2007 Annual Student Human Rights Conference
24th February 2007
University of Nottingham Human Rights Law Centre
“International Criminal Accountability”
Panel Theme: International Criminal Court
Paper Title: The Enforcement of Sentences of Imprisonment
and Detention in the International Criminal Justice System
Author: Róisín Mulgrew
To remedy the “grotesque paradox that one is more likely to be punished for killing another
person than for helping to annihilate an entire people,” 1 the international community now
demands that perpetrators of international crimes be brought to justice. Once convicted,
international criminals must be transferred to states willing to enforce international sentences,
as contemporary international criminal courts do not have the capacity to directly enforce their
own sentences.
This presentation shall analyse the contemporary system of enforcement in the international
criminal justice system. In particular, the enforcement procedures and processes established
under the Rome Statute of the ICC shall be examined in order to inform a discussion of the
consequences of consensualism and reliance on a decentralised system.
Based on the experience of its predecessors (the UN ad hoc tribunals) the ICC faces many
difficulties on the road ahead in the field of enforcement. The implementation of the current
model for enforcement will pose many questions that cannot be answered by reference to the
Rome Statute nor the Rules of Procedure and Evidence. For instance, how can the ICC
overcome the reluctance of states to make an international commitment to enforce
international sentences? How can the ICC ensure uniformity of enforcement while
contemporaneously ensuring the equitable geographical distribution of convicted persons?
Could the creation of an international prison be the solution?
This presentation shall attempt to deal with some of the pressing problems posed by the
system of enforcement in the international criminal justice system and to make some
recommendation for the future.
Schveif, “Striving for Accountability in the Former Yugoslavia” in Stromseth (Ed) Accountability for
Atrocities: National and International Responses, 2003 at 40.
1
Name: Róisín Mulgrew
University: University of Nottingham
Programme: PhD