Universal jurisdiction and concurrent criminal jurisdiction
| Author | Mihaela Aghenitei - Luciana Boboc |
| Position | Constantin Brâncoveanu University from Pitesti - 'Dannubius' University from Galati |
| Pages | 1-7 |
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UNIVERSAL JURISDICTION AND CONCURRENT CRIMINAL
JURISDICTION
Lecturer Ph. D. Mihaela AgheniŃei
“Constantin Brâncoveanu” University from Piteşti
Assistant professor drd. Luciana Boboc
“Dannubius” University from GalaŃi
Abstract
The Princeton Principles on Universal Jurisdiction define universal
jurisdiction as “criminal jurisdiction based solely on the nature of the crime,
without regard to where the crime was committed, the nationality of the alleged or
the convicted perpetrator, the nationality of the victim, or any other connection to
the state exercising such jurisdiction.” This is not the appropriate forum in which
to attempt to define universal jurisdiction; a general understanding of the theory
is essential to distinguish what universality is not, especially with respect to an
assessment of conventional law.
Both the Council of Europe and the European Union have legislated on the
issue of concurrent jurisdiction and the solution of conflicts of jurisdiction. It is
irrelevant whether the jurisdictional principle applied is universal jurisdiction or
any other principle of jurisdiction: what matters is the fact that there is
overlapping jurisdiction. But there is no country that would establish express
“criteria” to decide upon competing national jurisdictions.
According to the Rome Statute, International Criminal Court jurisdiction is
complementary to national ones. The ICC cannot request the transfer of
proceedings as long as they are pending in a domestic Court.
Keywords: “Universal jurisdiction”; “Concurrent Criminal Jurisdiction”;
“International Criminal Tribunals”; “conflict of jurisdiction”
Introduction
The Princeton Principles on Universal Jurisdiction define universal
jurisdiction as “criminal jurisdiction based solely on the nature of the crime,
without regard to where the crime was committed, the nationality of the alleged or
the convicted perpetrator, the nationality of the victim, or any other connection to
the state exercising such jurisdiction. This is not the appropriate forum in which to
attempt to define universal jurisdiction; a general understanding of the theory is
essential to distinguish what universality is not, especially with respect to an
assessment of conventional law.
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Both the Council of Europe and the European Union have legislated on the
issue of concurrent jurisdiction and the solution of conflicts of jurisdiction. It is
irrelevant whether the jurisdictional principle applied is universal jurisdiction or
any other principle of jurisdiction: what matters is the fact that there is
overlapping jurisdiction. But there is no country that would establish express
“criteria” to decide upon competing national jurisdictions.
According to the Rome Statute, International Criminal Court jurisdiction is
complementary to national ones. The ICC cannot request the transfer of
proceedings as long as they are pending in a domestic Court.
A. Concurrent Criminal Jurisdiction and the solution of conflicts of jurisdiction
1. In the context of the Council of Europe, the European Convention of
Transfer of Proceedings in Criminal Matters is relevant, because 24 states ratified
this convention, which is a relatively low number in comparison the European
Convention on Extradition has 47 ratifications and the Transfer of Sentenced
Persons has 61 ratifications. First Convention provides a mechanism based on a
consultation procedure between the concerned states to solve problems resulting
from what it calls a plurality of criminal proceedings.
1.1. In the European Union, article 31, paragraph 1 Treaty on European Union
provides that “Common action on judicial cooperation in criminal matters shall
include (…) (d) preventing conflicts of jurisdiction between member states.”
Article 31, paragraph 2, Treaty on European Union states “The Council shall
encourage cooperation through Eurojust by: (a) enabling Eurojust to facilitate
proper coordination between Member States' national prosecuting authorities.”
The European Commission presented in 2005 a Green Paper on Conflicts of
Jurisdiction. [1]
So, much more effective in practice are the consultations that take place
within Eurojust. It is within this agency that various prosecutors of the European
Union states make operational decisions with regard to serious forms of cross-
border crime by which more than one European Union state is affected. [2] Article
31, paragraph 1 of the Framework Decision provides that it shall be Eurojust’s
objective in the context of investigations and prosecutions concerning two or
more European Union states, to stimulate and improve coordination between the
competent authorities of the states. Article 6 gives further criteria to determine
which of the European Union states is in the best position to investigate or
prosecute certain offences.
2. There is no country that would establish express criteria to decide upon
competing national jurisdictions. In Finland, conflicts of multiple jurisdictions are
taken into account by the Prosecutor-General when prosecution in Finland is
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appropriate. In Japan, there is no rule, but the legislator tacitly understands that
the state connected with the case should exercise its jurisdiction.
