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The course is intended for students with a particular interest in international criminal law.
The aims of the course are: - to familiarise students with current case-law of the International Criminal Court and, where thematically relevant to the legal foundations of ICC case-law, other criminal tribunals - to provide a forum for critical analysis and group discussion of case-law and of the quality of legal sources and their application - to create an environment in which students learn, or further develop their ability, to present not only views drawn from their reading but also their own views based on lectures and independent study - to teach students to express a position in writing and orally and subsequently defend it To achieve these aims, students are required to prepare actively each week on the basis of the assignment for each lecture. This involves studying assigned materials and preparing answers to questions set in advance, ideally including an assessment of whether the legal source has been applied correctly in substance and form. This preparation is followed by topic-based lectures during which, in addition to the lecturer's explanation, students answer the assigned questions and discuss the topic with the lecturer and with one another. The course is taught in English and may include Erasmus, LLM and other students. Students must therefore have sufficient command of English to participate actively in discussion and understand legal texts. Poslední úprava: Šicnerová Barbora, Mgr. (16.09.2026)
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1. Eligibility to take the written examination is conditional on active participation during lectures, i.e. preparedness to discuss the home assignment, which accounts for 30% of the overall grade, and attendance at no fewer than 70% of lectures. Active participation is awarded in full or not at all, i.e. 30% or 0%. Attendance does not count towards the overall grade but is a prerequisite for submitting the essay. The final essay accounts for 70% of the overall grade. 2. In the first week of classes, students will be offered a choice of three essay topics (examples include: "What are the grounds for criticism of the ICC Appeals Chamber's decision on the immunity of Al-Bashir?" and "Does the Role of Victims in Proceedings before the ICC Improve Their Rights or Prolong the Proceedings?"). By the beginning of the examination period, each student must submit an essay in English of 3,000-3,500 words on one of the offered topics. The word count covers the student's own text only and excludes footnotes and the bibliography. 3. The essay will be assessed according to the following criteria: knowledge of the law (30% of the essay grade); persuasiveness and organisation of the student's own arguments (35%); range and relevance of sources and footnotes (20%); and formal presentation of the essay (15%). 4. The essay must be submitted in writing to the course leader no later than the first day of the examination period following the semester in which the course was taught. It must be submitted by email to lipovsky@prf.cuni.cz. 5. Formal requirements for the essay: - the title page must contain only the student's full name, the course title, the phrase "essay topic:", the selected essay topic, the academic year in which the essay is submitted, and the word count of the essay text - the essay must be written in English, using Times New Roman, 12-point font, 1.5 line spacing and no spacing between paragraphs - the text must include proper footnotes citing the sources used - references to literature and sources must follow a consistent citation style, for example OSCOLA International - the bibliography must list the sources used, divided into sections (international treaties, resolutions, books, articles, case-law, etc.) - the document must not be locked or marked as read-only 6. Grading scale: - 0-50%: 4, Fail - 51-70%: 3, Good - 71-90%: 2, Very Good - 91-100%: 1, Excellent 7. Students may use all legal regulations and other materials when preparing the written essay. Poslední úprava: Šicnerová Barbora, Mgr. (16.09.2026)
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The course covers topics for which interesting and current ICC case-law is available. The current syllabus, which is always published in Moodle, provides contemporary examples. Topics include, for example: - sexual and gender-based crimes - the crime of aggression - modes of participation in the commission of a crime - rights of the accused - immunities under the Rome Statute and customary international law - the principle of complementarity - the position of victims Poslední úprava: Šicnerová Barbora, Mgr. (16.09.2026)
