Expanding Jurisdiction of the International Criminal Courts
Expanding Jurisdiction of the International Criminal Courts

Coherence or Chaos

Summary/Abstract: Within the present paper a new phenomenon has been elaborated - a phenomenon of expanding jurisdiction of the present international criminal courts. At the moment there are two ad hoc International Criminal Tribunals, one permanent International Criminal Court and several hybrid and internationalized international criminal courts. Ad hoc Tribunals are in the phase of transformation into the UN Mechanism for the International Criminal Tribunals, as a completely new forum, thus expanding Tribunals jurisdiction in a new direction. As for the International Criminal Court, desirable mode of its expanding is through the increase of its member states, in the overall list of member-states. What is happening in reality is that states are approaching ad hoc at the ICC's docket, as the situation directs them. Tendency in the realm of the international criminal judiciary is that creation of new international criminal courts is expected, although not warmly accepted. With the multiple international criminal courts existing, in the same ratione materiae jurisdiction, it is highly expected that the overlaps will occur as well as the expanding of the jurisdiction that is beyond the usual terms of norms interpretation. The focus of this paper is on a dilemma - whether such a situation will provoke coherence or chaos.

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