Program Overview

How does the law respond to the most serious atrocities across the globe? What are the laws that govern war and armed conflict? To what degree is the Permanent International Criminal Court and other internationalised tribunals effective in holding individuals accountable for the most serious crimes; genocide, war crime and crimes against humanity?

These are just some of the crucial questions you address in a bespoke LLM equipping you with advanced knowledge and skills in the field of international criminal law. You will gain foundational knowledge in both international human rights law and the law on armed conflict. These modules offer much needed context and enable you to gain a holistic understanding of the international legal system. With this background, you will acquire specialist knowledge and skills in the principles of international criminal law and procedure often considering the law from various perspectives; prosecution, defence, and victims to name only a few. Recognising that in a globalised world crime is no longer confined to the territory of one State, you will also examine transnational criminal law given the increasing number of cross-border crimes such as terrorism, trafficking, and cybercrime. Your knowledge and skills will be informed by a diverse range of approaches to studying law; theoretical, doctrinal and comparative.

Taken together, this comprehensive course will help you understand and tackle the legal challenges in the course of establishing accountability, peace, and respect for human rights.

The course emphasises practical skills and how to overcome dilemmas frequently experienced by practitioners in client-facing and litigation settings, as well as examining the procedural difficulties that tribunals such as the International Criminal Court often face. During the course, you will undertake activities from the perspective of the prosecution, defence, victims counsel and the judicial bench. There will also be several opportunities for you to listen to guest lectures and engage in interactive talks with external practitioners that have experience of working in internationalised tribunals.