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The Obligation to Extradite or Prosecute

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 July 2014

Edward M. Wise
Affiliation:
Professor of Law and Director of the Comparative Criminal Law Project, Wayne State University, Detroit.
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Extract

This paper is concerned with the alternative obligation to extradite or prosecute contained in multilateral treaties requiring suppression of “international offenses”. Such an obligation appears, for instance, in Article 7 of the Hague Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Seizure of Aircraft of 1970, and in provisions of other anti-terrorism treaties modelled on the Hague Convention. The first part of this paper considers the extent to which the principle underlying Article 7 of the Hague Convention has been incorporated into multilateral treaties; the second part, the question of the extent to which that principle can be regarded as a norm of customary international law generally applicable to “international offenses” even apart from the specific treaties in which it is embodied.

Broadly defined, “international offenses” are offenses on the part of individuals which states have an obligation, usually under a multilateral treaty, to proscribe or prosecute. Such offenses more or less coincide with those which Professor Feller designates as delicta juris gentium (although he further assumes that all such offenses permit the exercise of “universal jurisdiction”).

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Copyright © Cambridge University Press and The Faculty of Law, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem 1993

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References

1 Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Seizure of Aircraft, Dec. 16, 1970, 860 U.N.T.S. 105, (1971) 10 I.L.M. 133.

2 See Feller, S. Z., “Jurisdiction Over Offenses with a Foreign Element”, in Baseiouni, M. C. & Nanda, V., eds., A Treatise on International Criminal Law (Springfield, III., Charles Thomas Publisher, 1973) vol. 2, p. 6, at 3234Google Scholar; Feller, S. Z., “Comment on ‘Criminal Jurisdiction Over Aircraft Hijacking’”, (1972) 7 Is. L. R. 207, at 211–212.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

3 See Clark, Roger S., “Offenses of International Concera. Multilateral State Treaty Practice in the Forty Years Since Nuremberg”, (1988) 67 Nordic J. Int'l L. 49.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

4 Cf., the resolution on “International Crimes and Domestic Criminal Law” in the Congress Proceedings of the XIVth International Congress on Penal Law (International Association of Penal Law, 1989) 329, at 330–331.

5 Draft Articles on State Responsibility, in Report of the International Law Commission to the General Assembly, U.N. Doc. A/31/10 (1976), reprinted in [1976] 2 Y.B. Int'l L. Comm'n, pt. 2, U.N. Doc. A/CN.4/SER.4/Add. 1 (pt. 2), 73, at 75.

6 Feller, “Comment”, supra n. 2. This was a reply to Dinstein, Yoram, “Criminal Jurisdiction Over Aircraft Hijacking”, (1972) 7 Is. L. R. 196.Google Scholar

7 Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts Against the Safety of Civil Aviation, Sept. 23, 1971, 974 U.N.T.S. 177, (1971) 10 I.L.M. 1151.

8 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Crimes Against Internationally Protected Persons, Including Diplomatic Agents, Dec. 14, 1973, 1035 U.N.T.S. 167, (1974) 13 I.L.M. 41.

9 International Convention Against the Taking of Hostages, Dec. 17, 1979, G.A. Res. 34/146, U.N. GAOR Supp. (No. 46), at 245, U.N. Doc. A/34/46 (1980), (1979) 18 I.L.M. 1456.

10 International Atomic Energy Agency Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material, Mar. 3, 1980, I.A.E.A. Legal Series No. 12 (1982), (1979) 18 I.L.M. 1419.

11 Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, Dec. 17, 1984, G.A. Res. 39/46, 39 U.N. GAOR Supp. (No. 51), at 197, U.N. Doc. A/39/51 (1984), (1984) 23 I.L.M. 1027.

12 International Maritime Organization Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts Against the Safety of Maritime Navigation, Mar. 10, 1988, I.M.O. Doc. SUA/CON/15, (1988) 27 I.L.M. 672.

13 International Convention Against the Recruitment, Use, Financing and Training of Mercenaries, G.A. Res. 44/34, adopted Dec. 4, 1989, U.N. Doc. A/Res/44/34 (Dec. 11, 1989), (1990) 29 I.L.M. 89.

