Publication at Faculty of Law |
2010
Abstract
The article examines on the case of Geneva Conventions a general problem of the universal jurisdiction in contemporary international law. Violations of the International Humanitarian Law (IHL) are characterized by two sets of legal consequences.
Some of them are considered to be so serious that entail not only international responsibility of States for wrongful acts but also criminal responsibility of individual perpetrators. Four Geneva Conventions of 1949 have not only defined grave breaches and provided for their investigation and prosecution, but set uo also the obligatory universal jurisdiction of States Parties with respect to the grave breaches.