To Be Leaders of the International Community: Conclusion of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the International Criminal Court (ICC) and a Lecture by Director Tomoko Akane

2024/08/07

Photo: ICC Director Tomoko Akane (right) and the author (June 12, 2024, Mita Campus)

On June 12, 2024, Tomoko Akane, Director of the International Criminal Court (ICC), visited Keio University, and the ICC and the Juku concluded a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). There has been active research and educational exchange between judges and researchers of the ICC and the Faculty of Law, the Graduate School of Law, and Keio University Law School for many years. Based on these achievements, both parties have now taken a new step toward an even closer cooperative relationship.

The ICC was established in 2002 in The Hague, Netherlands, based on the Rome Statute (treaty) as the first permanent international criminal court in history to prosecute and punish "core crimes" that are of concern to the international community as a whole, namely genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression. Recently, the ICC has attracted global attention by launching investigations into ongoing war crimes, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the conflict between Israel and the Islamic organization Hamas, issuing arrest warrants for Russian President Putin and others, and requesting arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and Hamas leaders. In March 2024, Ms. Akane became the first Japanese person to assume the top position at the ICC.

The origins of the legal field of international criminal law, symbolized by the ICC, include the Nuremberg and Tokyo trials, and the field itself is still relatively new as an established academic discipline. While there are still very few universities in Japan that handle this field, Keio University was among the first to introduce specialized courses. Since 2004, specialized curricula regarding international criminal law have been sequentially established in both Keio University Law School and the Faculty of Law, and today, a wide range of education and research is conducted in both Japanese and English. Ms. Akane has also given guest speaker lectures and seminars in classes every year (or several times a year) for the past few years, and graduate students led by Keio faculty members have also visited the ICC in The Hague. Based on these activities, the MoU has now been concluded.

The conclusion of the MoU will create opportunities for practical guidance through the dispatch of students as interns and facilitate exchange between faculty members for research and training. Specific content and programs planned include research collaboration (implementation of joint research projects, etc.), primarily dispatching students to the ICC as interns, and dispatching faculty members to the ICC as Visiting Professionals. In particular, in the internship program, Keio students will, in principle, be assigned to one of the three organs of the ICC (Chambers, Office of the Prosecutor, or Registry) for several months. Through practical experience in investigations and trials, as well as training in specialized departments supporting judicial activities—such as the IT department, the analysis department for conflict-affected areas, the external relations department, and the media relations department—students can gain a truly diverse range of practical experience. A characteristic feature is that the doors are open not only to students aspiring to the legal profession but also to Keio students with various backgrounds and expertise.

Despite Japan being the largest financial contributor to the ICC (approx. 3.75 billion yen [2023]), there are currently extremely few Japanese staff and interns. In light of this situation, providing internship opportunities to Keio students through the MoU is expected to resolve this imbalance. In the future, it is hoped that this will expand the fields where students can play active roles in international criminal justice and international organizations, and promote research exchange in international criminal law, criminal law, international law, international politics/international relations, and other adjacent academic fields.

To commemorate the signing of the MoU, a lecture by Ms. Akane was held on the same day at the North Building Hall on the Mita Campus.

Ms. Akane delivered a lecture titled "Can the ICC Contribute to the Development of Global Criminal Justice? How Should Japan and the Japanese People Face It?" to an audience of 200 participants, including students. She demonstrated the functions and roles the ICC should fulfill as the only permanent international criminal court amidst the tense international situation, and raised fundamental questions about the "rule of law" and the "power of justice" in the international community. She also explained the legal framework for requesting and issuing arrest warrants at the ICC and the differences from criminal procedures based on domestic law. Furthermore, she expressed the recognition that Japan and the Japanese people can (or should) contribute more to the world. After mentioning that core crimes have not been incorporated into domestic law in Japan and that Japan has not yet joined the Genocide Convention, she pointed out the limits of Japanese law in responding to these serious crimes and presented the following three challenges for future domestic legislative development.

Namely: (1) incorporating all core crimes into domestic law; (2) taking legislative measures for related concepts such as "superior responsibility" at that time; and (3) developing provisions for punishment of crimes committed abroad so that core crimes committed by foreigners outside the country can also be punished in Japan. She expressed the view that for all of these challenges, "the time has come to resolve them."

In the subsequent dialogue with the author, deeper discussions were held on the issues raised by Ms. Akane, particularly Japan's legislative challenges, the cultivation of human resources who can be active on the stage of international criminal justice, and the concept of an "ICC Tokyo Office." Regarding legislative challenges in particular, the discussion deepened on the fact that the ICC does not stand above the jurisdiction of individual countries but is an existence that should be called the "last resort" in the rule of law. While the prosecution and punishment of crimes against humanity and genocide are primarily the responsibility of states (the so-called "principle of complementarity"), the current state of Japanese law, which lacks punishment provisions specialized for these core crimes, has aspects that cannot sufficiently meet that requirement. Furthermore, the risk of Japan becoming a "loophole" in the international dragnet was discussed, as foreigners who have committed these crimes abroad cannot be punished even if they enter Japan.

Finally, in the Q&A session involving the participants, many students raised their hands. Director Akane carefully answered each question one by one and gave a powerful message through the dialogue to encourage the students to rise to the challenge.

In the future, to respond to the expectations and encouragement contained in this message, we hope to make the most of the MoU and lead to the cultivation and production of leaders for the international community from the Juku.