Universal jurisdiction in belgian law

Palestine Yearbook of International Law

Volumn 12, Issue , 2005, Pages 77-115

  David, Eric ^a  

^a NONE

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EID: 84929904804     PISSN: 13861972     EISSN: None     Source Type: Book Series    
DOI: 10.1163/9789047407393_008     Document Type: Chapter

References (55)

1. 1 HUGO GROTIUS, 2 LE DROIT DE LA GUERRE ET DE LA PAIX ch. XX, ch. XL, p. 3 (1625); EMER DE VATTEL, 1 LE DROIT DES GENS OU PRINCIPES DE LA LOI NATURELLE ch. XIX, § 233 (1758).
2. 2 See 1 L. REP. TRIALS WAR CRIMINALS 103 (notes on the Zyklon B Case, decided by the British Military Court of Hamburg, March 8, 1946).
3. 6 See, e.g., ERIC DAVID, ELÉMENTS DE DROIT PÉNAL INTERNATIONAL §§ 3.5 ff. (2003) (discussing certain American laws in this category, including the Export Administration Act, of 1979, and the Helms-Burton Act, of 1996);
4. 1989 KEESING’S RECORD OF WORLD EVENTS 36451 (documenting the case of the Fatwa issued by Iran in 1989 against author Salman Rushdie for publishing the Satanic Verses).
5. Cf. Gilbert Guillaume, La compétence universelle, formes anciennes et nouvelles, in Gazette du Palais, Mélanges offert à George Levasseur – Droit Pènale, Droit Européen 35 (1992).
6. 16 Documents parlementaires [D.P.], Chamber, 1968-1969, n° 358-1; 1982-1983, n° 446-1; Senate, 1968-1969, n° 440; 1982-1983, n° 465-1 & 2.
7. 17 Jean Pictet, 3 Les Conventions de Genève du 12 août 1949, Commentaire 657 (1958) [hereinafter Pictet Commentary]; Marc Henzelin, Le principe de l’universalité en droit pénal international 353 (2000) [hereinafter Le principe de l’universalité].
8. 18 Law of 16 June 1993 on the Punishment of Grave Breaches of the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949 and their Additional Protocols I and II of 18 June 1977, Moniteur Belge, Aug. 5, 1993 [hereinafter Belgian 1993 Universal Jurisdiction Law].
9. 21 Case Concerning Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (Bosn. & Herz. v. Yugo.) 1996 I.C.J. 595, 616 § 31 (July 11) [hereinafter 1996 ICJ Genocide Convention case].
10. 23 Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, 6th preambular para., U.N. Doc. A/CONF. 183/9 (July 17, 1998), reprinted in 37 I.L.M. 1002 (1998) [hereinafter Rome Statute].
11. 24 Court of Appeals (Antwerp), July 19, 1985, reported in 1985 Droit européen des transports - Europäisches Transportrecht 542 [Dr. Eur. Transp.]; aff’d, Cass., December 19, 1986, Pas., 1987 I, 497.
12. 25 See, e.g., Eric David, Greenpeace: des pirates?, 1989 Revue belge de droit international 295 [R.B.D.I.].
13. Art. 15 § 6 of the Palermo Convention reads: “Without prejudice to norms of general international law, this Convention does not exclude the exercise of any criminal jurisdiction established by a State Party in accordance with its domestic law.”
14. Art. 218, § 1 of the Convention on the Law of the Sea reads: “When a vessel is voluntarily within a port … of a State, that State may undertake investigations and, when the evidence so warrants, institute proceedings in respect of any discharge from that vessel outside the internal waters, territorial sea or exclusive economic zone of that State in violation of applicable international rules .…” (emphasis added).
15. Art. 12 of the Preliminary Title of the Code of Criminal Procedure reads: “… la poursuite des infractions dont il s’agit dans le présent chapitre n’aura lieu que si l’inculpé est trouvé en Belgique.” [… the offenses referred to in this chapter will be prosecuted only if the accused is in Belgium.] (unofficial translation from the French).
