South Africa’s responsibility to investigate and/or prosecute international crimes

LL.M. (International Law)Although international law is still a relatively new field within the South African legal system, South Africa has come a long way since the unsuccessful prosecution of Wouter Basson (1999- 2002) for apartheid crimes in the North-Gauteng high court. Recent cases as well as media reports have focused the attention once again on South-Africa‟s obligation to investigate and prosecute certain international crimes. Although criminal investigation and prosecution is generally, not only the duty of a domestic legal system, but also within the discretion of the domestic authorities, certain offences are so heinous that they are regarded as international crimes. It has been accepted since the Nuremburg trials, conducted after World War II, that the whole international community has an interest in the effective punishment and deterrence of international crimes.2 A right and sometimes even a duty to prosecute international crimes may arise from a multilateral treaty to which a state is party, such as the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, the four Geneva Conventions of 1949 and the Additional Protocols thereto, the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment and various terrorism conventions. South Africa is a signatory to the abovementioned treaties. The focus of this dissertation is on South Africa‟s responsibility in terms of international law to investigate and prosecute international crimes. The author researched the question whether South Africa complied with its international law obligations