A House with Two Rooms - The Advocates for Human Rights

necessary to provide effective penal sanctions for persons committing, or ordering to be
committed, any of the grave breaches” of the Geneva Convention. 421
• States Parties of the international community should “search for persons alleged to have
committed, or to have ordered to be committed, such grave breaches, and shall bring such
persons, regardless of their nationality, before its own courts” or hand such persons over to
another State Party for prosecution. 422
Potential Implementation Strategy: The Principle of Universal Jurisdiction 423
Universal jurisdiction allows a court to prosecute alleged perpetrators of human rights violations
even where there is no direct link between the court’s country and the alleged violation. The court’s
jurisdiction stems from the nature of the crime and generally applies to violations of international
humanitarian law, such as grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions, slavery, crimes against humanity,
and torture.
Civil law jurisdictions and some common law jurisdictions have allowed privately initiated criminal
prosecution for extraterritorial acts. For example, Spain and France have allowed victims to submit
complaints directly to a judge or prosecutor, a right which has been extended to universal jurisdiction
cases. Even the United Kingdom, a common law country, permits individuals to request arrest warrants
when the police do not investigate a claim. 424 The privately initiated complaint can be a useful tool in
universal jurisdiction prosecution, as it allows for international crime investigations when domestic
prosecutors may be reluctant to intervene or may be concerned about the foreign policy implications
of their actions. The requests to extradite Chile’s former dictator Augusto Pinochet from the United
Kingdom to Spain and Chad’s former dictator Hissène Habré from Senegal to Belgium are two examples
of universal jurisdiction cases stemming from privately initiated complaints.
Some countries have created investigative mechanisms to facilitate prosecution of alleged international
crime perpetrators after the complaint is filed. Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway, Canada, and
Ethiopia have established special units with police and prosecutorial powers, as well as experts on
complex criminal cases and international criminal law. 425 International cooperation networks may also
be instrumental in the investigations of international crimes. For example, there are Interpol’s “Expert
Meetings” and international crime “Working Groups” and the European Union’s “Network of contact
points in respect of persons responsible for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.”
These bodies have the capacity to provide limited information on domestic laws, the establishment of
specialized units, as well as advice on conducting extraterritorial investigations. 426
With regard to crimes that fall under the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court:
• States Parties to the Rome Statute should “cooperate fully with the Court in its investigation
and prosecution of crimes within the jurisdiction of the Court” 427 with due regard to the
provisions set forth in the Rome Statute relating to international cooperation.
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Chapter Fourteen