Justice not revenge: the international criminal court and the ‘grounds to exclude criminal responsibility’: defences or negation of criminality?

Human rights law has evolved based on the idea of fait trial and protection of the accused, however with the development of international criminal law human rights law has focused on the notion of prosecution. During the drafting of the Rome Statute of the International
Criminal Court there was a large debate on whether the Statute should include a reference to defences that exclude the responsibility of the accused. This article explores the debates during the drafting of Article 31 of the Rome Statute which uses the term ‘grounds to exclude criminal responsibility’.