Cultural Defences at the International Criminal Court

Cultural defences, i.e. claims that certain aspects of a defendant's cultural background should be taken into consideration by courts when adjudicating on their guilt or innocence, have been raised before domestic courts in a variety of jurisdictions. This has been a very sensitive and controversial issue. However, the issue of cultural defences in international tribunals is one which has not yet been fully explored. The main objective of this book is to analyse if the ICC can, and should, accommodate cultural defences as answers to legal charges, or if the Court should accommodate cultural considerations in other ways.