The Sites of Justice in International Criminal Law: Place-based Practices and Global Relations

The Sites of Justice in International Criminal Law introduces the concept of 'sites of justice': localized organizations where the everyday work of international criminal justice takes place. These sites span activities from fact-finding and evidence-gathering to prosecution and adjudication, as well as victims' support, and legal, political, and public mobilization. They include a wide range of actors, from institutions such as the International Criminal Court (ICC) to NGOs and civil society organizations, law firms, think tanks, investigative mechanisms, specialized media outlets, and academic research centres.

Distributed across the globe, some operate close to the locations where international crimes occurred, while others function at a distance, for instance in hubs like The Hague. No single site can realize international criminal justice independently; rather, these organizations and their agents rely on interconnected relationships to produce meaningful outcomes.

Focusing on the spatial dynamics and global interdependencies of these sites and their actors, the volume examines the opportunities and constraints they encounter in pursuing international criminal justice. It does so through detailed study of sites and agents active in contexts shaped by major past and ongoing conflicts, including Kenya, Palestine, Israel, and Russia. By situating these cases within the broader landscape of atrocity crimes accountability, it offers innovative theoretical and empirical insights into how international criminal justice operates in practice—and why it so often falls short of its aspirations. Ultimately, this study shows how place-based conditions and transnational relationships shape both the successes and the limits of justice efforts worldwide.