New Challenges to International Law

Book excerpt: International law and the Hague, the city where so many institutions of international law are established, are intimately connected. This book presents the views developed by some of the active players in the legal capital of the world on a number of the current challenges faced by international law. The starting point was a seminar held in the Peace Palace, reviewing some of the legal policy questions of today, such as the acceptance of the jurisdiction of the ICJ as a prerequisite to dispute settlement. Supplementing these articles on classical international law are essays dealing with the younger discipline of international criminal law, as practiced by the ICC and other Tribunals, offering ideas on, among other things. how to speed up the lengthy procedures of international criminal tribunals. Other contributions debate the universality of human rights and their legal protection.