הוועד הציבורי נגד עינויים בישראל

“Universal jurisdiction” refers to the competence of a national court to try a person suspected of a serious crime – such as genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and torture – even if neither the suspect nor the victim are nationals of the country where the court is located, and even if the crime took place outside that country.

The exercise of universal jurisdiction is commonly authorized, or even required, by certain international conventions to which the state is a party (see, for example the UN Convention against Torture, or the “grave breaches” provisions of the four Geneva Conventions of 1949).

Although on paper many countries around the world appear to recognize that they are obligated to exercise universal jurisdiction concerning the above mentioned crimes, in practice most choose not to do so.

The purpose of the following survey is to provide an overall and general picture of the current exercise of universal jurisdiction, of the countries that most often apply this practice, and of the international criminals who have been indicted and tried under this system.