Overview

This book situates the war in Syria within the actual and imagined system of international criminal justice. It explores the legal impediments and diplomatic challenges that have led to the fatal trinity affecting Syria: the massive commission of international crimes that are subject to detailed investigations and documentation but whose perpetrators have enjoyed virtually complete impunity. Given this tragic state of affairs, the book tracks a number of accountability solutions being explored within multilateral initiatives and by civil society actors, including innovations of institutional design; the renewed utility of a range of domestic jurisdictional principles (including the revival of universal jurisdiction in Europe); the emergence of creative investigative and documentation techniques, technologies, and organizations; and the rejection of state consent as a precondition for the exercise of jurisdiction. Engaging both law and policy around international justice, the text offers a set of justice blueprints, within and without the International Criminal Court. It also considers the utility, propriety, and practicality of pursuing a transitional justice program without a genuine political transition. All told, the book attempts to capture results of the creative energy radiating from members of the international community intent on advancing the accountability norm in Syria even in the face of geopolitical blockages within the U.N. Security Council. In so doing, it presents the range of juridical measures-both criminal and civil - that would be available to the international community to respond to the crisis, if only the political will existed.

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9780190055967

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Reviews

Beth Van Schaack writes for the victims of the worst crimes of the 21st century who have refused to be overcome by weakness. She shows how Syrian survivors, with the help of supportive governments and NGOs, built the strongest body of evidence of a regime's criminal responsibility since Nuremberg, and opened pathways to justice around the vetoes and inaction of Great Powers. It is the story of what was once only imagined-a first-of-its-kind UN investigative mechanism, a surge in third country prosecutions, an increased willingness of states to join forces-leading on to a reality where perpetrators will never be free of the fear of arrest and trial. * Stephen J. Rapp, Former US Ambassador-at-Large for Global Criminal Justice (2009-2015) * It is rare for a book to be as eloquent as it is empirically rich, to pack in as much judicious research as it does normative punch. But Beth Van Schaack's Imagining Justice for Syria does all of that - and more. This is a must-read for anyone interested in pursuing justice for atrocities in Syria and beyond. * Mark Kersten, Wayamo Foundation, and Munk School Of Global Affairs And Public Policy * This authoritative study, by a leading scholar and practitioner of war crimes law, explodes the conventional wisdom that Syrian human rights survivors can find no justice. Van Schaack devastatingly deconstructs the institutional failures that caused the Syrian justice meltdown. But in the end, she concludes optimistically-after exhaustively exploring the menu of available justice models-that in time, decentralized but coordinated justice will find a way, through myriad outlets and cracks in the walls of global injustice. * Harold Hongju Koh, Sterling Professor of International Law and former Dean, Yale Law School. Former Legal Adviser and Assistant Secretary of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, U.S. Department of State *

Author Information

Beth Van Schaack is the Leah Kaplan Visiting Professor in Human Rights at Stanford Law School where she teaches in the areas of international human rights, international criminal law, and human trafficking, and directs the Human Rights & Conflict Resolution Clinic. Prior to returning to academia, she served as Deputy to the Ambassador-at-Large for War Crimes Issues in the Office of Global Criminal Justice of the U.S. Department of State under Secretaries Clinton and Kerry. In that capacity, she helped formulate U.S. policy regarding the prevention of and accountability for mass atrocities, such as war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide, and worked extensively on the Syrian crisis. Prior to entering the academy, she was with the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague. A graduate of Stanford University and Yale Law School, she advises a number of civil society organizations dedicated to pursing justice for victims of human rights abuses.

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