16. Common articles 49/50/129/146 of the 1949 Geneva Conventions provide: “Each High Contracting Party shall be under the obligation to search for persons alleged to have committed, or to have ordered to be committed, such grave breaches, and shall bring such persons, regardless of their nationality, before its own courts.”
17. 37 D.P., Senate, 481-4, S.E. 1991-1992, Nov. 25, 1992, R. Lallemand et al.; id., 481-5, Dec. 22, 1992, additional report Loones.
18. On the concept of “international armed conflict,” see Eric David, Principes de droit des conflits armés 131 (3rd ed. 2002) [hereinafter conflits armés].
19. 39 Prosecutor v. Tadic, Decision on the Defense Motion for Interlocutory Appeal on Jurisdiction, No. IT-94-1-AR72 (Oct. 2, 1995), reprinted in 35 I.L.M. 32 (1996) (the discussion beginning at § 88 of the judgment is of particular relevance).
20. Case Concerning the Arrest Warrant of 11 April 2000 (Congo v. Belg.), 2002 I.C.J. 121, § 17 (Feb. 14), reprinted in 41 I.L.M. 536 (2002).
21. 44 For a critical examination of the ICJ ruling, see, Damien Vandermeersch, La compétence universelle en droit belge, in Poursuites pénales et extraterritorialité. Strafprocesrecht en extraterritorialiteit 65-74 (Gert Vermeulen ed., 2002) [hereinafter Poursuites pénales]; conflits armés, supra note 38, §§ 4.323 et. seq.
22. Id. (separate opinion of President Guillaume, §§ 11-17; separate opinion of Judge Rezek, § 11; separate opinion of Judge ad hoc Bula-Bula, §§ 65 ff.; declaration of Judge Ranjeva, §§ 11-12).
23. Id. (separate opinion of Judges Higgins, Kooijmans and Buergenthal, §§ 19-65; dissenting opinion of Judge ad hoc Van den Wyngaert, §§ 40-58).
24. Id. (separate opinion of Judge Koroma, § 9; dissenting opinion of Judge Oda, § 12; dissenting opinion of Judge Al-Khasawneh, in which he does not take a position on the question but nevertheless implicitly recognizes the validity of universal jurisdiction in absentia when he states that immunity should not prevent prosecution in casu).
25. Counter-Memorial of the Kingdom of Belgium (Congo v. Belg.), 2002 I.C.J. Pleadings (Case Concerning the Arrest Warrant of 11 April 2000) §§ 3.3.1 et seq. (Sept. 28, 2001) [hereinafter Counter-Memorial of Belgium].
26. 55 Rapport du Comité spécial créé par la résolution 51/210 de l’Assembleé générale en date du 17 décembre 1996, U.N. GAOR, 57th Sess., session, Supp. No. 37, Annex 1, at 10, U.N. Doc. A/57/37 (2002).
27. Princeton Project on Universal Jurisdiction, Princeton Principles on Universal Jurisdiction, Principle 1 § and commentary, at 28, 44 (2001).
28. 57 Groupe de Bruxelles pour la justice internationale, Principes de Bruxelles contre l’impunité et pour la justice internationale, Principle 13, § 2, at 123 (2002).
29. Oral Pleadings of the Republic of Congo (Republic of the Congo v. France), CR2003/20 (Case Concerning Certain Criminal Proceedings in France) at 17-18 (April 28, 2003) (this follows, implicitly rather than explicitly, from the pleadings of Congo counsel).
30. 59 Application of of the Republic of Congo (Republic of the Congo v. France) (Case Concerning Certain Criminal Proceedings in France) (Dec. 9, 2002) available at: .
31. 60 J. Verhoeven, Remarques critiques sur les lois du 16 juin 1993 et du 10 février 1999 et sur la compétence universelle, in De Genocidewet in internationaal perspectief 188 (J. Wouters & H. Panken eds., 2002).
32. Sharon A. Williams, Preconditions to the Exercise of Jurisdiction, in Commentary on the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court 394 (Otto Triffterer ed., 1999).
33. 62 According to the Petit Robert (1993 ed.), a person is “indisponible” [unavailable] inter alia when he or she is “empêchée de fournir un travail” [prevented from doing work].
34. Cf. B. Spriet, (Extra)territoriale werking van de Belgische strafwet, met enkele ‘klassieke’ extraterritoriale jurisdictiegronden uit de voorafgaande titel van het wetboek van strafvordering, in Poursuites pénales et extraterritorialité, supra note 44, at 38.
