International Relations
Article 29
8 the state may exercise extra-territorial jurisdiction in accordance with the generally recognised principles of international law.
Amendment of section 3 of Principal Act
3.—Section 3 (which relates to grave breaches of the Scheduled Conventions) of the Principal Act is hereby amended by the substitution for subsection (1) (as amended by section 10 of the Criminal
Justice Act, 1964), of the following subsections :
“(1) Any person, whatever his or her nationality, who, whether in or outside the State, commits or aids, abets or procures the commission by any other person of a grave breach of any of the Scheduled Conventions or Protocol I shall be guilty of an offence and on conviction on indictment —
(a) in the case of a grave breach involving the wilful killing of a person protected by the Convention or Protocol in question, shall be liable to imprisonment for life or any less term,
(b) in the case of any other grave breach, shall be liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 14 years.
(1A) Any person, whatever his or her nationality, who, whether in or outside the State, fails to act, when under a duty to do so, to prevent the commission by another person of a grave breach of any of the Scheduled Conventions or Protocol I shall be guilty of an offence and on conviction on indictment shall be liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 10 years.
(1B) For the purposes of this section —
(a) a grave breach of any of the Scheduled Conventions is anything referred to as a grave breach of the Convention in the relevant Article, that is to say —
(i) in the case of the Convention set out in the First Schedule to this Act, Article 50,
(ii) in the case of the Convention set out in the Second Schedule to this Act, Article 51,
(iii) in the case of the Convention set out in the Third Schedule to this Act, Article 130,
(iv) in the case of the Convention set out in the Fourth S.3 Schedule to this Act, Article 147, and
(b) a grave breach of Protocol I is anything referred to as a grave breach of the Protocol in paragraph 4 of Article 11, or paragraph 2, 3 or 4 of Article 85, of the Protocol."
3. Grave breaches of Scheduled Conventions.
(1) Any person, whatever his nationality, who, whether in or outside the State, commits, or aids, abets or procures the commission by any other person of, any such grave breach of any of the Scheduled Conventions as is referred to in the following Articles respectively of those Conventions, that is to say :
(a) Article 50 of the Convention set out in the First Schedule to this Act ;
(b) Article 51 of the Convention set out in the Second Schedule to this Act ;
(c) Article 130 of the Convention set out in the Third Schedule to this Act ; or
(d) Article 147 of the Convention set out in the Fourth Schedule to this Act ;
shall be guilty of an offence and on conviction on indictment thereof :
(i) in the case of such a grave breach as aforesaid involving the wilful killing of a person protected by the Convention in question, shall be sentenced to death or to penal servitude for life or any less term ;
(ii) in the case of any other such grave breach as aforesaid, shall be liable to penal servitude for fourteen years or any less term or imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years.
(2) In the case of an offence under this section committed outside the State, a person may be proceeded against, indicted, tried and punished therefor in any place in the State as if the offence had been committed in that place, and the offence shall, for all purposes incidental to or consequential on the trial or punishment thereof, be deemed to have been committed in that place.
(3) Proceedings for an offence under this section shall not be instituted except by, or on behalf of, or with the consent of the Attorney General.
(4) A person charged with an offence under this section shall be tried by the Central Criminal Court.
1. The Court has jurisdiction only with respect to crimes committed after the entry into force of this Statute.
2. If a State becomes a Party to this Statute after its entry into force, the Court may exercise its jurisdiction only with respect to crimes committed after the entry into force of this Statute for that State, unless that State has made a declaration under article 12, paragraph 3.
1. A State which becomes a Party to this Statute thereby accepts the jurisdiction of the Court with respect to the crimes referred to in article 5.
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;
(b) The State of which the person accused of the crime is a national.
3. If the acceptance of a State which is not a Party to this Statute is required under paragraph 2, that State may, by declaration lodged with the Registrar, accept the exercise of jurisdiction by the Court with respect to the crime in question. The accepting State shall cooperate with the Court without any delay or exception in accordance with Part 9.
The Court may exercise its jurisdiction with respect to a crime referred to in article 5 in accordance with the provisions of this Statute if:
(a) A situation in which one or more of such crimes appears to have been committed is referred to the Prosecutor by a State Party in accordance with article 14;
(b) A situation in which one or more of such crimes appears to have been committed is referred to the Prosecutor by the Security Council acting under Chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations; or
(c) The Prosecutor has initiated an investigation in respect of such a crime in accordance with article 15.