Core Courses
In her account on Eichmann in Jerusalem, Hannah Arendt famously wrote that international criminal trials take place ‘in the interests of justice and nothing else’. This statement leaves many questions unanswered. How and why do we hold individuals accountable? What constitutes an international crime, as opposed to a human rights abuse or a violation of international humanitarian law? What types of criminality are marginalized? How do we prove crimes or establish individual criminal responsibility for collective agency? What practical or procedural obstacles do criminal investigations or prosecutions face? Do we need a new international criminal law in the age of AI?
In this course, we will explore the foundations of international crimes and criminal justice in a multi-polar world. The course is centered around four key themes: (i) The foundations of international criminal justice, including its agents, underlying principles and sources, (ii) the shifting contours of criminality and international crimes, (iii) the role and limits of individual criminal responsibility, as well as (iv) impediments to enforcement and new accountability initiatives.
We will start with a discussion of the justifications and limits of international criminal law (e.g., why, for whom), and its subjects and sources. We will explore the anatomy of international crimes and the shifting contours of criminality, including so-called atrocity crimes (aggression, genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes), as well as neglected or newly emerging types of crimes (environmental crimes, sexual and gender-based violence, cyber-crime). We will then examine the foundations and limits of individual criminal responsibility, including different modes of liability, responsibility gaps and grounds excluding criminal responsibility. We will conclude with a discussion on peace and justice, impediments to enforcement, and law of the future. In our final course exercise, we will take a closer look at an ongoing treaty process, namely the negotiation of a new Crimes Against Humanity Convention, and discuss proposals and ideas to map the future law on crimes against humanity.
Throughout the course, we will use the ICC Al Hassan case (see also sources below) as example to illustrate legal concepts and analyze how international criminal justice operates in practice. The choice of the case has also a broader pedagogical function. It invites us to reflect more deeply on international criminal justice as a project from different legal positions (e.g., Defence, victims, Judges).
Convenor: Carsten Stahn
This course introduces the concept of transitional justice. It seeks to familiarise participants with the legal and ethical frameworks necessary for understanding, and critically engaging with, this ever-expanding field. What is transitional justice? Where does it come from? Who is it for? How is it done? By which principles, norms and practices is it informed? In addressing basic questions such as these, the course proceeds in three parts. Part one provides an introductory discussion of the concept of transitional justice, its legal framework and mechanisms. Part two explores the regionalisation of transitional justice in the Latin American and African contexts. Part three closely examines transitional justice practice through an interdisciplinary approach on various contemporary key issues in the field. The aim of this course is twofold: to provide a framework for further and complementary reflection on specific issues and case studies addressed in the other MAS in TJ and HR courses; while also offering an opportunity to explore dynamically and interactively less discussed topics in the transitional justice literature.
Convenor: Sévane Garibian
Contexts of armed conflict, authoritarian rule or other types of widespread repression are often marked by gross human rights violations. This course examines the rights of victims under international human rights law (IHRL) and how these rights shape and challenge transitional
justice processes.
IHRL establishes clear obligations on States to respect, protect and fulfil human rights including the rights of victims to truth, justice, reparation, as well as the obligation to prevent future violations. These entitlements cannot be set aside in the name of peace or political expediency. Examining transitional justice through a human rights lens therefore reveals both opportunities and limitations: victims’ rights serve as a normative anchor, while also testing the transformative potential of law in divided societies.
The course begins by laying the foundations of IHRL, coverings its norms and mechanisms across civil, political, economic, social, cultural and environmental rights. Building on this, the module then explores the four pillars of transitional justice—truth, justice, reparation, and guarantees of non-repetition—from a human rights perspective. Special attention will be given to the rights of victims to participate in transitional justice processes and the obligations of states and other actors (armed groups, corporations, international financial institutions) to address victims’ claims.
Convenor: Clara Sandoval
This course examines the law and politics of transitional justice (TJ) and its evolution from a field primarily concerned with accountability for gross violations of civil and political rights to one increasingly engaging with structural violence and injustice. It begins by tracing the history, concepts, mechanisms, and objectives of TJ and the changing assumptions about transition, justice, peace, and social change on which the field has been built.
Against this background, the course explores whether and how TJ can address economic violence, poverty and socioeconomic exclusion, dispossession, racism, gender inequality, environmental harm, and historical injustice, including through greater attention to economic, social, and cultural rights (ESCRs). Particular attention is given to victims’ experiences, participation, agency, and demands for justice.
A central theme is the functional adequacy of transitional justice: what can criminal justice, truth-seeking, reparations, and institutional reform realistically contribute to addressing structural violence, and where are their legal, political, and institutional limits? Drawing on theory, law, jurisprudence, and comparative case studies, students will examine the tension between transformative ambition and institutional constraint, the relationship between TJ and development, and the impact of contemporary geopolitical change and emerging technologies on the future of transitional justice.
Convenor: Thomas Unger
Course taking place in Spring 2027 – description to arrive shortly.
Convenor: Giulia Pinzauti
This course syllabus is structured around twelve core dilemmas of transitional justice. Each session is framed as a legal dilemma encountered by practitioners. Readings include: (A) normative framing; (B) investigative practice, including United Nations Commissions of Inquiry and Fact-Finding Missions; and (C) judicial practice at international and domestic levels.
Convenor: Mona Rishmawi
In this course, we explore three notions of justice that tackle gross human rights violations from different temporal perspectives: historical justice, transitional justice, and transformative justice. While historical justice deals with historic violations (such as chattel slavery and colonialism), transitional justice addresses more recent violations (such as disappearances, torture, and extra-judicial executions) committed during dictatorships and armed conflicts. By contrast, transformative justice seeks to change underlying structures of discrimination, exclusion, and marginalization that enable ongoing violations (such as gender violence).
For all their differences, historic, transitional, and transformative justice employ similar measures of accountability: criminal justice, civil justice, truth-seeking, reparations, memorialization, and guarantees of non-recurrence. At a time when the International Criminal Court is experiencing sustained attack and states seem more reluctant than ever to prosecute their own soldiers, the non-criminal accountability measures take on added importance.First, we examine how non-criminal measures take different institutional forms. Civil justice spans amnesties, tort litigation and customary dispute resolution. Truth-seeking includes People’s Tribunals, Truth and Reconciliation Commissions, and Right to Information laws. Reparations range from apologies to compensation to rehabilitation to gender-just transformative reparations. Memorialization consists of archives, memorials, and museums. Guarantees of non-recurrence is the broadest measure of all and encompasses art, education, and vetting. Second, we look at how various regional, state, community, and civil society actors (especially victims-survivors groups) have designed and implemented these mechanisms to achieve some accountability. Finally, we look at some of the larger tensions around these accountability measures: individual versus state responsibility; corrective versus distributive justice; memory versus forgetting; and contentious co-existence versus reconciliation.
Convenor: Lars Waldorf