In some countries there are rules about competing extradition requests that
can serve as model for the resolution in case of conflict of multiple jurisdictions.
In Germany the law offers rules for the resolution of cases on the
juxtaposition of an extradition request and a domestic criminal proceeding in the
same matters. If domestic criminal proceedings concerning the same act have
been carried out in Germany and the court has rendered a judgment or a decision,
the statute of limitations has elapsed or an amnesty law has been enacted, no
extradition shall be granted to the requesting state. The same applies if a judgment
or a decision has been rendered by an international court. The German prosecutor
has discretion to dispense with prosecuting an offence if the accused is extradited
because of the same or another offence or if he is transferred to an international
court. [3]
In the Netherlands if the extradition would be requested by two or more
countries, the law stipulates that the Minister of Justice has to take into account
criteria of the so-called good administration of justice. In addition reference is
made to the following criteria:
- the seriousness of the offences for which the extradition is requested;
- the “locus delicti”;
- the date on which the requests were done;
- the nationality of the requested person;
- the possibility of the requested persons being transferred to another
country. [4]
In Finland some criteria are mentioned in the case of multiple extradition
requests. When selecting between multiple extradition requests, the Ministry of
Justice takes into account such criteria as the nature of the offence, the time and
place of its commission, the order of arrival of the extradition requests and the
nationality and domicile of the person whose extradition is sought. This list of
criteria is not exclusive and therefore other relevant circumstances may be taken
into account as well. If a national court and the International Criminal Court have
both requested extradition, the request of the International Criminal Court has
primacy. [5]
In Germany, due to the subsidiarity of the exercise of universal jurisdiction, a
flexible ranking of concurrent jurisdictions has been established concerning the
prosecution of international crimes: primacy is given to the state of commission,
the perpetrator's home state and home-state of the victim as well as to an
international criminal court.
In Spain the law has developed the principle of subsidiarity by virtue of which
the state where the crime was committed has priority over the Spanish jurisdiction
when exercing universal jurisdiction.
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3. In Germany, several proposal are being discussed on the proposal of the
academics, on how to determine the most effective jurisdiction in cases of conflict
of multiple jurisdictions. It makes a distinction between two basic models:
- flexible handling of the allocation of jurisdiction on a case-by-case basis;
- a hierarchical order who determines which state is authorized to exercise
its jurisdiction according to the classification of links which underlie those
principles of jurisdiction.
However, it’s questionable whether such a ranking already emerged as a rule
under customary international law. It can be assumed that in such a case, the
primary jurisdiction will always be that of the state of commission. In USA, with
the Princeton Principles on universal jurisdiction, the best approach would be a
balancing test of the different elements, departing, as a minimum condition, on the
existence of a readily accessible forum and fully effective remedies in the
different states.
In Belgium, it was established a list of criteria to solve the conflicts of
multiple jurisdictions. The priority order of criteria is: the jurisdiction of the State
of commission of the crime; the international jurisdictions; the jurisdiction of the
state of the nationality of the author or of the state where the alleged offender has
been arrested; the jurisdiction based on universal jurisdiction combined with the
extended passive personality principle.
B. Universal Jurisdiction and International Criminal Tribunals
1. The International Military Tribunal was not based upon an assertion of
universal jurisdiction but was predicated upon the Allies' exercise of sovereign
power over the German territory as a result of their occupation and the
unconditional surrender of the German military. [6] Similarly, the Subsequent
Proceedings, which were conducted by the various Allied nations on German
territory, were founded upon occupation law. The jurisdiction of the International
Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia and the International Criminal
Tribunal for Rwanda is territorial in nature. The jurisdiction of the International
Criminal Court [7] is based on territorial and active personality principles.
According to Article 12(2) of the International Criminal Court Statute, the Court
has jurisdiction if the crime occurs on the territory of a state party or the accused is
the national of a state party. Yet, there is one aspect of the International Criminal
Court’s jurisdiction that may be described as universal, in referrals by the Security
Council pursuant to Article 13(b). According to these, “the Court may exercise its
jurisdiction with respect to a crime referred to in article 5 in accordance with the
provisions of this Statute if: (a) situation in which one or more of such crimes
appears to have been committed is referred to the Prosecutor by the Security
Council acting under Chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations.”
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2. With the exception (until Oct. 2007) of the USA, Japan and Turkey, all
other countries have signed and ratified the International Criminal Court Statute
on 10 December 1998. In Germany, the Constitution was amended authorizing the
parliament to enact a law allowing individuals to be turned over to certain
international courts. In Finland, some provisions of Statute are considered to
conflict with the basic rules of the Constitution, but the Constitution is currently
being amended. In. Hungary, although the International Criminal Court Statute
was ratified several years ago, it is still not implemented in national law, because
is very difficult to amend the Constitution.
