International Courts and Tribunals

On December 12, 2014, International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda appeared before the UN Security Council to report on the situation in Darfur. She indicated that she would “hibernate investigative activities in Darfur,”[1] a statement widely reported as a suspension of the Court’s work, and celebrated by Omar Al-Bashir as a victory against the Court.

On November 12, 2015, the European Commission submitted to the United States its Official Proposal for the establishment of an “investment court system” in the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) currently under negotiation.[1] The Proposal provides for a two-tiered Tribunal to hear investor-state disputes, consisting of a Tribunal of First Instance and an Appeal Tribunal. For TTIP, the Tribunal is composed of twenty-one members, who are appointed by the European Union and the U.S.