Aldo Zammit Borda
Biographic Data
| ID | 2380561 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Aldo Zammit Borda |
| GIVEN NAMES | Aldo Zammit |
| FAMILY NAME | Borda |
| SIGNATURE | BORDA A Z |
| AFFILIATIONS | City, University of London |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-0685-3859 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 12 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 8 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 12 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2012 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
Head of State Immunity and the International Criminal Court
The enforcement of international criminal law depends on state cooperation, yet persistent disagreements over whether sitting Heads of State from non-parties to the International Criminal Court enjoy immunity from arrest suggest a challenge that doctrinal analysis alone cannot resolve. This article undertakes an interdisciplinary, meta-doctrinal analysis, drawing on Martin Wight’s three traditions of international theory (Realism, Revolutionism a…
The Ilc Study on Teachings as Subsidiary Means
The International Law Commission’s ongoing study on subsidiary means identifies a significant pattern: international courts predominantly cite teachings from a narrow cohort of Western, male scholars. The Commission’s response, adopting “representativeness” to ensure geographic and demographic proportionality, while well-intentioned, could reflect a misalignment if this concept is applied formalistically. Unlike state-derived sources of law, teac…
Unpacking the Harms of Reproductive Violence in Mass Atrocities
∞ Despite widespread evidence of reproductive violence in mass atrocity contexts, transitional justice and international criminal law have been slow to recognize and prosecute these violations. This article argues that this accountability gap stems partly from pedagogical failures – while existing definitions conceptualize reproductive violence as violations of reproductive autonomy, they fail to unpack its differentiated harms. This article deve…
Putting Reproductive Violence on the Agenda
Reproductive violence has been documented in many conflicts, even though it may not have been labelled as such. Nevertheless, there is no established definition of reproductive violence in international criminal law and practice. While acts of reproductive violence have been prosecuted as crimes against humanity, there have not yet been any successful international prosecutions as genocide. This article will use the 2014 genocide against the Yazi…
If I Would Stay Alive, I Would Be Their Voice’
In recent years there has been a proliferation of People's Tribunals (PTs), promising to address atrocities that have fallen through the net of a statist international legal order. However, the status of such informal tribunals has remained controversial in both literature and practice. The dominant view has been that PTs simply lack legitimate authority. Positing that, in the language game of legitimacy, PTs are put on a perpetual argumentative …
The challenges of long-delayed prosecutions in fighting impunity in Bangladesh
This article focuses on the challenges of ‘long-delayed’ prosecutions, that is, criminal prosecutions that begin decades after the conflict, using the experience of the International Criminal Tribunal for Bangladesh (ICT-BD) as a case study. This issue is still an insufficiently discussed topic even though such prosecutions are likely to become more common in the future. The focus of this article is mainly on the legal and broader, transitional j…
History in International Criminal Trials
While the question of whether international criminal courts and tribunals (ICTs) ought to write historical narratives of armed conflicts is an old one, it has gained renewed relevance in the context of the recent turn to history in international criminal law and the minimal attention paid to historical context in the first judgment of the International Criminal Court. The ‘proper’ place of history-writing in international criminal adjudication re…
Calling Isil Atrocities Against the Yezidis by Their Rightful Name
In March 2016, both the United States House of Representatives and Secretary of State John Kerry designated the alleged crimes committed by Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) against, inter alia, the Yezidis, a small religious minority in Iraq and Syria, as ‘genocide’. This article examines the evidence for this designation, as it emerges from various human rights reports and other publicly available sources, in order to assess whether I…
How Do International Judges Approach Competing Precedent? An Analysis of the Practice of International Criminal Courts and Tribunals in Relation to Substantive Law
When faced with judicial decisions from other courts and tribunals which may appear to contradict their findings, international judges could, inter alia , potentially simply omit to take cognizance of such decisions or they could seek to distinguish or depart from them. In the context of international criminal courts and tribunals, this article examines cases in which judges have sought to distinguish or depart from external judicial decisions. I…
Appraisal-Based and Flexible Approaches to External Precedent in International Criminal Law
