Strategic Litigation Networks and Accountability for Gross Violations of Human Rights

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Florian Jeßberger
• Subject Area: Criminal Law ; Public Law
• Term: from 2017 to 2022
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 393063051

• Final Report Year: 2022

Final Report Abstract

The project explored the role of strategic litigation NGOs (SLiNGOs) in the international criminal justice system. It forms part of a broader strand of research on critical perspectives on international criminal law. The project focused in particular on three areas of research: (1) corporate accountability and international criminal justice, (2) sexual and gender-based crimes under international law, and (3) international criminal accountability for the ‘war on terror’. Drawing on the findings of an empirical study, it shed light on the practice and self-perception of SLiNGOs who proactively employ international and domestic criminal law and similar norms as advocacy tools and use litigation to target perpetrators of international crimes as part of a larger juridical-political strategy transcending the individual case. It could be shown that SLiNGOs – practically speaking – already form an important part of the landscape of international criminal justice system. Through their work, they aim at contextualizing individual cases and attempt to address the asymmetries and blindspots engrained in the current system, thereby striving to uncover the counter-hegemonic potential of international criminal justice. Still, potential pitfalls and fundamental critiques of strategic litigation should not be disregarded but warrant a closer analysis on a case-by-case basis.

Publications

• 2020. Über den Zustand und die Zukunft des Völkerstrafrechts. In: Hoven/Kubiciel (Hrsg.), Zukunftsperspektiven des Strafrechts, Nomos, 323-336
  Jeßberger, Florian
  
• 2021. Aktuelle Entwicklungen und Reformbedarf im VStGB: Zum Schutz der sexuellen und reproduktiven Selbstbestimmung durch das Völkerstrafrecht, in: Rechtswissenschaft, 335-355
  Steinl, Leonie; Altunjan, Tanja
  
• 2021. Transitional Justice. Zu einem Konzept juristischer Unrechtsaufarbeitung, in: Jahrbuch des öffentlichen Rechts 69, 37-62
  Steinl, Leonie
  
• 2022. Die Krisen des Völkerstrafrechts. In: F Jeßberger; M Vormbaum; B Burghardt, Strafrecht und Systemunrecht. Mohr Siebeck, 145-156
  Jeßberger, Florian
  
• 2022. Postkoloniale Kritik am Völkerstrafrecht. In: F Jeßberger; M Vormbaum; B Burghardt, Strafrecht und Systemunrecht. Mohr Siebeck, 295-310
  Steinl, Leonie
  
• 2022. Strategic Litigation in International Criminal Justice – Facilitating a View From Within, in: Journal of International Criminal 2022, 1-23
  Jeßberger, Florian; Steinl, Leonie