This talk is animated by two simultaneous developments in international criminal law. First, due to technological advances, witnesses now document atrocities with smartphones, open-source investigators connect their images to other information, and algorithm-operated evidence databases facilitate the analysis and sharing of all this data with prosecutors. Second, domestic courts have become a key space for atrocity prosecution of crimes committed abroad.
De Hoon is currently working to theorize the role of the prosecutor in this changing justice landscape, in which she explores the promises and pitfalls of extraterritorial atrocity cases (e.g. Syria, Ukraine). Her point of departure is the undertheorized and ambivalent role of the prosecutor: having to uphold fundamental legal principles while straddling the lines between magistrate and civil servant; truth-finding and crime-fighting; safeguarding defence, victims’, and society’s rights; and representing the public or the victim. This is highlighted in extraterritorial atrocity crimes, given the mismatch between the number of potential cases and available resources. This is further compounded by contemporary challenges of emerging technologies and information overflow; complexities of transnational collaboration with myriad public and private actors; and protecting the rights, safety, and interests of large victim groups and threatened witnesses that mostly reside abroad. Prosecutors need to make difficult selections, but current theorization of prosecutors cannot underpin the choices necessary to do so.
About the speaker
Marieke de Hoon is Associate Professor of (International) Criminal Law.
In her research and teaching she focuses on international law, international criminal law, national prosecution of international crimes and human rights. She is also Director Netherlands Office and Senior Counsel at the Public International Law & Policy Group, where she provides pro bono legal assistance in (post-)conflict situations.
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