Document Type

Amicus Brief

Publication Date

11-14-2019

Case Name

Situation in the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan

Abstract

Prof. Gabor Rona, Director of CLIHHR's Law and Armed Conflict Project, submitted an amicus brief to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in connection with the Prosecutor's request to commence an investigation into international crimes arising out of the situation in Afghanistan. A Pre-Trial Chamber (PTC) had rejected the Prosecutor's request to investigate CIA war crimes arising from secret detention and torture of detainees at "black sites" in Poland, a State Party to the ICC Treaty. The PTC held that those events lacked sufficient nexus to the armed conflict in Afghanistan. Rona argues to the Appellate Chamber that both the Geneva Conventions and the ICC statute meant to include within the notion of "war crimes" conduct between parties to an armed conflict (the US and alleged Taliban or Al Qaeda "enemy combatants") even if it occurs outside the State in which hostilities occur, so long as it is associated with the armed conflict.

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