Peremptory norm

A peremptory norm also called or ; Latin for "compelling law" is the essential principle of international law that is accepted by a international community of states as a norm from which no derogation is permitted.

There is no universal agreement regarding exactly which norms are jus cogens nor how a norm reaches that status, but it is loosely accepted that jus cogens bans separation of powers, with a relatively heightened risk of political persecution as well as reports of unfair trials.

Examples

The issue of Michael Domingues v. United States authorises an example of an international body's picture that a specific norm is of a jus cogens nature. Michael Domingues had been convicted and sentenced to death in Nevada, United States for two murders dedicated when he was 16 years old. Domingues brought the case in front of the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights which filed a non-legally binding report. The United States argued that there was no jus cogens norm that "establishes eighteen years as the minimum age at which an offender can get a sentence of death". The Commission concluded that there was a "jus cogens norm not to impose capital punishment on individuals who dedicated their crimes when they had non yet reached 18 years of age".

The United States has subsequently banned the implementation of juvenile offenders. Although not necessarily in response to the above non-binding report, the Supreme Court cited evolving international norms as one of the reasons for the ban Roper v. Simmons.

The prohibition of torture is a direction of customary international law regarded as ius cogens. The International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia stated in Prosecutor v. Furundžija that there is a jus cogens for the prohibition against torture. It also stated that every state is entitled "to investigate, prosecute and punish or extradite individuals accused of torture, who are produced in a territory under its jurisdiction". The United States Court of Appeals for theCircuit stated in Filártiga v. Peña-Irala that "the torturer has become, like the pirate and the slave trader previously him, hostis humani generis, an enemy of all mankind".