This article focuses on the approaches of international criminal judges to using external precedent, distinguishing between the appraisal-based and flexible approaches. On the one hand, the appraisal-based approach refers to uses of external judicial decisions which are preceded by an express legal appraisal. On the other hand, the flexible approach denotes a less stringent use of such decisions. It finds that, in a number of cases, international…
A Formal Approach to Article 38(1)(d) of the ICJ Statute from the Perspective of the International Criminal Courts and Tribunals
This article offers an interpretation of Article 38(1)(d) of the ICJ Statute based on the formal pronouncements of international criminal courts and tribunals, distilled from their judgments. It considers that the qualification ‘subsidiary’ is meant neither to distinguish the means from the primary sources nor to denote ‘of lesser importance’. It further examines the verification process envisaged in ‘the determination of rules of law’, as well a…
Comparative Law and the Ad Hoc Tribunals
This article focuses on the distinctions that the ad hoc Tribunals have drawn between the comparative law method and the review of evidence for clarifying customary international law and general principles of law. It outlines the dangers in the readiness of some international judges to accept narrow inquiries, which at best attach special weight and at worst restrict the scope of inquiry to a single, specific legal system. The readiness of some i…
History in International Criminal Trials
While the question of whether international criminal courts and tribunals (ICTs) ought to write historical narratives of armed conflicts is an old one, it has gained renewed relevance in the context of the recent turn to history in international criminal law and the minimal attention paid to historical context in the first judgment of the International Criminal Court. The ‘proper’ place of history-writing in international criminal adjudication re…
Calling Isil Atrocities Against the Yezidis by Their Rightful Name
In March 2016, both the United States House of Representatives and Secretary of State John Kerry designated the alleged crimes committed by Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) against, inter alia, the Yezidis, a small religious minority in Iraq and Syria, as ‘genocide’. This article examines the evidence for this designation, as it emerges from various human rights reports and other publicly available sources, in order to assess whether I…
A Formal Approach to Article 38(1)(d) of the ICJ Statute from the Perspective of the International Criminal Courts and Tribunals
This article offers an interpretation of Article 38(1)(d) of the ICJ Statute based on the formal pronouncements of international criminal courts and tribunals, distilled from their judgments. It considers that the qualification ‘subsidiary’ is meant neither to distinguish the means from the primary sources nor to denote ‘of lesser importance’. It further examines the verification process envisaged in ‘the determination of rules of law’, as well a…
The challenges of long-delayed prosecutions in fighting impunity in Bangladesh
This article focuses on the challenges of ‘long-delayed’ prosecutions, that is, criminal prosecutions that begin decades after the conflict, using the experience of the International Criminal Tribunal for Bangladesh (ICT-BD) as a case study. This issue is still an insufficiently discussed topic even though such prosecutions are likely to become more common in the future. The focus of this article is mainly on the legal and broader, transitional j…
Appraisal-Based and Flexible Approaches to External Precedent in International Criminal Law
This article focuses on the approaches of international criminal judges to using external precedent, distinguishing between the appraisal-based and flexible approaches. On the one hand, the appraisal-based approach refers to uses of external judicial decisions which are preceded by an express legal appraisal. On the other hand, the flexible approach denotes a less stringent use of such decisions. It finds that, in a number of cases, international…
Comparative Law and the Ad Hoc Tribunals
This article focuses on the distinctions that the ad hoc Tribunals have drawn between the comparative law method and the review of evidence for clarifying customary international law and general principles of law. It outlines the dangers in the readiness of some international judges to accept narrow inquiries, which at best attach special weight and at worst restrict the scope of inquiry to a single, specific legal system. The readiness of some i…
A Formal Approach to Article 38(1)(d) of the ICJ Statute from the Perspective of the International Criminal Courts and Tribunals
This article offers an interpretation of Article 38(1)(d) of the ICJ Statute based on the formal pronouncements of international criminal courts and tribunals, distilled from their judgments. It considers that the qualification ‘subsidiary’ is meant neither to distinguish the means from the primary sources nor to denote ‘of lesser importance’. It further examines the verification process envisaged in ‘the determination of rules of law’, as well a…
How Do International Judges Approach Competing Precedent? An Analysis of the Practice of International Criminal Courts and Tribunals in Relation to Substantive Law
