DOMAC (217589)

  https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/217589

  FP7 (2007-2013)

  Impact of International Criminal Procedures on Domestic Criminal Procedures in Mass Atrocity Cases

  Articulation of rule of law and protection of human rights at national, European and international levels (SSH-2007-4.2-02)

  criminology

  2008-02-01 Start Date (YY-MM-DD)

  2011-04-30 End Date (YY-MM-DD)

  € 1,756,613 Total Cost

  Description

Although considerable attention has been given to the establishment and operation of international criminal courts and other international or internationalized mechanisms for determining individual and state responsibility in mass atrocity situations, their capacity remains limited and national courts continue to carry most of the burden of prosecuting the vast majority of perpetrators. However, efforts of the international community to ensure the proper utilization of national courts, as well as the coordination of their operations with international courts have been limited until now – leading to an incomplete response to highly complicated situations. As a result, awkward situation may arise where high-ranking suspects, with the greatest responsibility for atrocious crimes, are tried before international courts under better conditions than lower-ranking suspects tried before national courts; furthermore, failure to prosecute low-level perpetrators at the domestic level might exacerbate the collective exoneration of communities generated inadvertently by international criminal proceedings; finally, ineffective domestic prosecutions perpetuate the image of impunity and leave victims unsatisfied. The proposed collaborative project focuses on the actual interaction between national and international courts involved in prosecuting individuals in mass atrocity situations. It explores what impact international procedures have on prosecution rates before national courts, their sentencing policies, award of reparations and substantive and procedural legal standards. It comprehensively examines the problems presented by the limited response of the international community to mass atrocity situations, and offers methods to improve coordination of national and international proceedings and better utilization of national courts, inter alia, through greater formal and informal avenues of cooperation, interaction and resource sharing between national and international court

  Complicit Organisations

1 Israeli organisation participates in DOMAC.