Important Feature: ICJ = Governments. Only countries may bring a case before the ICJ. Companies and individuals *cannot* bring a case before the ICJ.

Website: http://www.icj-cij.org/

Location: Peace Palace at The Hague, the Netherlands. See also the The Hague Justice Portal.

Status: Began operations in 1946 as the official judicial organ of the United Nations.

Mandate: Statute of the United Nations Charter

Appeals: A judgment of the Court is binding, final and without appeal. If a State fails to comply with the judgment, the issue may be taken to the UN Security Council, which has the authority to review, recommend, and decide upon enforcement.

Jurisdiction: Cases before the court involve UN member states, not individuals (Statute Article 34). States must provide their consent by agreement, declaration, or a clause in a treaty.

Description: The International Court of Justice (ICJ) is the primary judicial branch of the United Nations. The ICJ is also referred to as the "World Court." By signing and accepting the UN Charter, States become ipso facto (Latin for "by the fact itself") parties to the Court's Statute, and thus, the Court (UN Charter Article 93). That is to say, if a country belongs to the UN, that country must recognize and accept the jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice. States can become party to the Statute of the ICJ without joining the UN.

Decisions: The Court may render judgments, advisory opinions, and orders. For a case to be filed before the ICJ, States must satisfy two conditions: a) be a party to the Statute of the ICJ, and b) provide consent for the case to be submitted to the Court. The Court does not observe or adhere to precedent on questions of law (stare decisis, Latin for "to stand by things decided"), as found in Common Law. Rather, each case is reviewed with respect to the relevant parties and their respective situation and adjudicated based on international conventions, international custom, general principles of law, and judicial decisions of the "most highly qualified publicists," as a means for the determination of the rules of law (Statute Article 38). Still, the ICJ recognizes a need for continuity: "It is nevertheless reasonable to suppose that where the ICJ has decided a case it would have to have serious reasons for thereafter deciding in a similar case to adopt a different approach, deriving for example from the progress and development of international law." (ICJ Blue Book)

How to File an Amicus Curiae: Interested parties can seek to submit an amicus curiae to the ICJ. Procedures and instructions on how to submit a brief are given in Article 69 of the Rules of the Court. If a public international organization seeks to file on its own initiative, the memorial must be submitted before the closure of the written proceedings.

Languages: The Court has two official languages: English and French. All Court documents are made available in both languages.

Cases: In August 2008, the docket had fourteen cases, three in progress and eleven pending. The Court provides online access to past decisions of cases, including landmark cases in international law, dating back to the Court's formation in 1946.

Note: The Permanent Court of International Justice (PCIJ) was the international court established by, yet independent from, the League of Nations. The court is no longer operational. The equivalent court is now the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

Important Feature: ICC = Individuals. Only individuals can be held criminally culpable. No case can be brought against a government-at-large.

Website: http://www.icc-cpi.int/

Location: Peace Palace at The Hague, the Netherlands. See also the The Hague Justice Portal.

The Court opened a field office in Kampala, Uganda in early 2005. The Prosecutor also has opened investigations in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Darfur in the Sudan, and the Central African Republic.

Status: Established in 2002 as the first "permanent, treaty based, international criminal court." The Court operates as an independent international organization with a negotiated relationship with the United Nations. 99 countries have ratified the Statute of the ICC and 139 countries are signatories.

Mandate: Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, which entered into force on 1 July 2002 for 120 countries.

Appeals: Appeals Chamber

Jurisdiction: Parties to the Rome Statute. The Court has jurisdiction over four types of crimes: genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and aggression. The Rome Statute does not currently define the term "aggression," leaving it open for definition at the first review conference of the Statute.

