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17 Melb. J. Int'l L. 210 (2016)
MH17 and the International Criminal Court: A Suitable Venue

handle is hein.journals/meljil17 and id is 220 raw text is: MH17 AND THE INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT: A SUITABLE VENUE? SARAH WILLIAMS* The downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 on 17 July 2014 killed all 298 people on board and had significant implications for the safety of international civil aviation. Resolution 2166, adopted by the United Nations Security Council on 21 July 2014, condemned the downing of the MH1 7 and called for a full, thorough and independent international investigation and accountability for those responsible. The focus of the states affected by MH1 7, including Australia, has been on securing criminal accountability for those responsible for the downing of MH1 7. There are thus several options for securing criminal accountability for those responsible for downing MH1 7. This commentary explores these various options. It details the key features, challenges and strengths offive options for prosecution: (1) the International Criminal Court; (2) an ad hoc international criminal tribunal created by the Security Council; (3) an ad hoc international criminal tribunal created by other means; (4) national criminal proceedings; and (5) the possibility of internationalising a national criminal process. CONTENTS I In tro d u ctio n ........................................................................................................... 2 10 II T h e F acts S o F ar ... ............................................................................................... 2 13 III Option 1: International Crim inal Court ................................................................. 214 A Ju ri sd ictio n ............................................................................................... 2 14 B Has a Crime within the Jurisdiction of the Court Been Committed? ....... 216 C A d m issib ility ............................................................................................ 2 2 1 D Other Aspects of the International Criminal Court ................................... 223 IV Option 2: 'MH17 Tribunal' Established by the Security Council ........................ 224 V Option 3: An MH17 Tribunal Established by Other Means? ............................... 227 V I O ption 4: N ational Proceedings ............................................................................ 229 A Ukraine - The Territorial State ............................................................... 230 B M alaysia - The State of Registration ..................................................... 230 C N etherlands - Passive Personality .......................................................... 230 D A ustralia - Passive Personality ............................................................... 231 E Russian Proceedings - State of Nationality or Presence ........................ 232 F Other States - Universal Jurisdiction ..................................................... 233 G Resolving Jurisdictional D isputes ............................................................ 233 V II O ption 5: The Lockerbie M odel ........................................................................... 235 V III C o n clu sio n s ........................................................................................................... 2 3 6 I INTRODUCTION The downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 on 17 July 2014 killed all 298 people on board. The incident has significant implications for the safety of international civil aviation, particularly when overflying conflict zones. It also * BCom!LLB (Woll); MJur (Durham); PhD (Durham); Associate Professor and Associate of the Australian Human Rights Centre, Faculty of Law, UNSW Australia. I wish to thank Steven Freeland, Jamie Glister, Sam Hartridge and Gabrielle Simm for comments on previous drafts, as well as Hannah Lippmann for her excellent research assistance and the reviewers for their suggestions. All errors remain my own. 210

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