TRIAL International’s Annual Review on Universal Jurisdiction

05-04-2022

Manon Picard

International Justice and Human Rights Researcher, 

Global Human Rights Defence.

On the 4th of April 2022, TRIAL International published its 2022 Annual Review on Universal Jurisdiction. More specifically, the review focused on how universal jurisdiction is an “overlooked tool to fight conflict-related sexual violence”. The Annual Review highlighted the “growing importance of universal jurisdiction within international justice” as it is an effective tool to combat international crimes. Universal jurisdiction is a legal principle whereby an international crime is of such a serious nature that a State should prosecute the accused person irrespective of their nationality or where the crime was geographically committed. 

The Annual Review outlines how universal jurisdiction could become a more effective tool to combat international crimes and bring justice to the victims of those crimes as well as be utilised to combat conflict-related sexual and gender-based violence. The Review provides for the following statistics:

“In total, 125 international criminal charges were brought under universal jurisdiction, including 34 charges for war crimes, 66 for crimes against humanity, 25 for genocide. Only 17 charges were brought for conflict-related sexual violence”. 

Additionally, the Annual Review describes universal jurisdiction as an “overlooked tool” to fight conflict-related sexual violence. According to TRIAL International, this is not caused by the effectiveness of universal jurisdiction but because of the “complete invisibility and neglect, [of] sexual violence crimes – such as rape, forced sterilization and nudity, [and] sexual slavery”. Although these sexual violence crimes are increasingly being discussed, documented, and prosecuted, this remains insufficient to achieve international justice. 

TRIAL International’s Annual Review of 2022 is a comprehensive document which also outlines the cases that have been or a currently being prosecuted under universal jurisdiction. Although the majority of cases originated from France, many countries initiate prosecutions under universal jurisdiction to try and achieve some form of international justice.

Sources and further reading:

TRIAL International. (2022, April 4). 2021 Highlights in the Universal Jurisdiction Annual Review (UJAR) Released Today. TRIAL International. Retrieved on April 5, 2022 from https://trialinternational.org/latest-post/2021-highlights-in-the-universal-jurisdiction-annual-review-ujar-released-today/

TRIAL International. (2022, April 4). Universal Jurisdiction Annual Review 2022 - Universal Jurisdiction, an Overlooked Tool to Fight Conflict-Related Sexual Violence. https://trialinternational.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/TRIAL_International_UJAR-2022.pdf