Abstract/Summary

The Ljubljana-The Hague Convention was adopted in May 2023, creating a previously lacking global framework for inter-state judicial cooperation on international crimes. It is an important feature of a shifting international criminal justice landscape, in which there is a new focus on investigations and prosecutions at national levels. However, its cooperation regime is based on that of the UN Convention on Transnational Organised Crime (UNTOC), which studies suggest has been of limited utility in operationalising cooperation in the context of transnational crimes. This article explores the likely consequences of transplanting the UNTOC model, arguing that its cooperation regime is likely to limit the effectiveness of the Ljubljana-The Hague Convention and that treaties on international crimes require distinct cooperation arrangements in which traditional obstacles to cooperation are removed.