Description: The Court's facilities, built at The Hague in the Netherlands, feature detention cells for the accused and a waiting area for witnesses. The Scheveningen Prison (United Nations Detention Unit) also is used for the ICC and for the ongoing proceedings of the ad hoc ICTR and Special Court for Sierra Leone using the ICC facilities. The Court has three chambers: a) the Appeals Chamber, b) the Trial Chamber, and c) the Pre-Trial Chamber. States do not automatically become parties to Court by becoming a UN member, as is the case with the ICJ. A State becomes a party to the Court by ratifying the Rome Statute.

Languages: The Court has two official languages, English and French. All Court documents are made available in both languages.

Note: Cases before the court involve individuals, not states. The UN Security Council may refer a case to the ICC as was done with Darfur and Sudanese President Al-Bashir; however, the referral to prosecute individuals of non-party states for actions in non-party states remains controversial. The crimes of Darfur in western Sudan marked the first referral by the UN Security Council (Resolution 1593). In 2005, the ICC Prosecutor received a sealed list prepared by the Commission of Inquiry on Darfur. On 6 June 2005, the Prosecutor concluded that the case met statutory requirements for initiating an investigation.

Important Feature: NOT AN OFFICIAL PART of the United Nations (given here for an understanding of the status of the Court)

Website: http://www.sc-sl.org/

Location: Peace Palace, The Hague, The Netherlands

Status: The Court was established by the Convention for the Pacific Settlement of International Disputes. The legal basis for the Court derives from the 1899 Convention, which was revised at the second Hague Peace Conference in 1907.

Mandate: The Secretary-General of the PCA derives power and authority to arbitrate disputes from the 1976 United Nations UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules.

Jurisdiction: Parties must agree to international arbitration under PCA auspices. States and private parties involved in international commerce may seek arbitration.

Description: The Court is not an official part of the United Nations. Rather, it is an independent intergovernmental organization whose purpose is to administer arbitration, conciliation and fact finding in disputes involving various combinations of states, private parties and intergovernmental organizations. A state may become party to the Court by ratifying the Conventions of 1899 and 1907. In 2005, 103 countries were party to the Court.

Languages: The Court's official languages are English and French but other languages may be accomodated upon request.

Website: http://www.un.org/icty/

Location: Peace Palace at The Hague, the Netherlands. See also the The Hague Justice Portal.

Status: Established in 1993 as an ad hoc Tribunal sanctioned by the United Nations

Mandate: UN Security Council resolution 827 (pdf), adopted on 25 May 1993. None: UN Security Council resolution 808 (1993) called for the establishment of the Tribunal but did not provide for how or the legal basis. Resolutions 1503 (2003) and 1534 (2004) reaffirmed the necessity of the ICTY.

Appeals: Appeals Chamber

Jurisdiction: The Tribunal has jurisdiction over four types of crimes committed within the territory of the former Yugoslavia since 1991. The crimes include violations of the Geneva Convention, violations of laws and customs of war, genocide, and crimes against humanity.

Description: The ICTY was established to prosecute persons responsible for serious violations of international humanitarian law. The International Criminal Court did not yet exist. The ICTY and national courts have concurrent jurisdiction but the ICTY can decide to take priority over the national courts if in the interest of international justice. The court has three Trial Chambers and one Appeals Chamber. The accused are held in the ICTY Detention Unit. If convicted, the accused may be sentenced to a maximum of life in prison at one of the member State prisons.

How to File an Amicus Curiae: Under Rule 74, "a Chamber may, if it considers it desirable for the proper determination of the case, invite or grant leave to a State, organization or person to appear before it and make submissions on any issue specified by the Chamber."

Languages: The Court has two official languages: English and French. Information is also available in Bosnian, Croatian, and Serbian (Bosanski/Hrvatski/Srpski, B/H/C) and Albanian (Shqip).

