Symposium on Philosophical Foundations of International Criminal Law

Book PFICL 1 | Book PFICL 2 | Book PFICL 3 | Conference programme, films and podcasts | Allott policy brief

Initially, this virtual symposium includes chapters of the first edition of three anthologies constituting the series Philosophical Foundations of International Criminal Law. The first volume – Philosophical Foundations of International Criminal Law: Correlating Thinkers (2018) – invites us to revisit some well-recognized political and other thinkers, exploring and correlating their main thoughts with the foundations of contemporary international criminal law. More than a mere history of ideas, such cross-fertilisation holds the promise of broadening the discourse and may offer fresh perspectives in an emerging sub-discipline of philosophy of international criminal law.

The second volume – Philosophical Foundations of International Criminal Law: Foundational Concepts (2019) – identifies and discusses some doctrinal building blocks that may be considered as foundational to the discipline of international criminal law. Not nearly exhaustive, the editors would like to expand the first two volumes with more thinkers and concepts, respectively, in future editions.

The third volume – Philosophical Foundations of International Criminal Law: Legally-Protected Interests (2022) – supplements the earlier correlational and doctrinal analyses with discussions of fundamental interests or values protected by international criminal law. It considers notions such as ‘community interest’, ‘legally-protected interest’ and ‘legal good’ in the context of international criminal law. The authors assess main interests currently protected by international criminal law (including ‘humanity’ and ‘international peace and security’), their characteristics and inter-relations. Chapters then zoom in on supplementary interests that should receive further recognition by international criminal law, among them ‘reconciliation’, ‘solidarity’ and ‘unity of humankind’. A growing sense of environmental and security threats to our survival invites us to afford the value of ‘unity of humankind’ a greater measure of affirmation also through international criminal law.

This is a discourse that should not be constrained to recognition of ecocide or other contenders as the next core international crime. Nor should the discussion be dominated by a small group of gatekeepers who may have participated in the making of the provisions in the Statute of the International Criminal Court on subject-matter jurisdiction. An inclusive, broad discourse is called for. It should not be limited to interests or values that could alone constitute the centre of a new international crime as such. And every stone should be turned to ensure that participants from outside the Western European and Other States Group (WEOG) can play a prominent role.

One of the motivations behind such a multi-year project has been the editors’ belief that theoretical approaches can sometimes create constructive common ground where actors from different, increasingly polarised, backgrounds can unite in a common concern to strengthen and develop further international criminal law, transcending rivalries and contestation between nation-state governments.

The contributions to this symposium are linked to below, together with films of project-conference presentations. The symposium is dynamic so further contributions are invited. Admitted texts will first be published either in TOAEP’s Policy Brief Series (shorter texts, between 3,900 and 4,400 words) or the Occasional Paper Series (in which case it may subsequently appear as a chapter in the next edition of the relevant project-anthology subject to a joint decision by the co-editors), and then be added to the online symposium.

The authors in the first edition of the three project-volumes were selected pursuant to a public call for papers and through the proceedings of a conference in New Delhi (25-26 August 2017), co-organized by the Centre for International Law Research and Policy (CILRAP), the Indian Law Institute, University of Delhi Campus Law Centre, the Indian Society of International Law, National Law University, Delhi, O.P. Jindal Global University, Asian-African Legal Consultative Organization, Peking University International Law Institute, Waseda University Law School, the Grotius Centre for International Legal Studies, the University of Nottingham, and the Institute for International Peace and Security Law, with funding from the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the International Nuremberg Principles Academy.

Philosophical Foundations of International Criminal Law: Correlating Thinkers