International Criminal Justice in theAsia-Pacific Region: The Role of the International Criminal Court Treaty Regime

Steven Freeland*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleResearchpeer-review

11 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Even as the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) continues to gain increasing acceptance worldwide, the number of states parties within the Asia-Pacific region remains relatively low when compared to Europe, Africa and the Americas. Although the position may be slowly changing, it seems that the broadly positive global viewpoint of the ICC has not thus far been widely embraced in the Asia-Pacific region, at least as far as active participation as a state party is concerned. This article discusses a number of possible reasons for this general lack of regional enthusiasm for the ICC, particularly in the relatively early years of its existence. However, it goes on to argue that there are tangible benefits for countries in the Asia-Pacific region to embrace the Court and become an active state party to the ICC Statute, both in terms of encouraging the increasingly important role played by regional countries in the ongoing development of international law, but also in relation to the greater formalization and recognition of human rights, as well as of international justice and accountability for those responsible for the commission of international crimes.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1029-1057
Number of pages29
JournalJournal of International Criminal Justice
Volume11
Issue number5
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Dec 2013
Externally publishedYes

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'International Criminal Justice in theAsia-Pacific Region: The Role of the International Criminal Court Treaty Regime'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this