A Classification of the Crimes in the Malabo Protocol
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Excerpt
Today, when it comes to penal matters, legal scholars and practitioners of international law tend to draw a distinction between 'international crimes' and 'transnational crimes'. But it would be misleading to suggest that there is consensus on the precise meaning of these terms. Authors have assigned them a wide variety of definitions in the literature. For our purposes, the phrase 'international crimes' should be taken to mean 'breaches of international rules entailing the personal criminal liability of the individuals concerned'.' This conception is similar to, but broader than, that preferred by a group of scholars who have described 'international crimes' as 'those offences over which international courts or tribunals have been given jurisdiction under general international law'. In contrast, the notion of 'transnational crimes', apparently conceived by a United Nations body, is said to describe 'certain criminal phenomena transcending international borders, transgressing the laws of several states or having an impact on another country'. Or, put more succinctly, 'transnational crimes' is a reference to 'crimes with actual or potential trans-border effects' . That is to say, those offenses 'which are the subject of international suppression conventions but for which there is as yet no international criminal jurisdiction'.
ISBN
9781108422734
Publication Date
2019
Publisher
Cambridge University Press
Keywords
African Court of Justice, human rights, 'Malabo Protocol'
Disciplines
Law | Transnational Law
Recommended Citation
Charles C. Jalloh, A Classification of the Crimes in the Malabo Protocol, in THE AFRICAN COURT OF JUSTICE AND HUMAN AND PEOPLES' RIGHTS IN CONTEXT: DEVELOPMENTS AND CHALLENGES 225, 256 (Charles Jalloh, Kamari Clarke, & Vincent Nmehielle eds., Cambridge Univ. Press, 2019).