14 United Nations Convention Against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psycho tropic Substances, Dec. 19, 1988, (1989) 28 I.L.M. 493.

15 International Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid, Nov. 30, 1973, G.A. Res. 28/3068, 28 U.N. GAOR Supp. (No. 30), at 75, U.N. Doc. A/Res/3068 (1973), 1015 U.N.T.S. 243, (1974) 13 I.L.M. 50.

16 See Cheng, , “Aviation, Criminal Jurisdiction and Terrorism: The Hague Extradition/Prosecution Formula and Attacks at Airports”, in Cheng, B. & Brown, E. D., eds., Contemporary Problems of International Law: Essays in Honour of Georg Schwarzenberger (London, Stevens & Sons, 1988) 25Google Scholar; ManMewicz, R. H., “The 1970 Hague Convention”, (1971) 37 J. Air L. & Commerce 195, at 204–05Google Scholar; White, Gillian M. E., “The Hague Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Seizure of Aircraft”, (1971) 6 R. Int'l Comm'n Jurists 38.Google Scholar

17 For instance, Article 2 of the Extradition Convention between Israel and Austria, Oct. 10, 1961, provides that neither party will extradite its own nationals, but that “where a Contracting State refuses extradition under the terms of this article, it shall, upon the application of the requesting State, submit the case to the competent authorities with a view to the institution of judicial proceedings …” The full text of the convention is reproduced in Shearer, I. A., Extradition in International Law (Manchester U. P., 1971) 233238.Google Scholar

18 Article 6(1)(d) of the European Convention on Extradition, Dec. 13, 1957, Eur. T.S. No. 24, 359 U.N.T.S. 276, provides: “If the requested party does not extradite its national, it shall at the request of the requesting Party submit the case to its competent authorities in order that proceedings may be taken if they are considered appropriate…”. For references to similar clauses in other multilateral treaties and drafts, see Shearer, supra n. 17, at 116–117, 124–125.

19 Organization of American States Convention to Prevent and Punish the Acts of Terrorism Taking the Form of Crimes Against Persons and Related Extortion that are of International Significance, Feb. 2, 1971, 27 U.S.T. 3949, T.I.A.S. No. 8413, (1971) 10 I.L.M. 256. The OAS Convention has been largely superseded by the New York Convention of 1972, supra n. 8.

20 European Convention on the Suppression of Terrorism, Jan. 27, 1977, Eur. T.S. No. 90, (1976) 15 I.L.M. 1272.

21 International Convention for the Suppression of Counterfeiting Currency, April 20, 1929, 112 L.N.T.S. 371.

22 Convention for the Suppression of Illicit Traffic in Dangerous Drugs, June 26, 1936, 198 L.N.T.S. 299, arts. 7 & 8.

23 Convention for the Prevention and Punishment of Terrorism, Nov. 16, 1937, in Hudson, Manley O., ed., International Legislation (Washington, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 1941) vol. 7, p. 862Google Scholar, arts. 9 & 10.

24 Convention for the Suppression of Traffic in Persons and the Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others, Mar. 21, 1950, 96 U.N.T.S. 271, art. 9.

25 Single Draft Convention on Narcotic Drugs, Mar. 30, 1961, 520 U.N.T.S. 204.

26 Convention on Psychotropic Substances, Feb. 21, 1971, 1019 U.N.T.S. 175.

27 Supra n. 14.

28 Convention for the Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded and Sick in the Armed Forces in the Field, Aug. 12, 1949, 76 U.N.T.S. 31, 62 (art. 49); Convention for the Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded, Sick, and Shipwrecked Members of the Armed Forces at Sea, Aug. 12, 1949, 75 U.N.T.S. 86, 116 (art 60); Convention Relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War, Aug. 12, 1949, 75 U.N.T.S. 135, 236 (art. 129); Convention Relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, Aug. 12, 1949, 75 U.N.T.S. 287, 386 (art. 146).

29 Memorandum of Understanding on Hijacking of Aircraft and Vessels and Other Offenses, United States - Cuba, Feb. 16, 1973, 24 U.S.T. 737, T.I.A.S. No. 7679, (1973) 12 I.L.M. 370.

30 Report of the International Law Commiesion on the Work of its Forty-Third Session, 29 April - 19 July 1991, GAOR Supp. No. 10 (A/46/10), at 238, 240.

