Unraveling the Confused Relationship Between Treaty Obligations to Extradite or Prosecute and 'Universal Jurisdiction' in the Light of the Habre Case

摘要

Since the 1980s, the idea that treaty obligations to extradite or prosecute embody, or even mandate, a principle of universal jurisdiction has increasingly been supported by weighty scholarship. Although this view has not gone unchallenged, especially in the wake of the ICJ's judgment in the Habre Case, it is gaining ground among various actors in the field of international law. Indeed, this case is increasingly discussed to support the argument that the ICJ affirmed the existence of the principle of universal jurisdiction and provided meaningful guidance on its relationship with the obligation to extradite or prosecute.