Article

Torturing the Rome statute : the attempt to bring Guantanamo's detainees within the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court

Eric Bales

• Tulsa Journal of comparative and international law, Vol. 16, Spring 2009, p. 173-191

English

Photocopies

Part II of this Article surveys the oft-failed quest for a definition of "terrorism." Measuring past attempts, a synthesized definition is proposed that draws on the common ground of these otherwise divergent views. The formation of the ICC is discussed in Part III while Part IV takes up the non-inclusion of terrorism as a "core crime" of the ICC. Also discussed in Part IV is the attempt by some to shoe-horn terrorism into the ICC's subject matter jurisdiction as a crime against humanity; while creative, the argument is not sustainable. Part V closes out the Article with a brief review of the American Service-members' Protection Act of 2002 ("ASPA") and the "Article 98 agreements" that diminish the capacity of the ICC to fulfill its mandate. The Article concludes that unless and until the Review Conference amends the Rome Statute to include terrorism as an ICC core crime and the U.S. removes the obstacles it laid in the path of the ICC, there is no super-national body with jurisdiction to which the United States can pass off its legal burdens.