Website: http://www.ictr.org/

Location: Arusha, United Republic of Tanzania (UN Resolution 977)

Appeals: Appeals Chamber

Mandate: The ICTR was established by the Statute annexed to UN Security Council resolution 955 on 8 November 1994 and amended by five additional resolutions: 1165 (1998) of 30 April 1998, 1329 (2000) of 30 November 2000, 1411 (2002) of 17 May 2002, 1431 (2002) of 14 August 2002 and 1512 (2003) of 27 October 2003. Resolutions 1503 (2003) and 1534 (2004) reaffirmed the necessity of the ICTR.

Jurisdiction: The Tribunal has jurisdiction over violations of the Geneva Convention, genocide, and crimes against humanity committed in Rwanda and by Rwandans in neighboring states in 1994.

Description: The purpose of the Tribunal is to prosecute "persons responsible for genocide and other serious violations of international humanitarian law committed in the territory of Rwanda and Rwandan citizens responsible for genocide and other such violations committed in the territory of neighboring States" between 1 January and 31 December 1994. The International Criminal Court did not yet exist. The court has three Trial Chambers and one Appeals Chamber. The accused are held in the ICTR Detention Unit, a United Nations Detention Facility (UNDF) with 56 cells. The accused have been transferred to the Detention Unit from more than 15 countries. If convicted, the accused may be sentenced to a maximum of life in prison at one of the member State prisons.

How to File an Amicus Curiae: Under Rule 74, "a Chamber may, if it considers it desirable for the proper determination of the case, invite or grant leave to a State, organization or person to appear before it and make submissions on any issue specified by the Chamber."

Languages: The Tribunal has two official languages: English and French. All Tribunal documents are made available in both languages. The Tribunal also provides some information in Kinyarwanda.

Landmark Cases:

• The Akayesu case (ICTR-96-4-T), decided on 2 September 1998, is a landmark case for international humanitarian law. The case marks the first time an international court interpreted the definition of "genocide" as defined in the Convention for the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (1948). Jean-Paul Akayesu served as the bourgmestre of Taba commune, Prefecture of Gitarama in Rwanda. The bourgmestre is responsible for maintaining law and order within the region. At least 2000 Tutsis were killed within the commune between April 7 and the end of June 1994. Civilians, mainly Tutsis, seeking refuge and safety at the bureau's offices were subjected to sexual violence, beatings, and murders. Jean-Paul Akayesu was convicted of genocide, crime against humanity, direct and public incitement to commit genocide and was sentenced to a single sentence of life imprisonment.
• The Kambanda case ( ICTR-97-23), decided on 4 September 1998, was the first time a head of government was convicted for the crime of genocide. It was also the first time the accused pleaded guilty to genocide. Jean Kambanda became the Prime Minister of Rwanda on 9th April 1994, two days after the suspicious death of then Rwandan President Juvénal Habyarimana and the Burundian President Cyprien Ntaryamira, who died in the same 1994 plane crash. The two leaders were returning from a meeting in Tanzania to discuss ways to decrease ethnic violence. Their deaths sparked the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, as well as substantial ethnic violence in Burundi (read blog post). Kambanda pleaded guilty to the six counts: genocide, conspiracy to commit genocide, direct and public incitement to commit genocide, complicity in genocide, crimes against humanity (murder), punishable under Article 3 (a) of the Statute and crimes against humanity (extermination), punishable under Article 3 (b) of the Statute." Kambanda was sentenced to life imprisonment.

Website: http://www.sc-sl.org/

Location: Freetown, Sierra Leone

Status: UN Security Council resolution 1315 adopted on 14 August 2000 called for the creation of a Court. An agreement between the Government of Sierra Leone and the United Nations was signed on 16 January 2002 establishing the Court. The Court began operations in July 2002 and the first indictments were issued in March 2003. Thirty-three countries finance the Court. The total cost of the Court is $104 million over four years.

Mandate: UN Security Council resolution 1315 (pdf) adopted on 14 August 2000.

Appeals: The appeals were estimated to finish by mid-2007 but continue in 2008.

Jurisdiction: The Tribunal has jurisdiction over violations of international humanitarian law and Sierra Leonean law committed in the territory of Sierra Leone since 30 November 1996.

