The Global Prosecution of Core Crimes under International Law

This book deals with the prosecution of core crimes and constitutes the first comprehensive analysis of the horizontal and vertical systems of enforcement of international criminal law and of their inter-relationship. It provides a global jurisprudential exposition in assessing the grounds for refusal of surrender to the International Criminal Court and of extradition to another State. It also offers insights into legal perspectives which improve the prevailing enforcement regimes of various models of criminal justice, including hybrid criminal tribunals, special criminal courts, judicial panels and partnerships, and other budding sui generis judicial and/or prosecutorial institutions.
The book espouses a human rights law-oriented critique to the enforcement of domestic, regional and international criminal justice and is aimed at legal practitioners (prosecutors, defence lawyers, magistrates and judges), jurists, criminal justice experts, penologists, legal researchers, human rights activists and law students.
Christopher Soler lectures Maltese criminal law, international criminal law and public international law at the University of Malta. He obtained his Ph.D. from the University of Amsterdam in The Netherlands.

Part I. Introduction.- Chapter 1. Methodological framework and research questions.- Chapter 2. Preliminary observations on the systems of enforcement.- Part II. The Characterisation and Prosecution of Core Crimes: Some Underlying Assumptions.- Chapter 3. Multi-level prosecutions of serious crimes of concern to the international community.- Chapter 4. Why do we need to understand the concept of core crimes?.- Chapter 5. What is required to intrude into the sovereignty of a defaulting State in order to investigate and prosecute core crimes?.- Chapter 6. The overarching contextual (juridical) elements.- Chapter 7. The juridical consequences of core crimes: Individual criminal responsibility and State aggravated responsibility.- Chapter 8. Detecting the determining and distinguishing factors.- Part III. The Vertical System of Enforcement.- Chapter 9. The salient features of the vertical system of enforcement.- Chapter 10. The State obligation to cooperate under international law.- Chapter11. Inherent limitations of the vertical system of enforcement.- Chapter 12. The ensuing `jurisdictional joint venture , a division of labour par excellence.- Part IV. The Horizontal System of Enforcement.- Chapter 13. Aut dedere aut judicare.- Chapter 14. The reliance of the horizontal system of enforcement on the corpus juris relating to extradition.- Chapter 15. The impact of customary international law and the general principles of law on the horizontal system of enforcement.- Chapter 16. Pitfalls within the horizontal system of enforcement.- Chapter 17. Concurrent State obligations.- Chapter 18. The self-assumption of jurisdiction: An abuse of power or a necessary evil?.- Part V. Conclusion.- Chapter 19. The obligation of States to prevent, prosecute and punish core crimes.- Chapter 20. The development of functional international constitutionalism.- Chapter 21.