35. Cass. b. July 9, 1996, Pas., 1996 I, 274; Cass. b., Oct. 9, 1996, 1996 Bull. 962; M.-A. Swartenbroekx, Observations concernant la décision de la Cour de cassation (2ème ch. F.) du 15 mai 1996, en cause de E. Nd., J. Ka. et A. Hi, 89 Revue du droit des étrangers 374, 380 (1996).
36. 71 Note posted on www.cass.be/juris/jucf.htm, Feb. 12, 2003; Revue de jurisprudence de Liège, Mons et Bruxelles 364 ff. [J.L.M.B.] (2003).
37. Cass. b., February 12, 2003, available at www.cass.be/juris/jucf.htm; J.L.M.B., 368 ff. (2003); J.P., 22 (Feb. 21, 2003); Id., 16-23 (March 21, 2003) (commentary J. Kirkpatrick); J.T., 243 ff. (2003) (commentary by P. d’Argent).
38. See A.P., Chamber, External Relations Committee, July 10, 2000, question by Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Louis Michel.
39. 86 D.P., Chamber, 2002-2003, Doc. 50 2265/002; D.P., Chamber, 2002-2003, Doc. 50 2265/003, at 55, March 28, 2003.
40. 87 D.P., Chamber, 2002-2003, Doc. 50 2265/003, at 55, March 28, 2003; D.P., Chamber, 2002-2003, Doc. 50 2265/11.
41. 95 A.P., Senate, 2-289, April 5, 2003, oral report by Mme J. Leduc, J. Dubié, P. Mahoux, P. Moureaux, M. Kaçar.
42. 97 D.P., Senate, 2002-2003, 2-1256/13, April 4, 2003, II, 3.1; D.P., Chamber, 2002-2003, Doc. 50 2265/008, at 4, 10, per B. Laeremans and G. Bourgeois; D.P., Senate, 2002-2003, 2-1256/14, April 5, 2003, per P. Mahoux, G. Dallemagne & C. Nyssens; A.P., Senate, 2-289, April 5, 2003, P. Mahoux, H. Vandenberghe, L. Tobback, J. Dubié.
43. Committee against Torture, 30th session, April 28–May 16, 2003, CAT/C/CR/30/6, Examen des rapports présentés par les Etats parties en application de l’article 19 de la convention, part relating to Belgium, § 7, f (May 14, 2003).
44. 102 D.P., Chamber, 2002-2003, Doc. 50 2265/008, at 4, April 1, 2003, per B. Laeremans.
45. 105 D.P., Chamber, 2002-2003, Doc. 50 2265/008, at 12-14, April 1, 2003, F. Erdman, F. Moerman, G. Bourgeois.
46. See R. Ergec, Le contrôle juridictionnel de l’administration dans les matières qui se rattachent aux rapports internationaux: acte de gouvernement ou réserve du pouvoir discrétionnaire?, 1986 Revue de droit international et de droit comparé 72;
47. see also CE aff. 73027, April 9, 1998, Tshizeze Mayembe, 1998 Adm. Publ., M 5, 80; id. T4/1998, at 317-318 (note by E. Robert);
48. M. Leroy, Les actes de gouvernement: un spectre qui hante la jurisprudence du Conseil d’Etat belge, 1999 Adm. Publ., T, 183-189.
49. 108 D.P., Senate, 2002-2003, 2-1256/13, April 4, 2003, II, 3.2; see also, Tony van Parys, Doc. 50 2265/003, at 61, March 28, 2003; D.P., Chamber, 2002-2003, Doc. 50 2265/008, at 5, April 1, 2003, per B. Laeremans; D.P., Senate, 2002-2003, 2-1256/14, April 5, 2003, per P. Mahoux; A.P., Senate, 2-289, April 5, 2003, C. Nyssens.
50. 111 On this point, see Eric David, Une règle à valeur de symbole, 23 Politique 12 (Brussels) (February 2002); for a critical view, see J. Verhoeven, Prétentieuse et bricolée, 23 Politique 18 (February 2002).
51. 112 D. Vandermeersch, La compétence universelle en droit belge, in Poursuites pénales et extraterritorialité, supra note 44, at 79-80.
52. Cf. common art. 1 of the four 1949 Geneva Conventions, Art. 1 § 1, of the First Additional Protocol of 1977.
53. See Le Soir, La Libre Belgique, l’Echo, and others, June 14, 2003 and subsequent days.
54. 117 U.N. General Assembly Declaration of October 24, 1970 on Principles of International Law Concerning Friendly Relations and Cooperation among States in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations, A/Res. 2625 (XXV), 3rd principle, 2nd para.
55. The amendments were enacted into law on August 5, 2003. See Moniteur Belge, Aug. 7, 2003.