This article reviews the legacy of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) under a specific compliance perspective and asks whether the Tribunal's juris prudence furthered the adherence to norms of international criminal and humanitar ian law. The Tribunal's impact on the circulation, emergence and enforcement, of the prohibitions of genocide and other serious violations of international humanitarian law will thus be scrutinised. Furthermore, the legitimacy of the ICTR's jurisprudence plays a major role as human beings not only follow a logic of consequence but also a logic of appropriateness. This combined approach will show that the ICTR -despite its shortcomings -has furthered compliance by diffusing the norms of international criminal and humanitarian law not only to Rwanda and the Great Lakes Region, but also to the international community.
The Optional Protocol to the United Nations Convention Against Torture (OPCAT) differs from other human rights treaties, especially because it follows a new approach by establishing a system of on-site visits as well as a dual supervisory mechanism, which consists of an international committee—the Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture—and the National Prevention Mechanisms. The aim of this comment is to analyse these particularities in the light of the broader academic discussion on norm compliance. Furthermore, the effect of OPCAT’s characteristics on the normativity of the prohibition of torture will be examined.
The comment shows that the need for institutions and a dialogue between them is acknowledged by compliance theory and OPCAT’s design and practice alike. OPCAT is one of the prime examples of how a dialogue can function between different actors, be they international, national, governmental, or non-governmental. Moreover, it is shown that OPCAT fosters the normativity of the prohibition of torture by institutionalizing dialogue and cooperation. OPCAT is an example of how compliance—as well as normativity—can be strengthened through smart legal design. Thus, OPCAT complements the retrospective and international approach of the United Nations Convention against Torture.
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