Interpreting Constitutive Instruments Of International Criminal Tribunals: Reflections On The Special Court For Sierra Leone

In 2000, the United Nations (UN) entered into a bilateral agreement with the government of Sierra Leone, which established a Special Court to try those responsible for the most serious atrocities committed during the Sierra Leone conflict. The competence of the UN to enter into the agreement of this kind, although unprecedented, was not in doubt, the UN having characterised the situation in Sierra Leone as constituting a threat to international peace and security, it was conceivably free to determine what it regarded as an appropriate response in the exercise of its powers under the Charter, including the establishment of an international criminal tribunal. This chapter focuses on legal questions generated by the treaty basis of the Special Court in light of the law of treaties and the recent jurisprudence of the tribunal. Keywords: international criminal tribunal; Security Council; Sierra Leone; Special Court; United Nations (UN)