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Required literature: 1. Chapter 30 in CRAWFORD, James. Brownlie's Principles of Public International Law. 8th ed. Oxford: OUP, 2012. ISBN 978-0-19-969969-8 (or the corresponding chapter in the 2020 edition). 2. Kreß, Claus. On the Activation of ICC Jurisdiction over the Crime of Aggression. In: Šturma, Pavel (ed.) The Rome Statute of the ICC at Its Twentieth Anniversary. Leiden/Boston: Brill/Nijhoff, 2019. ISBN: 978-90-04-37939-8 3. Lipovský, Milan. Mental Element (Mens Rea) of the Crime of Aggression and Related Issues. In: Šturma, Pavel (ed.) The Rome Statute of the ICC at Its Twentieth Anniversary. Leiden/Boston: Brill/Nijhoff, 2019. ISBN: 978-90-04-37939-8 4. Lipovský, Milan. The Principle of Complementarity. In: Svaček, Ondřej, Faix, Martin (eds.) Prosecution of War Crimes before the ICC. Global Issues. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, 2025, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-84216-0_4 5. Svaček, Ondřej. Al-Bashir and the ICC – Tag, Hide-and-Seek … or Rather Blind Man's Bluff? In: Šturma, Pavel (ed.) The Rome Statute of the ICC at Its Twentieth Anniversary. Leiden/Boston: Brill/Nijhoff, 2019. ISBN: 978-90-04-37939-8 6. Svaček, Ondřej. Brothers and Sisters in Arms as Victims of War Crimes: Ntaganda Case before the ICC. In: Šturma, Pavel (ed.) Czech Yearbook of Public & Private International Law. Vol. 8. Prague: RWW, 2017. ISSN: 1805-0565 7. Šmigová, Katarína. Rights of the Accused. In: Šturma, P., Lipovský, M. (eds.) 70th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Prague/Passau: RWW, 2019. ISBN: 978-3-946915-25-6 8. Uhlířová, Kateřina. Contribution of the International Criminal Court to the Prosecution of Sexual and Gender-Based Crimes: between Promise and Practice. In: Šturma, Pavel (ed.) The Rome Statute of the ICC at Its Twentieth Anniversary. Leiden/Boston: Brill/Nijhoff, 2019. ISBN: 978-90-04-37939-8 9. Urbanová, Kristýna. The Principle of Complementarity in Practice. In: Šturma, Pavel (ed.) The Rome Statute of the ICC at Its Twentieth Anniversary. Leiden/Boston: Brill/Nijhoff, 2019. ISBN: 978-90-04-37939-8 Recommended literature: 1. Caban, Pavel. Immunity of State Officials from Foreign Criminal Jurisdiction – Exceptions to Immunity ratione materiae. In: Šturma, Pavel (ed.) Czech Yearbook of Public & Private International Law. Vol. 7. Prague: RWW, 2016. ISSN: 1805-0565 2. De Smet, Simon. All Roads Lead to Rome – Lifting the Veil on the ICC's Procedural Pluriformity. In: Šturma, Pavel (ed.) The Rome Statute of the ICC at Its Twentieth Anniversary. Leiden/Boston: Brill/Nijhoff, 2019. ISBN: 978-90-04-37939-8 3. Svaček, Ondřej. Human Rights Dimension of the ICC's Complementarity Regime. In: Šturma, Pavel (ed.) Czech Yearbook of Public & Private International Law. Vol. 6. Prague: RWW, 2015. ISSN: 1805-0565 4. Grzebyk, Patrycja. Criminal Responsibility for the Crime of Aggression. London/New York: Routledge, 2015. ISBN: 978-1-138-93510-5 5. Case-law: Specific decisions relating to the assigned topics will be designated each year on the basis of the most recent case-law. All ICC case-law is available on the Court's website at https://www.icc-cpi.int/ Poslední úprava: Šicnerová Barbora, Mgr. (16.09.2026)
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Note: It is recommended for students applying to this course to already have passed exams from Public International Law and domestic Criminal Law. Consequently, the following learning outcomes build upon this expectation.
Upon completion of the course, the students will acquire the following knowledge and skills/competencies:
Generally (applicable to all topics): During each lecture/in each topic taught that year, students will, while using the knowledge and skills described below · critically assess the examples of (excerpts from) case law of the ICC chosen by the lecturer(s), · formulate their own analysis on a given topic and · defend their own conclusions.
Specifically: Students will · illustrate the role of the International Criminal Court (ICC) within the systematics of international criminal justice and distinguish it from other international criminal courts and tribunals (its establishing mechanisms, relationship to the United Nations and domestic jurisdictions), · explain and interpret the stages of process that led to the adoption of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (RS) and exemplify the ad hoc international criminal tribunals the existence of which preceded / coexist with the ICC, · explain the relationship between the ICC and the United Nations, particularly the role of the UN Security Council in proceedings before the ICC, · analyse the forms of triggering mechanisms of the ICC proceedings and compare them from the perspective of scope of jurisdiction (ratione loci and ratione personae), · specify and compare individual crimes under international law with ICC jurisdiction, demonstrate where and how to identify and apply their individual elements and analyse and evaluate specific ICC case-law related to individual crimes under international law, · demonstrate the differences between legal regimes governing the crime of aggression and other crimes within jurisdiction of the ICC, including scope of jurisdiction and leadership clause, · clarify the general regime of mens rea under Art. 30 RS, define what intent and knowledge means in relation to conduct, consequences and circumstances, · interpret the elements of crimes in hypothetical scenarios, · explain the mutual relationship between the sources of applicable law under Art. 21 RS, classify concrete examples within the systematics and identify the role of human rights before the ICC,
Poslední úprava: Šicnerová Barbora, Mgr. (16.09.2026)
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Master's students are required to have completed Public International Law II and Criminal Law I before enrolling in this course.
Poslední úprava: Šicnerová Barbora, Mgr. (16.09.2026)
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