Member

As part of its Justice Beyond Borders project, the Clooney Foundation drew to our committee’s attention its 2023 global mapping tool, designed to offer a comprehensive review of legislation on international crimes across the world. The Committee should note that 28 United Nations member states can exercise absolute universal jurisdiction, meaning that they can open a case against a person suspected of committing a serious international crime regardless of their nationality, the nationality of the victim, the location where the offence was committed or the presence of the suspect. Those countries include Australia, Germany, New Zealand, Sweden and Finland. I have already referred to the German court which found a member of ISIS guilty of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes under absolute universal jurisdiction. The defendant was not a German national or resident, the victims were not German, and the crimes had not been committed on German territory.