The Systemic Effect of International Human Rights Law on International Criminal Law

This chapter analyses the various impacts international human rights law has on international criminal law. Through a careful analysis of the most emblematic cases of this interplay – from the case law of the ad hoc tribunals for the former yugoslavia and rwanda to the international criminal court, it shows that judicial application and interpretation of the statutes of international criminal tribunals and courts in light of human rights law had a systemic effect on international law. In particular, it formal as well as conceptual legal borrowing from ihrl has led to new interpretations of existing international criminal law; imposed procedural and substantive obligations onto the international criminal tribunals and courts; served as a gap-filler; and qualified existing law. In light of the contextual nuances of international criminal justice, the paper argues that many of the cases demonstrating the systemic effect of ihrl on icl are not coherent applications of the principle of systemic integration.