31 Oppenheim'a International Law (9th ed., Jennings, R. & Watts, A., eds., London, Longmans, 1992) vol. 1, pp. 953 and 971.Google Scholar The list of treaties adopting this principle (see ibid., at 953–54) erroneously includes the Genocide Convention of 1948 and the Tokyo Convention on Offenses and Certain Other Acts Committed on Board Aircraft of 1963, neither of which imposes such an obligation. For other works using the expression, see, e.g., Lambert, Joseph J., Terrorism and Hostage in International Law (Cambridge, Grotius Publications, 1990) 4657, 187–203Google Scholar; Murphy, John F., Punishing International Terrorists (Totowa, N J., Rowman & Allanheld, 1985) 935Google Scholar; Williams, S. & Castel, J.-G., Canadian Criminal Law: International and Transnational Aspects (Toronto, Butterworths, 1981) 202, 216, 222, 227Google Scholar; Bloomfield, L. & Fitzgerald, G., Crimes Against Internationally Protected Persons (New York, Praeger, 1975) 96, 102Google Scholar; Costello, , “International Terrorism and the Development of the Principle aut dedere aut judicare”, (1975) 10 J. Int'l L. & Econ. 483Google Scholar; and those cited in n. 36 infra.

32 Lewis, C. T. & Short, C., A Latin Dictionary (Oxford, 1879) 1015.Google Scholar

33 Hugo Grotius, De Jure Belli ac Pacis, Book II, chapter XXI, § IV, passim (English translation: The Law of War and Peace (Washington, Carnegie Classics of International Law, 1925) 527–533).

34 Bodin, Jean, The Six Books of a Commonwealth (McRae, K., ed., Cambridge, Mass., Harvard U. P., 1962) 359–60.CrossRefGoogle Scholar Bodin's Les six Livres de la Republique was first published in French in 1576; in Latin in 1586. The French and Latin texts differ substantially. McRae's edition reprints the English translation published by Richard Knolles in 1606, which is a composite drawn from both the French and Latin versions.

35 Ibid., at 369.

36 Bassiouni, M. Cherif, “Introduction”, in Bassiouni, M. C., ed., International Criminal law: Crimea, (Dobbs Ferry, N.Y., Transnational Publishers, 1988) vol. 1, xviiiGoogle Scholar; Bassiouni, M. Cherif, International Extradition and World Public Order (1974) 7.Google Scholar Prof. Bassiouni gives this as the reason why he “rephrased” Grotius's maxim to read aut dedere aut judicare. This sounds like a claim to have originated the expression. It figures in his draft of the “Final Document: Conclusions and Recommendations of the Conference on Terrorism and Political Crimes” held at Siracusa in June 1973, printed in Bassiouni, M. C., ed., International Terrorism and Political Crimes (Springfield, Ill., Charles C. Thomas Publisher, 1976) xi, at xixGoogle Scholar; and in several other papers in that volume: DeSchutter, “Problems of Jurisdiction in the International Control and Repression of Terrorism”, ibid., 377, at 386; Vogler, “Perspectives on Extradition and Terrorism”, ibid., 391, at 396; Bassiouni, “Methodological Options for International Legal Control of Terrorism”, ibid., 486, at 490; and in the Greek submission to the United Nations Ad Hoc Committee on International Terrorism, reprinted in ibid. (Appendix S), 564, at 665. But it also appears earlier in the comments of the International Law Commission on its draft of what became the New York Convention of 1973. See [1972] 2 Int'l L. Comm'n Y.B. 219, at 318.

37 Grotius, supra n. 33, Book II, chap. XXI, § IV (1), at 527.

38 Plutarch, , Romulus (Loeb Classical Library, 1914) vii. 6, at 106.Google Scholar

39 See, e.g., Wijngaert, Christine van den, The Political Offence Exception to Extradition (Deventer, Kluwer, 1980) 78.Google Scholar

40 See Wise, E. M., “Extradition: The Hypothesis of a Civitas Maxima and the Maxim Aut Dedere Aut Judicare”, (1991) 62 R Int'l Droit Pénal 109Google Scholar; Book Review, (1982) 30 Am. J. Comp. L. 362, at 369–71.

