This first chapter sketches a brief conceptual history of reparations in international criminal justice and introduces some key concepts and terms used throughout the book. Chapter 1 shows how questions of justice in response to mass atrocities have been informed by two international normative demands: the ‘fight against impunity’ and the corresponding rise of international criminal justice; and the emergence of international human rights and the increasing attention paid to victims of crimes. These two main normative responses – punishment of perpetrators and redress for victims – gradually converged over time, laying the ground for the emergence of reparations mandates at international(-ised) criminal courts. That this was not a linear development is demonstrated by interrogating the absence of reparations at the two ad hoc international criminal tribunals, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR).

International criminal law is the branch of public international law under which individuals may be held criminally responsible for the offenses of genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression. International criminal law seeks to prevent impunity by holding accountable those individuals who are responsible for serious violations of international criminal law. This chapter begins with the history of international criminal law, starting with the aftermath of the First and Second World Wars, and ending with the creation of a spate of international criminal courts and tribunals in recent decades. The chapter then covers substantive aspects of international criminal law, namely the crime of genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression. Finally, the chapter covers key procedural aspects of international criminal law, including the jurisdiction of international courts and tribunals, the admissibility of cases, modes of liability, and immunities. The International Criminal Court (ICC) will form a focal point in this chapter.

International criminal law is the branch of public international law under which individuals may be held criminally responsible for the offenses of genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression. International criminal law seeks to prevent impunity by holding accountable those individuals who are responsible for serious violations of international criminal law. This chapter begins with the history of international criminal law, starting with the aftermath of the First and Second World Wars, and ending with the creation of a spate of international criminal courts and tribunals in recent decades. The chapter then covers substantive aspects of international criminal law, namely the crime of genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression. Finally, the chapter covers key procedural aspects of international criminal law, including the jurisdiction of international courts and tribunals, the admissibility of cases, modes of liability, and immunities. The International Criminal Court (ICC) will form a focal point in this chapter.

International law resides at the confluence of law and politics and though it is guided by judicial judgement, it is particularly sensitive to political whim. Perceived economic interests are key to understanding the political motivations in international decision-making. In the UN model underof the Charter, international criminal law, and more specifically target selection for international criminal prosecutions, has been prejudicially skewed by economic/trade considerations. This chapter argues that target selection by the UN Security Council has historically been latently vetted according to economic considerations, inter alia, in a way that is unjust, and counter-productive to deterrence-based rationales. It further argues that the International Criminal Court, as a treaty-based body, is comparatively immune to most economic influences, at least by degree, and represents a positive evolution in the unbiased dispensation of international criminal justice. In support of this hypothesis this chapter reviews the target selection of UN based prosecutions (ad hoc and hybrid) and compares them to other grave situations not chosen for prosecution to conclude the determinative economic basis of target selection. It further iterates a comparison to ICC prosecutions where the independent court has initiated prosecutions in situations where the UN dared not to tread.

International criminal justice began with efforts to prosecute Germans, including the former Emperor Wilhelm II, following the First World War. The first international trials took place at Nuremberg and Tokyo in the aftermath of the Second World War. In the early 1990s, the United Nations International law Commission submitted a draft statute for an international criminal court to the General Assembly. Subsequent work under the aegis of the Assembly culminated in the 1998 Rome Conference and adoption of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. It entered into force in 2002. Meanwhile, several temporary international criminal tribunals were set up for situations in the former Yugoslavia, Rwanda, and Sierra Leone.