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Bekou, Olympia --- "History and core international crimes: friends or foes?" [2019] ELECD 2559; in Ciampi, Annalisa (ed), "History and International Law" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2019) 135

Book Title: History and International Law

Editor(s): Ciampi, Annalisa

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

Section: Chapter 6

Section Title: History and core international crimes: friends or foes?

Author(s): Bekou, Olympia

Number of pages: 33

Abstract/Description:

The chapter examines history’s role in shaping the definitions of the core international crimes contained in the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC). Through a selective discussion of some of the provisions of the Rome Statute (apartheid, forced pregnancy, genocide, environmental damage and chemical weapons), it explores whether certain historical events have influenced the criminalization, drafting language and subsequent application of the crimes’ definitions. The chapter concludes that although a historical analysis may explain the wording of the crimes, their application by both the ICC as well as national courts remains subject to (re)interpretation, free from the weight of history, but possibly tainted by contemporary events which will, in turn, be scrutinized by the historian of the future. This, however, does not mean that legal provisions are free of any limitations or constraints. Inevitably, the weight of history may keep such provisions grounded to their original contexts.