Pick Our Brains - with Christophe Deprez - International Crimes in Belgian Law and Practice
Presentation by Christophe Deprez - Title: International Crimes in Belgian Law and Practice
The Pick our Brains sessions of the Maastricht Centre for Human Rights are open to students, PhD students, and more senior members of our Centre, as well as to members of other research centres and universities. These sessions are intended to foster intellectual stimulation and exchange, and to potentially promote collaborations within and outside the Centre. They also provide an opportunity to receive feedback on ongoing or upcoming research, showcase recent research and events at which you have presented, and exchange scholarly ideas. Each session consists of a short presentation followed by a lively debate.
These sessions will take place physically and online. The Teams link for the online sessions will be distributed later.
On 29 September our speaker is Christophe Deprez (University of Liège Law School). The title of the presentation is International Crimes in Belgian Law and Practice.
Christophe Deprez
Christophe Deprez is an associate professor of international law at the University of Liège Law School, where he teaches public international law, international humanitarian law and international human rights law. Before joining academia full time, he was also an attorney at the Brussels Bar (Jus Cogens law firm), specialising in universal jurisdiction cases and international human rights litigation. Christophe is a co-general editor of the Military Law and the Law of War Review (Edward Elgar) and secretary-general of the Belgian Society of International Law
This is the abstract:
Belgium has a paradoxical relationship with international crimes. Once at the forefront of efforts to combat impunity through a far-reaching universal jurisdiction regime (1993-2003), it has now reverted to more limited grounds of extraterritorial jurisdiction and a more restrictive legal framework for the prosecution of international crimes in general. Yet Belgian courts have continued to deal with a little-known but substantial body of cases involving genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes since 2003.
In his presentation, Christophe will introduce his recent book Crimes internationaux : le droit et la pratique belges (Brussels, Larcier, 2025), which maps and analyses this practice on the basis of some 200 (mostly unpublished) judicial decisions. Drawing on his experience as a former criminal lawyer and his subsequent academic research, he will explore what Belgian practice reveals about the opportunities and constraints of domestic proceedings for international crimes. Overall, the presentation will highlight the gap between Belgium’s ambitious legal framework and the limited resources devoted to investigating and prosecuting international crimes in practice.