From Hostis Humani Generis To Human Rights Violations - Rethinking Universal Jurisdiction Through Global Lens

Abstract

This paper explores the development and current issues that face universal jurisdiction starting with the historical development of the concept of hostis humani generis as the prosecution of the crime of piracy to the modern day dealing with serious human rights abuses. Originally intended to face stateless acts of piracy beyond the territorial control of a nation, universal jurisdiction has grown and developed over time with such milestones as the Nuremberg and Tokyo Tribunals, the Geneva Conventions, and such cases as Pinochet, to include genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and torture. Although the expansion is a leap of one of the most innovative changes in the international law, it has been applied in an uneven way, politically selective and prone to the criticism of being a form of neo-colonial justice. The unequal application of universal jurisdiction, the authors of which are mostly actors of weaker states and escape penalties targeting the actors of powerful countries, plays into the discredit and mistrust of the article. It also examines the issue of sovereignty and accountability and how these two are in conflict, and therefore the principle of non-intervention and extraterritorial jurisdiction. To overcome these limitations, the paper proposes a universal reconsideration of universal jurisdiction that takes into account the duality between sovereignty and justice, enhancing more just allocation of cases, increasing cooperation between domestic and regional and international courts, and further supporting Global South jurisdictions. The article believes that by placing universal jurisdiction in a multilayered accountability framework, the doctrine can become a valid mechanism of international justice as opposed to a politically convenient tool. Finally, it argues that universal jurisdiction can only achieve its intended purpose of fighting impunity of the most heinous crimes by the representative and the universally inclusive method.