The Birth and Evolution of International Criminal Law
Born from the ashes of World War Two (“WW2”) in Nuremberg and Tokyo, International criminal law (“ICL”) is the body of law that holds individuals accountable for humanity’s most serious crimes. Too often reduced to headlines about geopolitics, tyrants, and war criminals, ICL is a landmark system that marked a turning point in the pursuit of universal justice by declaring some crimes so serious that they concern all of humanity and demand international cooperation.
Power, Consent, and the Long Road to Justice in Ukraine
On March 17, 2023, the International Criminal Court (“ICC”) issued an arrest warrant for Vladimir Putin, marking the first time it has indicted a sitting head of state from a permanent member of the UN Security Council (“UNSC”).[i] The warrant for the Russian president was one of the boldest moves in the Court’s history, however, it also reflects the core question of international criminal law (“ICL”): in a system that relies on state cooperation to turn warrants into arrests
