Mission

The mission of the IEF is to elaborate a set of general principles and rules governing the conduct of proceedings before international criminal jurisdictions based on the doctrinal systematisation/codification of the core provisions of international criminal procedure. For that purpose, a group of expert researchers from all over the world will critically analyse all major areas of international criminal procedure. The objective of this study is the identification of fundamental standards that serve as common denominators within a nascent system of international and internationalized criminal courts. General rules and principles of international criminal procedure which are to be developed as a result of this research project are intended as a guiding framework for the procedural law and practices of both the contemporary and future administration of international criminal justice. As such, they will assist in facing the greatest challenge of international criminal justice: delivering effective and fair trials. Further, as national courts increasingly prosecute complex international crime cases, this codification exercise may be of assistance to interpret or supplement national procedural law in order to deal with new procedural challenges related to such cases.