Territorial jurisdiction - national proceedings

South Africa

Implementation of the Geneva Conventions Act, 2012

CHAPTER 2
BREACHES OF CONVENTIONS

Breach of Conventions and penalties

5. (1) Any person who, whether within or outside the Republic, commits a grave 35 breach of the Conventions, is guilty of an offence.

(2) For the purposes of subsection (1), "a grave breach" means—

(a) a grave breach referred to in Article 50 of the First Convention ;
(b) a grave breach referred to in Article 51 of the Second Convention ;
(c) a grave breach referred to in Article 130 of the Third Convention ;
(d) a grave breach referred to in Article 147 of the Fourth Convention ; or
(e) a grave breach referred to in Article 11 or 85 of Protocol I.

(3) Any person who within the Republic contravenes or fails to comply with a provision of the Conventions not covered by subsection (2), is guilty of an offence.

(4) Any citizen of the Republic who outside the Republic contravenes or fails to comply with a provision of the Conventions not covered by subsection (2), is guilty of an offence.

(5) A person convicted of an offence contemplated in subsection (1), (3) or (4) is liable to a fine or to imprisonment, including imprisonment for life, or to such imprisonment without the option of a fine or to both a fine and such imprisonment.

Implementation of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (Act No. 27 of 2002)

Chapter 1
Definitions, Objects and Interpretation of an Act (ss 1-3)

3 Objects of Act

The objects of this Act are:

(d) to enable, as far as possible and in accordance with the principle of complementarity as referred to in Article 1 of the Statute, the national prosecuting authority of the Republic to prosecute and the High Courts of the Republic to adjudicate in cases brought against any person accused of having committed a crime in the Republic and beyond the borders of the Republic in certain circumstances.

CHAPTER 5
MISCELLANEOUS (ss 33-40)

37 Offences against administration of justice in terms of Statute

(1) Any person who-

(a) in the Republic;

Rome Statute

Article 12 Preconditions to the exercise of jurisdiction

2. In the case of article 13, paragraph (a) or (c), the Court may exercise its jurisdiction if one or more of the following States are Parties to this Statute or have accepted the jurisdiction of the Court in accordance with paragraph 3:

(a) The State on the territory of which the conduct in question occurred or, if the crime was committed on board a vessel or aircraft, the State of registration of that vessel or aircraft;