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Ms. Sarah Nouwen

Ms. Sarah Nouwen
Reader in International Law and
Co-Deputy Director
Lauterpacht Centre for International Law
University of Cambridge

Biography Biography in PDF

Criminal Law and Procedure
International Criminal Law
Complementarity

Complementarity has become a buzzword in international law. This lecture distinguishes between complementarity as “big idea” and as technical admissibility rule in the Rome Statute. It then contrasts the work that complementarity does as “big idea” with the substantive elements of complementarity as it has been set forth in the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.

Video | Audio
(14/11/2019, 49 minutes)
Criminal Law and Procedure
International Criminal Law
Complementarity
A. Legal Instruments
B. Jurisprudence

International Criminal Court

International Criminal Court, Situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Judgment of 13 July 2006, Appeals Chamber, ICC-01/04-169, Dissenting Opinion of Judge Georghios M. Pikis of 23 September 2008.

International Criminal Court, Situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Decision of 21 July 2008, Pre-Trial Chamber I, ICC-01/04-02/06-20-Anx2.

International Criminal Court, Situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in the case of the Prosecutor v. Thomas Lubanga Dyilo, Decision of 10 February 2006, Pre-Trial Chamber I,  ICC-01-04-01/06-8.

International Criminal Court, Situation in Darfur, Sudan, in the case of the Prosecutor v. Omar Hassan Ahmad Al Bashir (Omar Al Bashir), Decision of 4 March 2009, Pre-Trial Chamber I, ICC-02/05-01/09-3.

International Criminal Court, Situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in the case of the Prosecutor v. Germain Katanga and Mathieu Ngudjolo Chui, Motion of 11 March 2009, Trial Chamber II, ICC-01/04-01/07-949.

International Criminal Court, Situation in Darfur, Sudan, in the case of the Prosecutor v. Bahr Idriss Abu Garda, Decision of 7 May 2009, Pre-Trial Chamber I, ICC-02/05-02/09-1.

International Criminal Court, Situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in the case of the Prosecutor v. Germain Katanga and Mathieu Ngudjolo Chui, Reasons for the Oral Decision of 16 June 2009, Trial Chamber II, ICC-01/04-01/07-1213.

International Criminal Court, Situation in Darfur, Sudan, in the case of the Prosecutor v. Abdallah Banda Abakaer Nourain and Saleh Mohammed Jerbo Jamus, Second Decision of 27 August 2009, Pre-Trial Chamber I, ICC-02/05-03/09-1.

International Criminal Court, Situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in the case of Prosecutor v. Germain Katanga and Mathieu Ngudjolo Chui, Judgement of 25 September 2009, Appeals Chamber, ICC-01/04-01/07-1497.

International Criminal Court, Situation in Darfur, Sudan, in the case of the Prosecutor v. Bahr Idriss Abu Garda, Decision of 8 February 2010, Pre-Trial Chamber I, ICC-02/05-02/09-243. 

International Criminal Court, Situation in the Republic of Kenya, Decision of 31 March 2010, Pre-Trial Chamber II, ICC-01/09-19.

International Criminal Court, Situation in the Central African Republic in the case of the Prosecutor v. Jean-Pierre Bemba Gombo, Decision of 24 June 2010, Trial Chamber III, ICC-01/05-01/08-802.

International Criminal Court, Situation in the Central African Republic in the case of the Prosecutor v. Jean-Pierre Bemba Gombo, Judgment of 19 October 2010, Appeals Chamber, ICC-01/05-01/-8-962.

International Criminal Court, Situation in the Republic of Kenya in the case of Prosecutor v. Francis Kirimi Muthaura, Uhuru Muigai Kenyatta and Mohammed Hussein Ali, Reply on behalf of the Government of Kenya of 13 May 2011, Pre-Trial Chamber II, ICC-01/09-02/11-91.

International Criminal Court, Situation in the Republic of Kenya in the case of Prosecutor v. William Samoei Ruto, Henry Kiprono Kosgey and Joshua Arap Sang, Reply on behalf of the Government of Kenya of 13 May 2011, Pre-Trial Chamber II, ICC-01/09-01/11-89.

International Criminal Court, Situation in the Republic of Kenya in the case of the Prosecutor v. Francis Kirimi Muthaura, Uhuru Muigai Kenyatta and Mohammed Hussein Ali, Decision of 30 May 2011, Pre-Trial Chamber II, ICC-01/09-02/11-96.

