International court

International courtsare formed bytreatiesbetweennations,or by aninternational organizationsuch as theUnited Nations– and includead hoctribunals and permanent institutions but exclude any courts arising purely under national authority.

Definition

An international court is aninternational organization,or a body of an international organization, that hears cases in which one party may be a state or international organization (or body thereof), and which is composed of independent judges who follow predetermined rules of procedure to issue binding decisions on the basis ofinternational law.^[1]

History

Early examples of international courts include theNurembergandTokyotribunals established in the aftermath ofWorld War II.Several such international courts are presently located inThe Haguein theNetherlands,most importantly theInternational Court of Justice(ICJ), and theInternational Criminal Court(ICC). Further international courts exist elsewhere, usually with their jurisdiction restricted to a particular country, a global or regional intergovernmental or supranational organisation, or historic issue, such as theInternational Criminal Tribunal for Rwandathat deals with thegenocideinRwanda.

In addition to international tribunals created to address crimes committed during genocides and civil war,ad hoccourts and tribunals combining international and domestic strategies have also been established on a situational basis. Examples of these "hybrid tribunals" are theSpecial Court for Sierra Leone,Special Tribunal for Lebanon,Special Panels of the Dili District Courtin East Timor, and theExtraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia.

Privileges and immunities

Judgesand high-level staff of such courts may be affordeddiplomatic immunityif their governing authority allows.

List of international courts

Name	Subject matter and scope	Headquarters	Years active
African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights	Human rights within theAfrican Union	Addis Ababa,Ethiopia(2006–7) Arusha,Tanzania(2007–present)	2006–present
Appellate Body of the World Trade Organization	Trade disputes within theWorld Trade Organization	Geneva,Switzerland	1995–present
Benelux Court of Justice	Trade disputes within theBenelux	Brussels,Belgium	1975–present
Caribbean Court of Justice	General disputes within theCaribbean Community	Port of Spain,Trinidad and Tobago	2005–present
CIS Economic Court	Trade disputes and interpretation of treaties within theCommonwealth of Independent States	Minsk,Belarus	1994–present
COMESA Court of Justice	Trade disputes within theCommon Market for Eastern and Southern Africa	Khartoum,Sudan	1998–present
Common Court of Justice and Arbitration of the OHADA	Interpretation ofOHADAtreaties and uniform laws	Abidjan,Ivory Coast	1998–present
Court of Justice of the Andean Community	Trade disputes within theAndean Community	Quito,Ecuador	1983–present
Court of the Eurasian Economic Union	Trade disputes and interpretation of treaties within theEurasian Economic Union	Minsk,Belarus	2015–present
East African Court of Justice	Interpretation ofEast African Communitytreaties	Arusha,Tanzania	2001–present
Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court	General disputes within theOrganisation of Eastern Caribbean States	Castries,Saint Lucia	1967–present
ECOWAS Court of Justice	Interpretation ofEconomic Community of West African Statestreaties	Abuja,Nigeria	1996–present
European Court of Human Rights	Human rights within theCouncil of Europe	Strasbourg,France	1959–present
European Court of Justice	Interpretation ofEuropean Union law	Luxembourg City,Luxembourg	1952–present
European Free Trade Association Court	Interpretation ofEuropean Free Trade Associationlaw	Luxembourg City,Luxembourg	1994–present
European Nuclear Energy Tribunal	Nuclear energy disputes within theOECD	Paris,France	1960–present
Inter-American Court of Human Rights	Human rights within theOrganization of American States	San José,Costa Rica	1979–present
International Court of Justice	General disputes globally (UN)	The Hague,Netherlands	1945–present
International Criminal Court	Criminal prosecutions globally (Rome Statute)	The Hague,Netherlands	2002–present
International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda	Criminal prosecutions for theRwandan genocide(UN)	Arusha, Tanzania	1994−2015
International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia	Criminal prosecutions for theYugoslav Wars(UN)	The Hague,Netherlands	1993−2017
International Military Tribunal	Criminal prosecutions ofNazi Germanofficials forWorld War II/Holocaust(Nuremberg Charter)	Nuremberg,post-war Germany	1945–1946
International Military Tribunal for the Far East	Criminal prosecutions ofImperial Japaneseofficials forWorld War II(Tokyo Charter)	Tokyo,Japan	1946−1948
International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals	Completing the Rwanda and Yugoslav Tribunals' work (UN)	The Hague,Netherlands	2012−present
International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea	Maritime disputes globally(UNCLOS)	Hamburg,Germany	1994–present
Permanent Court of International Justice	General disputes globally (League of Nations)	The Hague,Netherlands	1922–1946
Residual Special Court for Sierra Leone	Completing the Special Court for Sierra Leone's work (UN)	Freetown,Sierra Leone	2013−present
SADC Tribunal	Interpretation ofSouthern African Development Communitytreaties	Windhoek,Namibia	2005–2012
Special Court for Sierra Leone	Criminal prosecutions for theSierra Leone Civil War(UN)	Freetown,Sierra Leone	2002−2013
Special Tribunal for Lebanon	Criminal prosecutions for theassassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafic Hariri(UN)	Leidschendam,Netherlands	2009−2023