When faced with judicial decisions from other courts and tribunals which may appear to contradict their findings, international judges could, inter alia , potentially simply omit to take cognizance of such decisions or they could seek to distinguish or depart from them. In the context of international criminal courts and tribunals, this article examines cases in which judges have sought to distinguish or depart from external judicial decisions. I…
Appraisal-Based and Flexible Approaches to External Precedent in International Criminal Law
This article focuses on the approaches of international criminal judges to using external precedent, distinguishing between the appraisal-based and flexible approaches. On the one hand, the appraisal-based approach refers to uses of external judicial decisions which are preceded by an express legal appraisal. On the other hand, the flexible approach denotes a less stringent use of such decisions. It finds that, in a number of cases, international…
Calling Isil Atrocities Against the Yezidis by Their Rightful Name
In March 2016, both the United States House of Representatives and Secretary of State John Kerry designated the alleged crimes committed by Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) against, inter alia, the Yezidis, a small religious minority in Iraq and Syria, as ‘genocide’. This article examines the evidence for this designation, as it emerges from various human rights reports and other publicly available sources, in order to assess whether I…
History in International Criminal Trials
While the question of whether international criminal courts and tribunals (ICTs) ought to write historical narratives of armed conflicts is an old one, it has gained renewed relevance in the context of the recent turn to history in international criminal law and the minimal attention paid to historical context in the first judgment of the International Criminal Court. The ‘proper’ place of history-writing in international criminal adjudication re…
The challenges of long-delayed prosecutions in fighting impunity in Bangladesh
This article focuses on the challenges of ‘long-delayed’ prosecutions, that is, criminal prosecutions that begin decades after the conflict, using the experience of the International Criminal Tribunal for Bangladesh (ICT-BD) as a case study. This issue is still an insufficiently discussed topic even though such prosecutions are likely to become more common in the future. The focus of this article is mainly on the legal and broader, transitional j…
If I Would Stay Alive, I Would Be Their Voice’
In recent years there has been a proliferation of People's Tribunals (PTs), promising to address atrocities that have fallen through the net of a statist international legal order. However, the status of such informal tribunals has remained controversial in both literature and practice. The dominant view has been that PTs simply lack legitimate authority. Positing that, in the language game of legitimacy, PTs are put on a perpetual argumentative …
Putting Reproductive Violence on the Agenda
Reproductive violence has been documented in many conflicts, even though it may not have been labelled as such. Nevertheless, there is no established definition of reproductive violence in international criminal law and practice. While acts of reproductive violence have been prosecuted as crimes against humanity, there have not yet been any successful international prosecutions as genocide. This article will use the 2014 genocide against the Yazi…
Unpacking the Harms of Reproductive Violence in Mass Atrocities
∞ Despite widespread evidence of reproductive violence in mass atrocity contexts, transitional justice and international criminal law have been slow to recognize and prosecute these violations. This article argues that this accountability gap stems partly from pedagogical failures – while existing definitions conceptualize reproductive violence as violations of reproductive autonomy, they fail to unpack its differentiated harms. This article deve…
Head of State Immunity and the International Criminal Court
The enforcement of international criminal law depends on state cooperation, yet persistent disagreements over whether sitting Heads of State from non-parties to the International Criminal Court enjoy immunity from arrest suggest a challenge that doctrinal analysis alone cannot resolve. This article undertakes an interdisciplinary, meta-doctrinal analysis, drawing on Martin Wight’s three traditions of international theory (Realism, Revolutionism a…
The Ilc Study on Teachings as Subsidiary Means
The International Law Commission’s ongoing study on subsidiary means identifies a significant pattern: international courts predominantly cite teachings from a narrow cohort of Western, male scholars. The Commission’s response, adopting “representativeness” to ensure geographic and demographic proportionality, while well-intentioned, could reflect a misalignment if this concept is applied formalistically. Unlike state-derived sources of law, teac…
Political science (9 works) · International Law and Human Rights (8 works) · Law (7 works) · Sociology (6 works) · International law (5 works) · Law (5 works) · Criminology (4 works) · Global Peace and Security Dynamics (4 works) · Judicial and Constitutional Studies (4 works) · Context (archaeology (3 works)