41 Grotius, supra n. 33, Book II, chap. XXI, §§III & IV, at 626–629.

42 See Shearer, supra n. 17, at 22–23.

43 Ibid., at 24–27. See also, e.g., Oppenheim's International Law, supra n. 31, at 901, 950; Brownlie, Ian, Principles of Public International Law (Oxford, Clarendon Press, 4th ed., 1990) 315Google Scholar; Schultz, , “The Classic Law of Extradition and Contemporary Needs”, in Bassiouni, M. C. & Nanda, V., eds., Treatise on International Criminal Law (Springfield, Ill., Charles C. Thomas Publisher, 1973) vol. 2, pp. 309, 310.Google Scholar

44 See Lillich, Richard B. & Paxman, John M., “State Responsibility for Injuries to Mens Occasioned by Terrorist Activities”, (1977) 26 Am. U. L. R. 217, at 276–307.Google Scholar

45 Case Concerning Questions of Interpretation and Application of the 1971 Montreal Convention Arising from the Aerial Incident at Lockerbie (Libya v. United Kingdom) (Provisional Measures), (1992) I.C.J. Reports 50, at 51 (Order of 14 April) (Weeramantry, J., dissenting).

47 Ibid., at 69.

48 Ibid., quoting Bassiouni, M. Cherif, International Extradition: United States Law and Practice (Dobbs Ferry, N.Y., Oceana Publications, 2nd ed., 1987) 22.Google Scholar

49 Ibid., at 22–23. Virtually the same text also appears in Bassiouni, M. Cherif, “Characteristics of International Criminal Law Conventions”, in International Criminal Law, supra n. 36, vol. 1, at 1, 78Google Scholar; and Bassiouni, M. Cherif, “The Penal Characteristics of Conventional International Criminal Law”, (1983) 16 Case W. Res. J. Int'l L. 27, at 34–36.Google Scholar

50 Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, May 23, 1969, 1155 U.N.T.S. 331, 344 (art. 53).

51 On the consequences of finding that a treaty provision has been transposed into a customary rule, see generally Meron, Theodor, Human Rights and Humanitarian Norms as Customary Law (Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1989) 310, 79–81.Google Scholar

52 Cf., Weil, Prosper, “Towards Normative Relativity in International Law?” (1983) 77 Am. J. Int'l L. 413, at 438–439.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

53 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, Dec. 9, 1948, 78 U.N.T.S. 277.

54 See, e.g., Brownlie, supra n. 43, at 315.

55 See, e.g., the Statement of the Rules of International Law Applicable to International Terrorism, adopted by the International Law Association in 1984. International Law Association, Report of the Sixty-First Conference (1985) 67.Google Scholar The report of the Committee on International Terrorism, which recommended this resolution, appears, ibid., at 313–322. See also the remarks of Mark Feldman, Deputy Legal Advisor, U.S. Department of State, reported in Murphy, John F., Legal Aspects of International Terrorism: Summary Report of an International Conference (American Society of International Law Studies in Transnational Legal Policy, No. 19, 1980) 26Google Scholar; “Final Document: Conclusions and Recommendations of the Conference on Terrorism and Political Crimes”, Siracusa, June 1973, supra n. 36; and other sources cited in Van den Wvjngaert, supra n. 39, at 207, n. 1080.

56 Bassiouni, supra n. 46, at 22. See also Lambert, supra n. 31, at 190; Kenneth C. Randall, “Universal Jurisdiction Under International Law”, (1988) 66 Texas L. R. 785, at 832–834.

57 See Murphy, supra n. 31, at 36, 62, 131; Cheng, supra n. 16, at 41; Lillich & Paxman, supra n. 44; and Lillich's remarks in Murphy, supra n. 65, at 26–27.