International Criminal Court, Situation in the Republic of Kenya, The Prosecutor v. Francis Kirimi Muthaura, Uhuru Muigai Kenyatta and Mohammed Hussein Ali, Judgement of 30 August 2011, Appeals Chamber, ICC-01/09-02/11-274.

International Criminal Court, Situation in the Republic of Kenya in the case of the Prosecutor v. William Samoei Ruto, Henry Kiprono Kosgey and Joshua Arap Sang, Judgement of 30 August 2011, Appeals Chamber, ICC-01/09-01/11-307.

International Criminal Court, Situation in the Republic of Kenya, the Prosecutor v. Francis Kirimi Muthaura, Uhuru Muigai Kenyatta and Mohammed Hussein Ali, Appeals Chamber, ICC-01/09-02/11-342, Dissenting Opinion of Judge Anita Ušacka of 20 September 2011.

International Criminal Court, Situation in the Republic of Kenya in the case of the Prosecutor v. William Samoei Ruto, Henry Kiprono Kosgey and Joshua Arap, Appeals Chamber, ICC-01/09-01/11-336, Dissenting Opinion of Judge Anita Ušacka of 20 September 2011.

International Criminal Court, Situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in the case of the Prosecutor v. Callixte Mbarushimana, Decision of 26 October 2011, Pre-Trial Chamber I, ICC-01/04-01/10-451.

International Criminal Court, Situation in the Republic of Côte d’Ivoire, Corrigendum to "Decision Pursuant to Article 15 of the Rome Statute on the Authorisation of an Investigation into the Situation in the Republic of Côte  d'Ivoire" of 15 November 2011, Pre-Trial Chamber III, ICC-02/11-14-Corr.

International Criminal Court, Situation in Libya in the case of the Prosecutor v. Saif Al-Islam Gaddafi and Abdullah Al-Senussi, Application on behalf of the Government of Libya of 1 May 2012, Pre-Trial Chamber I, ICC-01/11-01/11-130-Red.

International Criminal Court, Situation in Libya in the case of the Prosecutor v. Saif Al-Islam Gaddafi and Abdullah Al-Senussi, Prosecution response to Application on behalf of the Government of Libya of 5 June 2012, Pre-Trial Chamber I, ICC-01/11-01/11-167-Red.

ICTY

International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, Prosecutor v. Duško Tadić, Decision of 2 October 1995, Appeals Chamber, IT-94-1.

National

France, Chambre d’accusation, Cour d’appel de Paris, Gaddafi, 20 October 2000, 125 ILR 490.

C. Documents

International Law Commission, Draft code of crimes against the peace and security of mankind (Part II) - including the draft statute for an international criminal court, Summary record of the 2357th meeting, 27 June 1994 (A/CN.4/SR.2357, reproduced in Yearbook of the International Law Commission, 1994, vol. I).

Report of the Ad Hoc Committee on the Establishment of an International Criminal Court (A/50/22, 6 September 1995).

Report of the Preparatory Committee on the Establishment of an International Criminal Court (A/51/22, 13 September 1996).

Sixth Committee of the General Assembly, Summary record of meeting No.11 of the fifty-second regular session, held on 21 October 1997 (A/C.6/52/SR.11).

United Nations Diplomatic Conference of Plenipotentiaries on the Establishment of an International Criminal Court, Committee of the Whole, Summary record of meeting No. 11 (A/CONF.183/C.1/SR.11, 20 November 1998).

United Nations Diplomatic Conference of Plenipotentiaries on the Establishment of an International Criminal Court, Committee of the Whole, Summary record of meeting No. 12 (A/CONF.183/C.1/SR.12, 20 November 1998).

United Nations Diplomatic Conference of Plenipotentiaries on the Establishment of an International Criminal Court, Committee of the Whole, Summary record of meeting No. 8 (A/CONF.183/C.1/SR.8, 25 January 1999).

General Assembly resolution 60/147 of 16 December 2005 (Basic Principles and Guidelines on the Right to a Remedy and Reparation for Victims of Gross Violations of International Human Rights Law and Serious Violations of International Humanitarian Law).

Report of the Secretary General, “The rule of law and transitional justice in conflict and post-conflict societies” (S/2011/634, 12 October 2011).

Report of the International Law Commission on the work of its forty-sixth session, 2 May to 22 July 1994 (A/49/10, reproduced in Yearbook of the International Law Commission, 1994, vol. II (2)).

D. Doctrine

K. Ambos, The Colombian Peace Process and the Principle of Complementarity of the International Criminal Court: An Inductive, Situation-Based Approach, Springer, Heidelberg; Dordrecht; London; New York, 2010.

