Internationa human rights law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Internationa human rights law - Essay Example In most cases, the application of extraterritorial jurisdiction statutes often becomes necessary to regulate the conduct of the state agents in another territory if their conducts have an impact on the national interests of their country of origin (Ovey and Robin, 2006, p.25). With regard to international laws, there are cases where extraterritorial jurisdiction has been exercised beyond international boundaries particularly under agreement between the concerned parties or nations. These legal agreements allow the US government to exercise authority and jurisdiction over the members of the US military in these countries. Many other countries have also enacted laws and signed agreements with other countries to allow them prosecute their citizens in other countries for crimes such as genocide, frauds and war crimes among others. This is often practiced regardless of whether the crimes were committed extraterritorially or in their mother countries. For example, the UK government has incorporated the Rome statute act into their domestic laws. This legislation allows criminal cases to be filed against UK nationals who commit crimes in other countries. In this regard, such criminals can be prosecuted according to the standards of the UK laws even if their count ries of residences do not have such laws. Al-Skeini v. U.K was a case involving the investigation of a complaint in which the British troops had allegedly mistreated and killed five Iraqi civilians and maimed the sixth one. Consequently, the families of the victims sought justice from the European Commission on human rights. One of the major controversies surrounding the case was the question of whether the case was within the jurisdiction of the ECHR since crimes were committed outside the United Kingdom. Although the previous jurisprudence had always sought to limit the extraterritorial jurisdiction of the European countries in the other areas they control, the ECtHR Grand Chamber courts ruled that since the