The Fragility of a Complementary Universal Jurisdiction of International Criminal Justice: the Recent Spanish Paradigm

Having the imperative responsibility of preventing impunity over the most serious international crimes installed permanently in the general conscience, the universal jurisdiction relevance in the attainment of such aim is unquestionable from the general international consensus. Nonetheless, the aforementioned consensus vanishes when an in-depth study of its scope, contents and implementation is conducted. States that openly supported it are succumbing to antagonistic forces which are favoured by the international dissent in its own regulation. The case of Spain and its recent legal reform sets an example of the regression that the universal jurisdiction principle is undergoing. In the meantime, the breach of impunity over serious violations of human rights increases, despite the remarkable labour of state courts to judge and punish the enemies of mankind (hostis humani generis).