International criminal law is the part of public international law that deals with the criminal responsibility of individuals for international crimes. There is no generally accepted definition of international crimes. A distinction can be made between international crimes which are based on international customary law and therefore apply universally and crimes resulting from specific treaties which criminalize certain conduct and require the contracting states to implement legislation for the criminal prosecution of this conduct in their domestic legal system. The international core crimes, i.e., crimes over which international tribunals have been given jurisdiction under international law, are: genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and aggression. International criminal law finds its origin in both international law and criminal law and closely relates to other areas of international law. The most important areas are human rights law and international humanitarian law as well as the law on state responsibility. The sources of international criminal law are the same as those of general international law mentioned in article 38(1) of the Statute of the International Court of Justice: treaties, international customary law, general principles of law, judicial decisions and writings of eminent legal scholars. The Nuremberg and Tokyo trials signaled the birth of present-day international criminal law, i.e., the prosecution of individuals for international crimes before international tribunals. In the early nineties of the previous century international criminal law received a major stimulus with the establishment of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda by the United Nations Security Council. Also the creation of various internationalized or mixed criminal courts and the proposals of the International Law Commission, which resulted in the creation of the International Criminal Court in 2002, contributed to the rapid development of international criminal law during the last two decades.

This Guide is intended as a starting point for research in the field of International Criminal Law. It provides a selection of the legal materials available in the Peace Palace Library, both in print and electronic format. Manuals, leading articles, bibliographies, periodicals, serial publications and documents of interest are presented in the Bibliography section. There are also links to the PPL Catalogue inserted. The Library's systematic index code for International Criminal Law, i.e., 250b and the subject heading (keyword) International Criminal Law are instrumental for searching through the Catalogue. Special attention is given to our subscriptions on databases, e-journals, e-books and other electronic resources. Finally, the Research Guide features links to relevant websites and other online resources of particular interest.

New titles

The Peace Palace Library has a collection of over a million publications. Each week, about six hundred new titles are added to our collection: books, articles, documents, online publications, etc. On this page, access is provided to this week’s new titles on International criminal law and criminal procedure. It covers a wide variety of topics which include, international crimes: genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and aggression; international criminal tribunals: Nuremberg and Tokyo International Military Tribunals, International Criminal Court, International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, Iraqi Special Tribunal, Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, Special Court for Sierra Leone, Special Tribunal for Lebanon. Other subjects in this section include, among others: child soldiers; women and sex crimes; individual criminal responsibility; Residual mechanism; Rome Statute; superior orders; victims; and universal jurisdiction.

1. Noche y niebla

2. Los derechos humanos y los crímenes de la Guerra Civil: especial referencia a los niños desaparecidos

3. Las desapariciones forzadas en España a la luz de la Convención de las Naciones Unidas

4. Bringing the Khmer Rouge to Trial: an Extraordinary Experiment in International Criminal Law

5. The Alleged Non-Existence of Cultural Genocide: A Response to the Croatia v. Serbia Judgment

6. Prosecuting Force-feeding: An Assessment of Criminality under the ICC Statute

7. Managing Criminal Reputations

8. The Sentence is Only Half the Story

9. Complicated Legacies of Justice: The Netherlands and World War II

10. Knowing What We Know Now: International Crimes in Historical Perspective

11. Reparative Justice after the Lubanga Appeal Judgment: New Prospects for Expressivism and Participatory Justice or "Juridified Victimhood" by Other Means?

12. The Severance of Case 002 at the ECCC

13. The Duty to Investigate Zimbabwe Crimes Against Humanity (Torture) Allegations: The Constitutional Court of South Africa Speaks on Universal Jurisdiction and the ICC Act

14. The Regional Difference on Human Rights and Criminal Justice: Judicial Self-Determination Lost through the Suppression from Western States? Universal Jurisdiction and Prohibition of the Death Penalty