Human Rights Rules and Principles in the Legal Regime of the International Criminal Court: Refining the Super-Legality Approach

In the present chapter, the methods of treaty interpretation and Robert Alexy’s Theorie der Grundrechte (theory of constitutional rights), notably his distinction between rules and principles, are used to examine the place of human rights law in the legal regime of the International Criminal Court. Are internationally recognised human rights superior to any other legal norms outlined in the hierarchical order in Article 21(1) of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court? Put differently, does Article 21(3) of this treaty contain a super-legality norm? If so, what are the contours of the norm in question?