The Legal Legacy of the Special Court for Sierra Leone

This important book considers whether the Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL), which was established jointly through an unprecedented bilateral treaty between the United Nations (UN) and Sierra Leone in 2002, has made jurisprudential contributions to the development of the nascent and still unsettled field of international criminal law.

A leading authority on the application of international criminal justice in Africa, Charles Jalloh argues that the SCSL, as an innovative hybrid international penal tribunal, made useful jurisprudential additions on key legal questions concerning greatest responsibility jurisdiction, the war crime of child recruitment, forced marriage as a crime against humanity, amnesty, immunity and the relationship between truth commissions and criminal courts. He demonstrates that some of the SCSL case law broke new ground, and in so doing, bequeathed a 'legal legacy' that remains vital to the ongoing global fight against impunity for atrocity crimes and to the continued development of modern international criminal law.

• Provides a detailed analysis of the leading case law of the Special Court for Sierra Leone and the contributions it made to the development of international criminal law
• Contextualizes the accomplishments, and shortcomings, of the Sierra Court for Sierra Leone and the international legal community
• Uses insights gained from working in the tribunal to assess the SCSL from both an academic and practical perspective to offer useful information for both academics and practitioners