Universal Jurisdiction for Humanitarian Crimes

An ethnography of the emerging architecture of international justice which attempts to answer the question Does international justice have a local address? by analysing a case lodged by Lebanese and Palestinian massacre survivors in a Belgian court under the principle of universal jurisdiction for war crimes and crimes against humanity.The principle of universal jurisdiction attempts to remove any safe havens for perpetrators of war crimes and crimes against humanity by enabling citizens of one state to be tried for killing citizens of a second state in the courts of a third state. Prosecuting international crimes through the principle of Universal Jurisdiction, possible until recently in Belgium, and still possible in Spain, is first and foremost a judicial endeavour, but is usually a profoundly political undertaking as well. The practice of universal jurisdiction can empower survivors of atrocities, often among the weakest and most marginalized of the world's citizens, to play an important legal role on a global stage. But justice is not yet universal, in conception or in practice.King-Irani, Laurie is the author of 'Universal Jurisdiction for Humanitarian Crimes', published 2011 under ISBN 9781845680961 and ISBN 1845680960.