ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses critique as an ethical orientation for addressing international criminal law. The gulf between promise and practice at the ICC necessitates not only political critique but also a consideration of the outcomes. The court's work in practice raises ethical questions that do not appear within the framework of the ICC's legal mandate. As an intermediary in the Congolese situation observed, the ICC's limited resources negatively impact its work in the field. Another intermediary in northern Uganda expressed that working with the court's victim section. Optimistic commentary on international criminal tribunals attempts to demonstrate people's contributions to 'the justice cascade' or a nascent 'humanity law' as part of a broader progress narrative where conflict and its social effects are curtailed and rectified through law. The Office of the Prosecutor's decision to drive investigations from The Hague by sending investigators on field 'missions' rather than basing them in-country for longer periods has contributed to evidentiary weaknesses at trial.
