Damien Vandermeersch’s research while affiliated with Catholic University of Louvain and other places

The past decade has seen intense legislative and judicial activity in Belgium regarding the prosecution of international crimes: a large number of complaints were filed with Belgian courts, which had been granted broad extraterritorial jurisdiction. Insofar as Belgium constituted a sort of laboratory for the implementation of a quasi-absolute universal jurisdiction, the analysis of the ‘Belgian case’ may prove very useful. The evolution of Belgian law over the past decade has been tumultuous. This paper is intended to offer an overview of the different cases brought to court in Belgium, to assess their significance and implications, and to draw a number of conclusions.