the ICC in “establishing itself as a legitimate body and Uganda’s interest in maintaining autonomy as it develops as a democracy and asserts its identity since colonialism.”

Julian Ku and Jide Nzelibe, Do International Criminal Tribunals Deter or Exacerbate Humanitarian Atrocities?, 84 Wash. U. L. Rev. 4 (2006). Available online, archived.

Manisuli Ssenyonjo, Accountability of Non-State Actors in Uganda for War Crimes and Human Rights Violations: Between Amnesty and the International Criminal Court. J. Conflict & Security L. (Winter 2005). Oxford Journal paywall, Taylor & Francis Online paywall

The author considers the question of whether the domestic amnesty law is counterproductive to the ICC’s work in the case of Uganda.

Mahnoush Arsanjani and W. Michael Reisman, The Law-in-Action of the International Criminal Court. 99 Am. J. Int’l L. 385 (Apr. 2005). Available online, archived.

“A formidable challenge falls on the prosecutors and eventually on the judges who must determine whether and how to set priorities among their curial responsibilities and the inevitable political consequences of their actions.”

Jack Goldsmith and Stephen D. Krasner, The Limits of Idealism, 132 Dædalus No. 1, On International Justice (Winter 2003). JSTOR paywall.

John R. Bolton, The Risks and Weaknesses of the International Criminal Court From America’s Perspective, 64 Law and Contemp. Probs. 167 (Winter 2001). Available online, archived.

Payam Akhavan, Beyond Impunity: Can International Criminal Justice Prevent Future Atrocities?, Am. J. Int’l L. (Jan. 2001). Available online, archived.

The author argues that empirical evidence suggests that the ad hoc tribunals have “significantly contributed to peace building in postwar societies, as well as to introducing criminal accountability into the culture of international relations.”

David Scheffer, The Argument for the Prosecution, a review of Kathryn Sikkink’s book, Justice Cascade: How Human Rights Prosecutions are Changing World Politics, The New Republic (Sep. 26, 2011). Available online, archived.

Mark S. Ellis, Peace for All or Justice for One?, N.Y. Times, Aug. 11, 2011. Available online, archived.

Max Boot, Qaddafi Exile Unlikely, Commentary, Mar. 23, 2011. Available online, archived.

Kofi A. Annan, Justice vs. Impunity, N.Y. Times, May 30, 2010. Available online, archived.

International Crisis Group, Sudan: Justice, Peace and the ICC (Jul. 17, 2009). Available online, archived.

A warrant for Bashir; Can Sudan’s serving head of state really be brought to justice for his alleged crimes in Darfur?, The Economist, Mar. 5, 2009. Available online, archived.

Uganda rebels in fresh truce call, BBC News, Jan. 12, 2009. Available online, archived.

Parliamentarians for Global Action, A Deterrent International Criminal Court—The Ultimate Objective, in Genocide—Opposing Viewpoints (Elizabeth Des Chesnes & Christine Nasso, Eds., 2007). Available online, archived, Français.