El ejercicio de la jurisdicción universal desde América Latina. Reflexiones al hilo de la guerra en Ucrania

The exercise of universal jurisdiction in Latin America. Reflections regarding the war in Ukraine

Abstract

The exercise of universal jurisdiction allows states to cover the International Criminal Court's lack of jurisdiction over certain crimes committed in the context of the war in Ukraine and, in general, anywhere in the world. But two years after Russia's invasion of the east of the country and ten years since the occupation of the south, initiatives in this regard have come from European states, with little involvement from Latin America. Many American criminal systems encompass universal jurisdiction to their tribunals, even the Inter-American Court of Human Rights has recently encouraged the states to use  this principle. The prosecution of international crimes interests the entire international community, but Latin America has not mobilised, dispite the seriousness of the events in Ukraine.