Amnesty International, “International Criminal Court: The Failure of States to Enact Effective Implementing Legislation” (IOR 40/019/2004, September 2004).

M. C. Bassiouni (ed.), The Legislative History of the International Criminal Court, Transnational Publishers, Ardsley, New York, 2005.

S. Arbia and G. Bassy, “Proactive Complementarity: A Registrar’s Perspective and Plans”, in C. Stahn and M. M. El Zeidy (eds.), The International Criminal Court and Complementarity: From Theory to Practice, vol. I, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2011.

P. Benvenuti, “Complementarity of the International Criminal Court to National Criminal Jurisdictions”, in F. Lattanzi and W. Schabas (eds.), Essays on the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, il Sirente, Fonte di Sotto, 1999.

M. Benzing, “The Complementarity Regime of the International Criminal Court: International Criminal Justice between State Sovereignty”, Max Planck Yearbook of United Nations Law, vol. 7, 2003, p. 591.

M. Bergsmo, “Occasional Remarks on Certain State Concerns about the Jurisdictional Reach of the International Criminal Court, and their Possible Implications for the Relationship between the Court and the Security Council”, Nordic Journal of International Law, vol. 69, issue 1, 2000 p. 87.

B. S. Brown, “Primacy or Complementarity: reconciling the Jurisdiction of National Courts and International Criminal Tribunals”, Yale Journal of International Law, vol. 23, issue 2, 1998, p. 383.

W. W. Burke-White, “The International Criminal Court and the Future of Legal Accountability”, ILSA Journal of International and Comparative Law, vol. 10, issue 1, 2003-2004, p.195.

W. W. Burke-White, “Implementing a Policy of Positive Complementarity in the Rome System of Justice”, Criminal Law Forum, vol. 19, 2008, p. 59.

W. W. Burke-White, “Proactive Complementarity: The International Criminal Court and National Courts in the Rome System of Justice”, Harvard International Law Journal, vol. 49, issue 1, 2008, p. 53.

W. W. Burke-White and S. Kaplan, “Shaping the Contours of Domestic Justice: The International Criminal Court and an Admissibility Challenge in the Ugandan Situation”, Journal of International Criminal Justice, vol. 7, issue 2, 2009.

C. Cárdenas, Die Zulässigkeitprüfung vor dem Internationalen Strafgerichtshof, zur Auslegung des Art. 17 IStGH-Statut under besonderer Berücksichtigung von Amnestien und Wahrheitskommissionen, Berliner Wissenschafts-Verlang, Berlin, 2005.

E. Carnero Rojo, “The Role of Fair Trial Considerations in the Complementarity Regime of the International Criminal Court: From ‘No Peace without Justice’ to ‘No Peace with Victor’s Justice’?”, Leiden Journal of International Law, vol. 18, issue 4, 2005, p. 829.

A. Cassese, International Criminal Law, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2003.

S. Chesterman, “An International Rule of Law?”, American Journal of Comparative Law, vol. 56, 2009, p. 331.

K. M. Clarke, “Global Justice, Local Controversies: The International Criminal Court and the Sovereignty of Victims”, in T. Keller and M. B. Dembour (eds.), Paths to International Justice: Social and Legal Perspectives, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2007.

Coalition for the International Criminal Court, “Report on the first Review Conference on the Rome Statute, 31 May-11 June 2010, Kampala, Uganda”, 2011.

R. Cryer, “Commentary on the Rome Statute for an International Criminal Court: A Cadenza for the Song of Those Who Died in Vain?” Journal of Armed Conflict Law, vol. 3, issue 2, 1998, p. 271.

P. Dascalopoulou-Livada, “The Principle of Complementarity and Security Council Referrals”, in M. Politi and F. Gioia (eds.), The International Criminal Court and National Jurisdictions, Ashgate, Aldershot, 2008.

Z. Deen-Racsmány, “Lessons of the European Arrest Warrant for Domestic Implementation of the Obligation to surrender Nationals to the International Criminal Court”, Leiden Journal of International Law, vol. 20, issue 1, 2007, p. 167.

M. A. Drumbl, Atrocity, Punishment, and International Law, Cambridge University Press, New York, 2007.

M. A. Drumbl, “Policy through Complementarity: The Atrocity Trial as Justice”, in C. Stahn and M. M. El Zeidy (eds.), The International Criminal Court and Complementarity: From Theory to Practice, vol. I, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2011.

