Universal Jurisdiction and Gross Human Rights Violations: A Study on the Exercise of Jurisdiction over Asylum Seekers Suspected of the Commission of Serious International Crimes

Gross human rights violations are of all times and all places. In the last decades, however, we have seen a rise in the accountability for grave human rights violations. The ‘international community’ expressed its wish firmly to combat impunity and to ensure that certain international crimes are prosecuted. Universal jurisdiction offers States the possibility to prosecute persons suspected of certain serious criminal offences without any direct link to the State. Merely on the gravity of the offence States can bring proceedings against a person outside the traditional forms of jurisdiction. This book focuses on universal jurisdiction over asylum seekers suspected of having committed gross human rights violations. The crimes as genocide, war crimes, torture and crimes against humanity are discussed in depth. The analysis should help shed some light on this difficult issue of International Law. It is useful for students and professionals in the sphere of International Human Rights Law and Refugee and Asylum Law.