List of hybrid tribunals

Name	Years active	Subject matter
Extraordinary African Chambers	2013–present	Criminal prosecutions for crimes against humanity committed during PresidentHis sắc ne Habré's tenure
Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia	2006–present	Criminal prosecutions ofKhmer Rougeofficials for theCambodian genocide
Kosovo Specialist Chambers	2017–present	Criminal prosecutions ofKosovo Liberation Armyofficials for war crimes during theKosovo War
Residual Special Court for Sierra Leone	2013−present	Criminal prosecutions for war crimes during theSierra Leone Civil War
Special Court for Sierra Leone	2002–2013
Special Panels of the Dili District Court	2000–2006	Criminal prosecutions for war crimes during the1999 East Timorese crisis
Special Tribunal for Lebanon	2009−2023	Criminal prosecutions for theassassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafic Hariri

Lectures

LecturebyYuval Shany(Yuval Shany) entitledAssessing the Effectiveness of International Courts: A Goal-based Approachin theLecture Series of the United Nations Audiovisual Library of International Law
LecturebySir Elihu LauterpachtentitledThe Role of the International Judgein theLecture Series of the United Nations Audiovisual Library of International Law
LecturebyKenneth KeithentitledAspects of the Judicial Process in National and International Courts and Tribunalsin theLecture Series of the United Nations Audiovisual Library of International Law
LecturebyMark Weston JanisentitledProtestants, Progress and Peace: the 19th Century Movement for an International Court and Congress: Early Drafts of Today's International Court and the United Nationsin theLecture Series of the United Nations Audiovisual Library of International Law

References

^Romano, Cesare P.R.;Alter, Karen J.;Shany, Yuval(2013).The Oxford Handbook of International Adjudication.Oxford University Press.pp. 4–9.ISBN 9780199660681.

External links

Project on International Courts and Tribunals,which maintains a second website focused on Africa ataict-ctia.org
United Nations Rule of Law: Tribunals & Other Mechanisms(Archived2021-04-27 at theWayback Machine), on the relationship between international courts and therule of law.

[1] Romano, Cesare P.R.;Alter, Karen J.;Shany, Yuval(2013).The Oxford Handbook of International Adjudication.Oxford University Press.pp. 4–9.ISBN 9780199660681.

[1]

v t e International criminal law
Sources	Customary international law Peremptory norm Hague Conventions Geneva Conventions Nuremberg Charter Nuremberg principles United Nations Charter Genocide Convention Convention Against Torture Rome Statute
Crimes against international law	Crimes against humanity Crime of aggression Crime of apartheid Genocide Genocidal intent Incitement to genocide Piracy Slave trading Starvation War crime
International courts (in order of foundation)	International Military Tribunal (Nuremberg Trials) International Military Tribunal for the Far East International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda Special Court for Sierra Leone International Criminal Court Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia Special Panels of the Dili District Court Special Tribunal for Lebanon International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals
Related concepts	Command responsibility Superior orders Joint criminal enterprise International humanitarian law International speech crimes Universal jurisdiction