CYIL Vol. 4, 2013

UNIVERSAL JURISDICTION UNDER CUSTOMARY INTERNATIONAL LAW … UNIVERSAL JURISDICTION UNDER CUSTOMARY

INTERNATIONAL LAW, INTERNATIONAL CONVENTIONS AND CRIMINAL LAW OF THE CZECH REPUBLIC: COMMENTS

Pavel Caban

Abstract: The aim of this article is to briefly point to the current contentious issues within the debates on universal jurisdiction and to moderately defend its exercise under restrictive conditions as currently described in the doctrine. The opening sections part provide a very short overview of the concept of universal jurisdiction and of the conditions for its exercise, namely the existence or non- existence of the condition of the presence of the alleged perpetrator in the territory of the state exercising universal jurisdiction, subsidiarity of universal jurisdiction, and the observance of human rights standards and immunities under international law. The next section highlights some relevant features of the jurisdictional and aut dedere aut iudicare regime contained in the multilateral conventions aimed at prosecuting serious crimes of international concern, including the interpretation provided by the International Court of Justice in its judgment of 20 July 2012 in the case of “Questions Concerning the Obligation to Prosecute or Extradite”. Subsequently, the characteristic features of the “contractual universal jurisdiction” contained in the relevant conventions are compared with the conditions for the exercise of universal jurisdiction under customary international law (certain analogies between the exercise of universal jurisdiction in absentia under customary universal jurisdiction are highlighted on the one hand and, on the other hand, the entitlement of each state party to the UN Convention against Torture and similar conventions to make a claim towards the state where the alleged offender is present for the cessation of any breach of the relevant obligations contained in the conventions, as interpreted by the ICJ in the above mentioned decision). A theoretical possibility that the regimes of customary and “contractual” universal jurisdiction might in the future converge, and the possible role in this regard of the draft multilateral treaty on international cooperation in criminal matters with respect to the crimes under international law is mentioned. The final section is devoted to a short description of the salient aspects of the regime of universal jurisdiction under Czech criminal law. Resumé: Účelem tohoto článku je stručně poukázat na současná sporná témata v rámci diskusí o universální jurisdikci a pokusit se uměřeně obhájit uplatňování universální jurisdikce za omezujících podmínek, jež jsou v současnosti prosazová- ny v nauce mezinárodního práva. Úvodní části příspěvku obsahují velmi stručný přehled režimu universální jurisdikce a podmínek pro její výkon, konkrétně uplat- ňování universální jurisdikce in absentia , subsidiarní povahy universální jurisdikce a zachovávání lidskoprávních standardů a imunit podle mezinárodního práva. Dal-