The fight against impunity is an increasingly central concept in EU law-making and adjudication. What is the meaning and the scope of impunity as a legal concept in the EU legal order? How does the fight against impunity influence policy and adjudication? This timely first piece of comprehensive research aims to to address these largely unexplored questions, which involve structural institutional and substantive dilemmas underpinning the most recent developments of the European integration process. In recent years, the fight against impunity has become a pressing concern for the European institutions. It has shaped several EU policies and has led to a recurring argument in the case law of the Court of Justice. The book sheds light on this elusive notion, providing a much needed conceptual appraisal. The first section examines the scope of the notion of impunity, and its role in the EU decision-making process and in the development of EU competences. Subsequent sections discuss the implications of impunity - and of the fight against it - in a variety of complementary domains, namely the allocation of criminal jurisdiction, mutual recognition instruments, the rise of new surveillance technologies and the external dimension of the Area of Freedom, Security and Justice. This book is an original and timely contribution to scholarship, which is of interest to academics, researchers and policy-makers alike.

In the past twenty years, international criminal law has become one of the main areas of international legal scholarship and practice. Most textbooks in the field describe the evolution of international criminal tribunals, the elements of the core international crimes, the applicable modes of liability and defences, and the role of states in prosecuting international crimes. The Oxford Handbook of International Criminal Law, however, takes a theoretically informed and refreshingly critical look at the most controversial issues in international criminal law, challenging prevailing practices, orthodoxies, and received wisdoms. Some of the contributions to the Handbook come from scholars within the field, but many come from outside of international criminal law, or indeed from outside law itself. The chapters are grounded in history, geography, philosophy, and international relations. The result is a Handbook that expands the discipline and should fundamentally alter how international criminal law is understood.

Jennifer Nedelsky claims that we must rethink our notion of autonomy, rejecting the usual vocabulary of control, boundaries and individual rights. If we understand that we are fundamentally in relation to others, she argues, we will recognize that we become autonomous with others.

Justice in domestic courts is one of the most prominent aims of victims seeking to obtain accountability for human rights violations. It is, however, also one of the most difficult to achieve. In many Latin American countries, as well as elsewhere, activists have put human rights prosecutions forward as a fundamental means to end impunity, build democracy, strengthen the rule of law and address victims’ rights. But there is still little knowledge about what actually happens when these judicial mechanisms are effectively put to work. Can prosecutions of mass human rights violations contribute to overcome the effects of state violence and impunity? Can trials enable meaningful reparative changes for victims in their local contexts? Analysing the human rights trials in Argentina established to prosecute those responsible for human rights violations during the military dictatorship, this book addresses how and why domestic prosecutions can operate as a means for reparation and contribute to dealing with the damage caused by crimes against humanity. Based on a series of interviews conducted with victims participating in these prosecutions, as well as with lawyers, prosecutors, judges and other relevant actors in five provinces of Argentina, this book will be of considerable interest to those studying and working in the interdisciplinary field of transitional justice and human rights. The PhD thesis on which this book was based was awarded with the 2016 Doctoral Studies Award of the Philipps University of Marburg in Germany.

In the freshest new international law text in 20 years, Christopher C. Joyner offers a critical assessment of international legal rules in the early 21st century as they are applied by governments to the real world. Looking at concepts and principles, processes and critical problems, Joyner steers clear of an old-time case method approach, preferring to treat issues thematically. He shows the challenges of international law in terms of peace, security, human rights, the environment, and economic justice. Particular features of the book include engaging vignettes, clearly defined key terms, and special coverage of emerging topics including common spaces; international criminal law; rules, norms, and regimes; and trade relations and commercial exchange. Through it all, Joyner maintains an intent focus on the role of the individual in the evolving international legal order.

This is the second edition of EU Criminal Law, which has become since its publication in 2009 a key point of reference in the field. The second edition is updated and substantially expanded, to take into account the significant growth of EU criminal law as a distinct legal field and the impact of the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty on European integration in criminal matters. The book offers a holistic and in-depth analysis of the key elements of European integration in criminal matters, including EU powers and competence to criminalise, the evolution of judicial co-operation under the principles of mutual recognition and mutual trust, EU action in the field of criminal procedure including legislation on the rights of the defendant and the victim, the evolving role of European bodies and agencies (such as Europol, Eurojust and the European Public Prosecutor's Office) in European criminal law, and the development of EU-wide surveillance and data gathering and exchange mechanisms. Several chapters are devoted to the external dimension of EU action in criminal matters (including transatlantic counter-terrorism cooperation and the impact of Brexit on EU Criminal Law) Throughout the volume, the constitutional and fundamental rights implications of European integration in criminal matters are highlighted. Covering all the key principles of EU law, with clear explanation and rigorous analysis, this will give scholars, students, policy makers and legal practitioners interested in the subject a strong understanding of this fascinating but sometimes complex field.

Advocating Social Change through International Law, edited by Professors Daniel Bradlow and David Hunter, explores the use of hard and soft international law in advocating for social change. Using case studies rooted in inter alia human rights, international crimes, environmental protection, public heath, and financial regulation, the book focuses on both state and non-state actors’ strategic choices regarding the use of hard and soft international law in advocating for social change. Looking through the social change lens provides new insights into the interplay between soft and hard international law, the perceived costs and benefits associated with hard and soft international law in different contexts, and the factors affecting the effectiveness of hard and soft approaches to international law.

The present book addresses the right to truth in the field of international human rights law. The objective is to verify the outlines of this right that make it unique, and which justify its own (disputable) existence in the human rights scenario as a legally binding norm. Departing from a historical perspective of the emergence of this right in International Law, the intent is to analyze the multiple debates that have marked the development of the right to truth throughout the past decades. It is explored, therefore, how the a priori abstract notion of truth became a right and the strict relation this has with the social mobilizations of victims of gross violations of human rights. To accomplish this, the book spans across the struggle, in particular, of the relatives of disappeared victims during the 1970's and 1980's when the dictatorships reigned in Latin America. It follows on the expansion of the right to truth during what has been known as the fight against impunity, until it reaches the main human rights courts. To finalize, it discusses the inclusion of the right to truth in the International Convention on the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance and the measures more commonly used to realize such right. In the book, it is concluded that the right to truth carries a singularity that is crucial for the protection of victims of gross human rights violations.