Implications of the Non-Reciprocity in the International Criminal Law

International criminal law is one of the new branches of international law that the main purpose of it, is to prosecute, trial and punishment of the perpetrators of the most serious and gross international crimes. Prohibition of committing them has been recognized as jus cogens and all members of the international community have the duty to prevent it. The nature of this duty is known as erga omnes. In fact, international crimes violate the fundamental and human values which constitute the basis of the international community, so the international criminal law protects the community against the international crimes and mass violations of human rights. For this goal, by realizing the criminal responsibility for individuals, it prima facie regulates some obligations for persons not to commit those crimes and then addresses the states to cooperate to combat against the impunity of international crimes and to attempt to prosecute criminals by application of universal jurisdiction. Nowadays, humanization the concepts of the international crimes and relating them to the international conscience collective, changes the nature of some obligations of states as the non-reciprocal ones toward the international community, therefore non-reciprocity is realized in some field of international criminal law. In this article, non-reciprocal considerations in modern international criminal law will be discussed.