J. Dugard, “Dealing with Crimes of a Past Regime. Is Amnesty Still an Ption?”, Leiden Journal of International Law, vol. 12, issue 4, 1999, p. 1001.

P. M. Dupuy, “Principe de complementarité et droit international general”, in M. Politi and F. Gioia (eds.), The International Criminal Court and National Jurisdictions, Ashgate, Aldershot, 2008.

M. M. El Zeidy, “The Principle of Complementarity: A New Machinery to Implement International Criminal Law”, Michigan Journal of International Law, vol. 23, issue 2, 2002, p. 869.

M. M. El Zeidy, “From Primacy to Complementarityand Backwards: (Re)-Visiting Rule 11 bis of the Ad Hoc Tribunals”, International and Comparative Law Quarterly, vol. 57, 2008, p. 403.

M. M. El Zeidy, The Principle of Complementarity in International Criminal Law: Origin, Development and Practice, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, Leiden, 2008.

F. Gioia, “State Sovereignty, Jurisdiction, and ‘Modern’ International Law: The Principle of Complementarity in the International Criminal Court”, Leiden Journal of International Law, vol. 19, issue 4, 2006, p. 1095.

A. K. A. Greenawalt, “Complementarity in Crisis: Uganda, Alternative Justice, and the International Criminal Court”, Virginia Journal of International Law, vol. 50, issue 1, 2009, p. 107.

E. Greppi, “Inability to Investigate and Prosecute under Article 17”, in M. Politi and F. Gioia (eds.), The International Criminal Court and National Jurisdictions, Ashgate, Aldershot, 2008.

K. J. Heller, “The Shadow Side of Complementarity: The Effect of Article 17 of the Rome Statute on National Due Process”, Criminal Law Forum, vol. 17, issue 3-4, 2006, p. 255.

K. J. Heller, “A Sentence-Based Theory of Complementarity”, Harvard International Law Journal, vol. 53, issue 1, 2012, p. 202.

J. T. Holmes, “The Principle of Complementarity”, in R. S. K. Lee (ed.), The International Criminal Court: The Making of the Rome Statute: Issues, Negotiations, Results, Kluwer Law International, The Hague; London, 1999.

Human Rights Watch, “International Criminal Court: Making the International Criminal Court Work: A Handbook for implementing the Rome Statute”, vol. 13, No. 4(G), September 2001.

ICC-OTP, “Informal Expert Paper for the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court: The Principle of Complementarity in Practice”, December 2003.

ICC-OTP, “Paper on Some Policy Issues before the Office of the Prosecutor”, September 2003b.

ICC-OTP, “Report on Prosecutorial Strategy”, 14 September 2006.

International Bar Association ICC Monitoring and Outreach Programme, “Implementing Justice: Bringing the ICC Closer to Home”, EQ: Equality of Arms Review, vol. 1, 2008, p. 11.

International Center for Transitional Justice, “The Rome Statute Review Conference: Stocktaking: Complementarity”, ICTJ Briefing, May 2010.

J. K. Kleffner, “The Impact of Complementarity on National Implementation of Substantive International Criminal Law”, Journal of International Criminal Justice, vol. 1, issue 1, 2008, p. 86.

G, Kor, “Sovereignty in the Dock”, in J. K. Kleffner and G. Kor (eds.), Complementary Views on Complementarity: Proceedings of the International Roundtable on the Complementary Nature of the International Criminal Court, Amsterdam, 25/26 June 2004, TMC Asser Press, The Hague, 2006.

F. Lattanzi, “The Rome Statute and State Sovereignty. ICC Competence, Jurisdictional Links, Trigger Mechanism”, in F. Lattanzi and W. Schabas (eds.), Essays on the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, il Sirente, Fonte di Sotto, 1999.

D. McGoldrick, “Political and Legal Responses to the ICC”, in D. McGoldrick, P. Rowe and E. Donnelly (eds), The Permanent International Criminal Court: Legal and Policy Issues, Hart, Oxford, 2004.

F. Mégret, « Qu’est-ce qu’une juridiction “incapable” ou “manquant de volonté” au sense de l’article 17 du Traité de Rome ? Quelques enseignements tirés des théories du déni de justice en droit international », Revue Québécoise de droit international, vol. 17, issue 2, 2004.

F. Mégret, “In defense of Hybridity: Towards a Representational Theory of International Criminal Justice”, Cornell International Law Journal, vol. 38, issue 3, 2005, p. 725.

K. Miskowiak, The International Criminal Court: Consent, Complementarity and Cooperation, DJØF Publishing, Copenhagen, 2000.