58 See generally Wijngaert, Christine van den, “War Crimes, Crimes Against Humanity, and Statutory Limitations”, in Baseiouni, M. C., ed., International Criminal Law: Enforcement (Dobbs Ferry, N.Y., Transnational Publishers, 1987) vol. 3, pp. 89, 90–94.Google Scholar

59 See Randall, supra n. 56, at 800–815. But cf. Bowett, D. W., “Jurisdiction: Changing Patterns of Authority Over Activities and Resources”, (1982) 53 Br. Y.B. Int'l L. 1, at 12.Google Scholar

60 U.S. Dept. of the Army, The Law of Land Warfare (Field Manual 27–10, July 1956) 181.Google Scholar

61 See, e.g., Morgenstern, Felice, “Asylum for War Criminals, Quislings, and Traitors”, (1944) 21 Br. Y.B. Int'l L. 91Google Scholar; Neumann, Robert G., “Neutral States and the Extradition of War Criminals”, (1951) 45 Am. J. Int'l L. 495CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Green, L. C., “Political Offences, War Crimes and Extradition”, (1962) 11 Int'l & Comp. L. Q. 329Google Scholar; Garcia-Mora, Manuel R., “War Crimes and the Principle of Non-Extradition of Political Offenders”, (1963) 9 Wayne L. R. 269.Google Scholar

62 For instance, in support of this proposition, Brownlie, supra n. 43, at 315, n. 97, cites Neumann and Green, supra n. 61.

63 Silving, Helen, “In Re Eichmann: A Dilemma of Law and Morality”, (1961) 55 Am. J. Int'l L. 307, at 324CrossRefGoogle Scholar, reprinted in Mueller, G. O. W. & Wise, E. M., eds., International Criminal Law (South Hackensack, N.J., Fred B. Rothman & Co, 1965) 290, at 310.Google Scholar

64 Oppenheim's International Law (7th ed., Lauterpacht, H., ed., London, Longmans, 1952) vol. 2, pp. 588–89, n. 4Google Scholar; see also Lauterpacht, H., “The Law of Nations and the Punishment of War Crimes”, (1944) 21 Br. Y.B. Int'l L. 58, at 86–95.Google Scholar

65 See Bothe, Michael, Partech, Karl Josef & Solf, Waldemar A., New Rules for Victims of Armed Conflicts: Commentary on the Two 1977 Protocoh Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 1949 (The Hague, Martinus Nijhoff, 1982) 531.Google Scholar

66 Cassese, Antonio, International Law in a Divided World (Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1986) 275.Google Scholar To the same effect, see also, e.g., Rubin, Alfred P., “Iraqi War Crimes and International Law”, International Practitioner's Notebook, Nos. 49 & 50Google Scholar (Am. Branch, Int'l L. Ass'n, June 1991) 25; Van den Wijngaert, supra n. 58, at 90.

67 Meron, supra n. 51, at 61.

68 Jennings, Robert Y., “Treaties as ‘Legislation’”, in Wilner, Gabriel M., ed., Jus et Societo: Essays in Tribute to Wolfgang Friedmann (The Hague, Martinua Njjhoff, 1979) 159, at 168.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

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70 The strain toward an international Straftatsystem is apparent in Bassiouni, supra n. 49, and also, to some extent, in Dinstoin'e, Yoram masterful summary, “International Criminal Law”, (1985) 20 Is. L. R. 206.Google Scholar

71 A phrase used by Gierke, Otto, Natural Law and the Theory of Society 1600 to 1800 (Barker, Ernest transl., Boston, Beacon Press, 1957) 196Google Scholar in describing Christian Wolff's concept of a civitas maxima; see also Hinsley, F. H., Sovereignty (London, Watts, C. A., 1966) 191.Google Scholar

72 “Extradition”, supra n. 40, at 111–116; “International Crimes and Domestic Criminal Law”, (1989) 38 DePaul L. R. 923, at 945–946; “Terrorism and the Probleme of an International Criminal Law”, (1987) 19 Conn. L. R. 799, at 818–821; Book Review, (1987) 35 Am. J. Comp. L. 842, at 846–47. See also Weil, supra n. 52; Arangio-Ruiz, Gaetano, The United Nations Declaration on Friendly Relations and the System of the Sources of International Law (Alphen aan den Rijn, Sijthoff & Noordhoff, 1979)Google Scholar; cf. Visscher, Charles De, Theory and Reality in Public International Law (Corbett, P.E. transl., Princeton U. P., 2nd ed., 1968) 89101.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

73 Moore, G. E., Principia Ethica (Cambridge U. P. 1903) 222.Google Scholar