3. About the conflict of domestic jurisdiction with the jurisdiction of an
international court, it is convenient to make a distinction between the jurisdiction
of the International Criminal Court and the jurisdiction of the United Nations ad-
hoc tribunals.
3.1. The Primacy of the Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda,
created by two United-Nations Security Council resolutions, over the national
courts is clearly established by Article 9 and Article 8 of their respective Statutes.
These international tribunals can require the national courts, at any stage of the
procedure, “to defer to the competence of the International Tribunals”. These
imply that domestic criminal proceedings that fall within the jurisdiction of the
tribunal shall be transferred to it at any stage at the tribunal's request, such in
France and in Germany. In Germany and in the Netherlands the domestic Acts
approved in order to regulate the procedure and the means of judicial assistance
with these tribunals.
The domestic authorities, such prosecutor or criminal court ,have no
discretion once the transfer of proceedings is requested by the ad hoc Tribunals.
For example, in Hungary proceedings for crimes under the International Criminal
Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia or Rwanda Statutes must be suspended on the
request of the respective Tribunal.
In some countries it is controversial whether the domestic authorities have a
duty to review the competence of the tribunals in each individual case. In France
the Court de Cassation reviews the requests and has to verify if there is any
mistake. In the Netherlands, the District Court is bound to declare the surrender
inadmissible in case of mistaken identity or if the surrender has been requested on
account of offences in respect of which the Tribunal has no jurisdiction under its
Statute. [8] In Belgium the Court de Cassation decides to defer the competence at
the request of the ad hoc tribunals, and the duty to review the Court is limited to
the identity of the person and the facts.
In Germany, the authorities do not officially check the competence of the
tribunals if they do not request the transfer of proceedings. The prosecutor or the
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court may bring forward the case to the tribunals in order to trigger a formal
requests. [9]
3.2. The International Criminal Court jurisdiction is complementary to
national jurisdiction, according to the Rome Statute and he has no mandatory
primacy over domestic courts, except if the investigating or prosecuting state,
having jurisdiction, is unwilling or unable to carry out its responsibilities. [10]
Positive jurisdictional conflicts may emerge in two situations, related to requests
for surrender and extradition.
3.2.1. In some countries, the universal jurisdiction of domestic courts is
subsidiary to the International Criminal Court's jurisdiction. In Croatia, domestic
courts will have jurisdiction to prosecute perpetrators of international crimes
according to the universality principle only if criminal proceedings cannot be
conducted before the International Criminal Court, but is not explicitly stated how
it is to be determined whether such proceedings can be conducted before the
International Criminal Court. The decision as to whether to initiate an
investigation lies within the discretionary powers of the Chief State Prosecutor.
The universal jurisdiction of Croatian courts is not only subsidiary to the
International Criminal Court's jurisdiction, but also to that of other states more
closely connected with the criminal offence. In Finland, the requests for surrender
of a suspected offender made by the International Criminal Court have primacy
over proceedings in their country.
In some situations, the proceedings can be transferred to the International
Criminal Court, such in Belgium’s legislature or in Spain, who has decided to
reverse rule of complementarity: claims can be transferred to the International
Criminal Court. The Ministry of Justice can submit to the competence of the
International Criminal Court. The procedure prescribes that the Minister of Justice
in consultation with the Council of Ministers issues an executive order informing
the International Criminal Court of its intention. This is not possible for a claim
that refers to a crime committed by or against a Belgian national, unless this crime
is identical with or connected to a crime for which the International Criminal
Court has accepted a claim as admissible.
Notes
[1] Brussels, 23.12.2005, COM 696 final and Annex SEC 1776;
[2] Council Framework Decision of 28 February 2002 setting up Eurojust
with a view to reinforcing the fight against serious crimes;
[3] National reports, XVIII
th
International Cogress of Penal Law, p. 249-302;
[4] National Reports, XVIII
th
International Cogress of Penal Law, p. 341-378;
[5] M. Kimpimaki, National Reports, see 4 – p. 113-203;
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[6] S. Becker, Global report on universal jurisdiction, International Review of
Penal Law, 2008, p. 159-173;
[7] Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, 17 July 1998, U.N. Doc.
A/CONF. 18319 (herein after Rome Statute);
[8] Richard van Elst, Harmen van der Wilt – Universal Jurisdiction in
Criminal Cases in the Netherlands, p. 341-378;
[9] S. Becker, Global report on universal jurisdiction, International Review of
Penal Law, 2008, p. 159-173;
[10] Article 17 of the Rome Statute.
References
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