Rules, Politics, and the International Criminal Court: Committing to the Court

216 Pages·2013·1.704 MB·English

by  Yvonne Dutton

Rules, Politics, and the International
Criminal Court
In this new work, Dutton examines the International Criminal Court
(ICC)andwhetherandhowitsenforcementmechanisminfluencesstate
membership and the court’s ability to realize treaty goals, examining
questions such as:
(cid:1) Why did states decide to create the ICC and design the institution
with this uniquely strong enforcement mechanism?
(cid:1) Will the ICC’s enforcement mechanism be sufficient to hold states
accountabletotheircommitmentsothattheICCcanrealizeitsgoalof
endingimpunityforgenocide,crimesagainsthumanity,andwarcrimes?
(cid:1) WillstatesviewtheICC’senforcementmechanismasacrediblethreat
and refuse to join unless they already have good domestic human
rights practices and institutionsthat areindependent and capable of
prosecuting human rights abuses?
(cid:1) If states that most need to improve their domestic legal practices as
relates to protecting against human rights abuses do not join the
court,isthereanyhopethatthethreatofpunishmentbytheICCcan
play a role in bettering states’ human rights practices and deterring
individuals from committing mass atrocities?
Thisworkprovidesasignificantcontributiontothefield,andwillbeof
greatinteresttostudentsandscholarsofinternationallaw,international
relations, international organizations and human rights.
YvonneDuttoniscurrentlyanAssociateProfessoratIndianaUniversity
Robert H. McKinney School of Law where she teaches International
Criminal Law, Criminal Law, Federal Criminal Law, and Evidence.
Routledge Global Institutions Series
Edited by Thomas G. Weiss
The CUNY Graduate Center, New York, USA
and Rorden Wilkinson
University of Manchester, UK
About the series
The Global Institutions Series has two “streams.” Those with blue
covers offer comprehensive, accessible, and informative guides to the
history, structure, and activities of key international organizations, and
introductions to topics of key importance in contemporary global
governance. Recognized experts use a similar structure to address the
general purpose and rationale for specific organizations along with
historical developments, membership, structure, decision-making proce-
dures, key functions, and an annotated bibliography and guide to elec-
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theoreticalpersuasions,andmethodologicalapproaches.Togetherthetwo
streamsprovideacoherentandcomplementaryportraitoftheproblems,
prospects, and possibilities confronting global institutions today.
Related titles in the series include:
InternationalLaw,InternationalRelations,andGlobalGovernance(2012)
by Charlotte Ku
The UN Human Rights Council (2011)
by Bertrand G. Ramcharan
International Judicial Institutions (2009)
by Richard J. Goldstone and Adam M. Smith
The United Nations and Human Rights (2nd edition, 2009)
by Julie A. Mertus
The UN General Assembly (2005)
by M.J. Peterson
Rules, Politics, and the
International Criminal Court
Committing to the Court
Yvonne Dutton
Firstpublished2013
byRoutledge
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Dutton,Yvonne.
Rules,politics,andtheinternationalcriminalcourt:committingtothe
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Summary:“Inthisnewwork,DuttonexaminestheICCandwhetherand
howitsenforcementmechanisminfluencesstatemembershipandthe
court’sabilitytorealizetreatygoals”–Providedbypublisher.
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
1.InternationalCriminalCourt.2.Internationalcriminalcourts.I.Title.
KZ7312.D882013
345'.01–dc23
2012044269
ISBN:978-0-415-65810-2(hbk)
ISBN:978-0-203-38154-0(ebk)
TypesetinTimesNewRoman
byTaylor&FrancisBooks
Contents
List of illustrations vii
Foreword ix
Acknowledgments xi
List of abbreviations xii
Introduction 1
1 The ICC: A new kind of institution in the international
human rights regime 10
2 Testing state commitment to the ICC 24
3 The United States: For justice, but against relinquishing
sovereignty 47
4 Germany: A strong country leads the way to a strong court 64
5 Canada, France, and the United Kingdom: A study in
contrasts 81
6 Trinidad and Tobago: Compliance before norms 100
7 Rwanda: Credible threat, not credible commitment 118
8 Kenya: Hope becomes regret 137
9 Conclusion 156
vi Contents
AppendixA:Statespartiestothe14differenttreaties,articles,
and/or protocols (31 December 2008) 166
Appendix B: Description of additional variables 174
Select bibliography 176
Index 188
Illustrations
Figure
2.1 Ratification of the 14 different treaties based on average
human rights ratings 31
Tables
1.1 Six main international human rights treaties 15
2.1 14 human rights treaties and levels of enforcement
mechanisms 30
2.2 Ratification of the 14 different treaties based on human
rights ratings 31
2.3 Worst human rights countries and ratifications 32
2.4 Level 5 enforcement mechanism: independent prosecutor
and court 37
2.5 Level 1 enforcement mechanism: state reporting 38
2.6 Level 2 enforcement mechanism: interstate complaints 39
2.7 Level 3 enforcement mechanism: individual complaints 40
2.8 Level 4 enforcement mechanism: committee visits 42
3.1 US commitment to the six primary international human
rights treaties 49
4.1 Germany’s commitment to the six primary international
human rights treaties 69
5.1 Canada’s commitment to the six primary international
human rights treaties 83
5.2 France’s commitment to the six primary international
human rights treaties 84
5.3 The UK’s commitment to the six primary international
human rights treaties 84
viii Illustrations
6.1 TrinidadandTobago’scommitmenttothesixprimary
international human rights treaties 107
7.1 Rwanda’s commitment to the six primary international
human rights treaties 128
8.1 Kenya’s commitment to the six primary international
human rights treaties 140
Foreword
Yvonne Dutton’s book Rules, Politics, and the International Criminal
Court: Committing to the court is the eleventh in a growing number of
research volumes in our “global institutions” series examining crucial
globalproblemsaswellaspoliciesandsolutionsforthem.Thesevolumes
serve as lengthier and more specialized treatments of given topics than
is possible in the general series. As such, they are essential components
inadvancingtheoverarchingaimoftheseriestorendermorevisiblethe
often complex and poorly understoodworld of “global governance.”
Inadditiontothese longerresearchvolumes,theseriesstrivestopro-
vide readerswithuser-friendlyandshort(usually50,000words)butdefi-
nitive guides to the most visible aspects and institutions of what we
know as “global governance” as well as authoritative accounts of the
issues and debates in which they are embroiled. We now have over 75
booksthatactaskeyreferencepointstothemostsignificantglobalorga-
nizationsand the evolution ofthe issues thattheyconfront.Our intention
has always been to provide one-stop guides for all readers—students
(both undergraduateandpostgraduate),interestednegotiators,diplomats,
practitioners from nongovernmental and intergovernmental organiza-
tions, and interested parties alike—seeking information about most
prominent institutional aspects of global governance.
The International Criminal Court (ICC), the world’s first permanent
tribunal to prosecute individuals for mass atrocity crimes, has been in
operation for over a decade. In fact, the expansion of international
judicial pursuit has been a key development of the post-Cold War era.
WhilemuchresearchinthattimehasfocusedontheimpactoftheICC
on international criminal law and how it has influenced state decision
making, little has been written on the reasons that states decide to join
or sit on thesidelines. Dutton explores this issue in the light of the per-
ceived weakness of international tribunals—they have no state power
to enforce their decisions and so are commonly thought of as being