International crimes 2104-GPIR-D4INCR

1 Definitions of core crimes - practical problems
• Aggression
• War crimes
• Genocide
• Crimes against humanity

2. Historical perspective on international crimes

3. Victim groups and techniques of extermination in WWII
- national, ethnic, religious and racial groups
- political groups
- homosexuals
- disabled
- civilians and prisoners of wars
- mass killings
- concentration camps etc.

4. Genocide - models
- Major factors of committing international crimes
- stages of Genocide by Dr. Gregory Stanton
- Case study: Rwanda

5. Hate&Dangerous Speech
- Definition and the scope
- Case studies

6.-7. International instruments of prevention and reaction
- early warning
- political and diplomatic instruments
- economic instruments
- legal instruments
- social instruments
- military instruments

8. Principles of Individual Criminal Responsibility
Individual responsibility – principles:
• Irrelevance of immunities
• Command/superior responsibility
• Question of responsibility of legal entities
Forms of participation in crimes:
• aiding and abetting,
• ordering,
• planning,
• preparation,
• instigation,
• joint criminal enterprise,
• conspiracy,
• commission through another person,
• international corporate criminal responsibility

9. Mens rea - main defences
• superior order,
• duress,
• necessity,
• self-defence,
• intoxication,
• mistake of fact,
• mistake of law,
• mental incapacity

11.-12. ICC and other criminal tribunals

Jurisdiction ratione materiae, temporis, loci
Main principles of the functioning of the ICC (complementarity)
Participants of international criminal proceeding
Stages: investigation, pre-trial, trial, appeal, execution of verdicts
Main situations and cases

12. Fact Finding, Truth Commissions, Amnesties

Term 2023L:

23.02. Definitions of core crimes - practical problems
2.03. Causes of crimes based on historic examples
9.03. Methods, victims’ groups – based on WWII.
16.03. Models of genocide
23.03. Models of hate speech
30.03.International instruments of prevention
6.04. International instruments of reaction
13.04. Principles of Individual Criminal Responsibility
20.04. No classes
27.04. Main defences in trials
4.05. ICC
11.05. Other criminal tribunals
18.05. Fact-finding, truth commissions, amnesties
25.05. Written exam
1.06. Students’ presentations
8.06. Evaluation
15.06. No classes

Term 2024L:

Type of course

obligatory courses

Mode

Remote learning

Prerequisites (description)

The course is an opportunity to familiarize yourselves with the problem of international crimes. Students analyze historical and contemporary examples of international crimes. They study models/factors/triggers of committing international crimes and analyze their stages in comparative perspective. They identify internal and international actors who can contribute to structural and operational prevention as well as reaction to international crimes. They analyze instruments of prevention, reaction and reconciliation.

Course coordinators

Patrycja Grzebyk

Learning outcomes

Student:
Has a thorough knowledge of the sources and developments of the international legal regulations on the gravest international crimes: war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide, their scope, causes and consequences as well as connections between international crimes and security.
Has specialised knowledge of national and international instruments and mechanisms for prevention and response to human rights atrocities.
Has a critical understanding of the humanitarian principles and standards and the problematic nature of the dilemmas involved.
Has demonstrated the ability to formulate adequate and ethically sound recommendations for humanitarian action
Has demonstrated the skills to identify, critically analyse, classify and assess cases of international crimes.
Has specialised skills to critically analyse and assess contemporary instruments and mechanisms for prevention and reaction.
Has shown to be able to work in a professional environment demanding competence in the area of prevention and reaction to international crimes
Has demonstrated to be sensitive towards cases of massive human rights abuses and aware of their consequences. In response applies clear ethical standards informed by the humanitarian principles, values and professional code of conduct.
Has developed an open attitude towards acquiring new knowledge and is ready to undertake further stages in education.

Assessment criteria

- Preparing/reading materials
- Taking part in the discussion, engagement, presentations, projects (50%)
- Exam performance (50%)

Practical placement

Bibliography

- ICC statute
- The Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide
- A. Bieńczyk-Missala, S. Dębski (ed.), Rafał Lemkin. A Hero of Humankind, Warsaw 2010.
- A. Bieńczyk-Missala, 2016, Early warning and prevention of atrocity crimes – the role of the United Nations (w:) Dorota Heidrich, Klaus Bachmann (eds): The Legacy of Crimes, Crises and Violence. Transitional Justice, Domestic Change and the Role for the International Community, Peter Lang Edition, s. 199-216.
- R. Lemkin, Genocide—A New Term And New Conception For Destruction Of Nations (Chapter IX), Axis Rule In Occupied Europe, NYC 1944.
- Holocaust Encyclopedia, US Holocaust Memorial Museum
- R. Melson, Paradigms of Genocide: The Holocaust, the Armenian Genocide, and Contemporary Mass Destruction, ANNALS, AAPSS, 548, Nov. 1996.
- Mosaic of Victims, US Holocaust Memorial Museum
- G.H. Stanton, 10 Stages of Genocide
- Human Rights Watch Report, The Rwandan Genocide: How It Was Prepared, April 2006.
- E. Staub, The Psychology of Bystanders, Perpetrators and Heroic Helpers, (in:) The Psychology of Good and Evil: Why children, adults and groups help and harm others, NY Cambridge 2003.
- J. Waller, The Ordinariness of Extraordinary Evil: the Making of Perpetrators of Genocide and Mass Killing.
- UN Framework of Analysis for the Prevention of Atrocity Crimes
-A. Bellamy, A Lupel, Why we fail: Obstacles to the Effective Prevention of Mass Atrocities, June 2015.
- S. Benesch's Dangerous Speech framework, luty 2003, http://dangerousspeech.org/guidelines
- S. Benesch, Countering Dangerous Speech: New Ideas for Genocide Prevention, “Working Paper”, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, seminar, 2014.
- Any International Criminal Law handbook e.g.• I. Bantekas, S. Nash, International criminal law.
• M. Ch. Bassiouni, International criminal law.
• K. Kittichaisaree, International criminal law.
• W. Schabas, An Introduction to International Criminal Court
• W. Schabas, Routledge Handbook of International Criminal Law

Additional information

Additional information (registration calendar, class conductors, localization and schedules of classes), might be available in the USOSweb system:

Description of 2104-GPIR-D4INCR in USOSweb