L. Moreno-Ocampo, “Statement to the Diplomatic Corps”, The Hague, 12 February 2004.

L. Moreno-Ocampo, “Remarks by the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court”, Chicago, 9 April 2008.

M. A. Newton, “Comparative Complementarity: Domestic Jurisdiction Consistent with the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court”, Military Law Review, vol. 167, 2001, p. 20.

M. A. Newton, “The Quest for Constructive Complementarity”, in C. Stahn and M. M. El Zeidy (eds.), The International Criminal Court and Complementarity: From Theory to Practice, vol. I, CUP, Cambridge, 2011.

S.M.H. Nouwen, Complementarity in the Line of Fire: The Catalysing Effect of the International Criminal Court in Uganda and Sudan, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2013.

D. D. Ntanda Nsereko, “The International Criminal Court: Jurisdictional and Related Issues”, Criminal Law Forum, vol. 10, issue 1, p. 87.

F. Okumu-Alya, “The International Criminal Court and its Role in the Northern Uganda Conflicts – An Assessment”, Uganda Living Law Journal, vol. 4, issue 1, 2006, p. 16.

H. Olásolo, The Triggering Procedure of the International Criminal Court, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, Leiden, 2005.

R. Rastan, “What is a ‘Case’ for the Purposes of the Rome Statute?”, Criminal Law Forum, vol. 19, 2008, p. 435.

R. Rastan, “Situation and Case: Defining the Parameters”, in C. Stahn and M. M. El Zeidy (eds.), The International Criminal Court and Complementarity: From Theory to Practice, vol. I, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2011.

F. Razesberger, The International Criminal Court: The Principle of Complementarity, Völkerrecht Europarecht und Internationales Wirtschaftsrecht; Bd. 1, Peter Lang, Frankfurt am Main, 2006.

D. Robinson, “Serving the Interests of Justice: Amnesties, Truth Commissions and the International Criminal Court”, European Journal of International Law, vol. 14, issue 3, 2003, p. 481.

D. Robinson, “Comments on Chapter 4 of Claudia Cárdenas Aravena”, in J. K. Kleffner and G. Kor (eds.), Complementarity Views on the Complementary Nature of the International Criminal Court, Amsterdam, 25-26 June 2004, TMC Asser Press, The Hague, 2006.

D. Robinson, “The Mysterious Mysteriousness of Complementarity”, Criminal Law Forum, vol. 21, issue 1, 2010, p. 67.

D. Robinson, “The Inaction Controversy: Neglected Words and New Opportunities”, in C. Stahn and M. M. El Zeidy (eds.), The International Criminal Court and Complementarity: From Theory to Practice, vol. I, Cambridge University Press, 2011.

D. Robinson, “Three Theories of Complementarity: Charge, Sentence, or Process”, Harvard International Law Journal, vol. 53, 2012, p. 165.

E. Rogier, “The Ethos of Positive Complementarity”, Blog of the European Journal of International Law (last accessed on 28 May 2019).

P. Sands, “After Pinochet: The Role of National Courts”, in P. Sands (ed.) From Nuremberg to The Hague: The Future of International Criminal Justice (fourth printing), 2006, CUP, Cambridge, 2003.

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G. Simpson, “Politics, Sovereignty, Remembrance”, in D. McGoldrick, P. Rowe and E. Donnelly (eds.), The Permanent International Criminal Court: Legal and Policy Issues, Hart, Oxford, 2004.

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C. Stahn, “Taking Complementarity Seriously: On the Sense and Sensibility of ‘Classical’, ‘Positive’ and ‘Negative’ Complementarity”, in C. Stahn and M. M. El Zeidy (eds.), The International Criminal Court and Complementarity: From Theory to Practice, vol. I, CUP, Cambridge, 2011.

C. Stahn, “One Step Forward, Two Steps Back?: Second Thoughts on a ‘Sentence-Based’ Theory of Complementarity”, Harvard International Law Journal, vol. 53, 2012, p. 183.

J. Stigen, The Relationship between the International Criminal Court and National Jurisdictions: The Principle of Complementarity, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, Leiden, Boston, 2008.

H. Takemura, “A Critical Analysis of Positive Complementarity”, conference paper given at the XVth International Congress of Social Defence, Toledo, Spain, 22 September 2007.

I. Tallgren, “Completing the ‘International Criminal Order’: The Rhetoric of International Representation and the Notion of Complementarity in the Draft Statute for an International Criminal Court”, Nordic Journal of International Law, vol. 67, issue 2, 1998, p. 107.

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