Description: The purpose of the Court is to prosecute those individuals who bear the "greatest responsibility" for the egregious war crimes of Sierra Leone. Individuals under the age of 15 years cannot be tried. As of 2005, nine of the thirteen accused have pleaded not guilty to the charges of murder, rape, extermination, acts of terror, enslavement, looting and burning, sexual slavery, conscription of children into an armed force, and attacks on United Nations peacekeepers and humanitarian workers. Two of the thirteen died. For ease, the accused will be tried within one of the three trials: the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) trial (began on 5 July 5 2004), the Civil Defense Forces (CDF) trial (began on 3 June 3 2004), and the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) trial (began in March 2005). The indictees (except Charles Taylor previously residing in Nigeria and now in detention at The Hague and Johnny Paul Koroma who remains at-large) are in the custody of the Court in Freetown. If convicted, the accused may be sentenced to a maximum of life imprisonment in Sierra Leone or another country.

The Charles Taylor Trial is using the International Criminal Court (ICC) building at The Hague but the proceedings are governed by the mandate and rules for the Special Court for Sierra Leone. Taylor is not being prosecuted under the Rome Statute. He was transferred on 29 May 2006 when UN forces arrested him on the runway in Liberia and turned him over to the Special Court. The case is being tried at The Hague facilities for security reasons and Taylor is being held at the ICC detention facility at the Scheveningen Prison complex.

Languages: The Court's official language is English.

Website: http://www.eccc.gov.kh/

Location: Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Status: The United Nations and the Royal Government of Cambodia entered into an agreement on 6 June 2003 to prosecute the crimes committed during the period of Democractic Kampuchea (Khmer Rouge). The Cambodian Head of State ratified the agreement on 19 October 2004.

Mandate: To bring to trial senior leaders of Democratic Kampuchea and those who were most responsible for the crimes and serious violations of Cambodian laws related to crimes, international humanitarian law and custom, and international conventions recognized by Cambodia.

Trial Chamber: The Trial Chamber shall be an Extraordinary Chamber composed of five professional judges, of whom three are Cambodian judges with one as president, and two foreign judges; and before which the Co-Prosecutors shall present their cases. The president shall appoint one or more clerks of the court to participate.

Appeals: The Supreme Court Chamber, which shall serve as both appellate chamber and final instance, shall be an Extraordinary Chamber composed of seven judges, of whom four are Cambodian judges with one as president, and three foreign judges; and before which the Co-Prosecutors shall present their cases. The president shall appoint one or more clerks of the court to participate.

Jurisdiction: The Tribunal has jurisdiction over violations of international humanitarian law and Cambodian law committed during the period from 17 April 1975 to 6 January 1979. The specific crimes are given in the 2001 Law on the Establishment of the Extraordinary Chambers as amended 27 Oct 2004. Only high-level leaders will be prosecuted. Defendants must be alive to be prosecuted.

Description: This hybrid court is touted as the first of its kind and arose from six years of negotiations with the United Nations. The Extraordinary Chambers are authorized by both the UN and the Cambodian government but is intended to be independent of both. The goal is to prosecute the crimes of the Khmer Rouge for actions leading to the deaths of 3 million people. The first indictments were issued in May 1999 against Kaing Khek Iev, known as Duch, and Ung Choeun, known as Ta Mok. Their detention orders initially were issued on 22 February 2002. Notably, Pol Pot, who was convicted for genocide in 1979, never served any sentence and died in 1998. Thus, the mandate of the Extraordinary Chambers precludes jurisdiction to try him posthumously.

Punishment: The Extraordinary Chambers may impose a penalty from a minimum of five years in prison to a maximum of life imprisonment. The death penalty is not allowed because the Cambodian Constitution prohibits the death penalty.

Languages: The official working languages of the Extraordinary Chambers are Khmer, English, and French.