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17 J. Int'l Crim. Just. 325 (2019)
The Radically Routine Rohingya Case: Territorial Jurisdiction and the Crime of Deportation under the ICC Statute

handle is hein.journals/jicj17 and id is 328 raw text is: 






               The Radically Routine

               Rohingya Case


               Territorial  Jurisdiction and the Crime of
               Deportation under the ICC Statute


               Payam Akhavan*





Abstract
The  campaign  of atrocities against Myanmar's  Rohingya  minority  is among  the
most  pressing human  rights challenges of our times. However, since Myanmar   is
not a party to the Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC), proponents of
international justice have been forced to pursue  accountability through  creative
means.  On  6 September  2018,  the Pre-Trial Chamber  of the ICC  ruled that the
Court  had jurisdiction over some of the atrocities. Despite having been initiated in
the territory of a non-state party (Myanmar),   the Court  held that the crime of
deportation -   that is, forced displacement across an international boundary -
has been completed on the territory of a state party, namely Bangladesh. This unpre-
cedented  backdoor  to The Hague   has stirred considerable controversy,  both in
diplomatic and  academic  circles. Yet, just how radical is the deportation theory
upheld in this Decision? It would seem  that the exercise of territorial jurisdiction
over crimes with transboundary elements is a rather routine and unremarkable prac-
tice among  states and, by extension, with respect to the ICC. It is trite law that
deportation -  like human trafficking and similar crimes - is initiated in the terri-
tory of one state and completed in the territory of another state. Considered in this
light, the so-called Rohingya case at the ICC is radically routine.





*  Professor of International Law, McGill University, Montreal, Canada; Member of the Permanent
   Court of Arbitration; former Legal Advisor, Office of the Prosecutor, International Criminal
   Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, The Hague (1994-2000). The author served as counsel to
   Bangladesh before the International Criminal Court, but the views expressed herein are only
   those in his personal capacity. This article was published with the support of the Social
   Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, in particular the grant Strengthening
   Justice for International Crimes: A Canadian Partnership led by Professor Fannie Lafontaine
   at Universite Laval. The research assistance of Tiran Rahimian Bajgiran is gratefully acknowl-
   edged. [payam.akhavan@mcgill.ca]

Journal of International Criminal Justice 17 (2019), 325-345  doi:10.1093/jicj/mqzO2
C The Author(s) (2019). Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.  Advance Access publication 5 June 2019
For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com

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