Contesto e individuo nel sistema di giustizia penale internazionale. Contrappunto in riflessioni sparse

The main goal of this short essay is to counterpoint – from the viewpoint of international criminal law as a legal discipline – the workshop’s discussion on the situational context as contributing factor to mass atrocities, as well as on the conceptual feasibility of a systematic “excusiology” in favor of their perpetrators. First, any account that advocates for a complete defence of “situational inability” to abide by human rights obligations leads to a denial of the basic tenet of international criminal justice: the very idea of individual responsibility as a key tool to fighting against impunity for mass atrocities. Secondly, the article maintains that underscoring the function assumed by the situational context may lead, however, to a better understanding of some controversial issues of ICL, such as the legal treatment of coercion either as complete or as only incomplete defence; ultimately, to overcoming such cultural divide through a concept of “situational coercion”.