International Criminal Court

What is the ICC? 

The International Criminal Court (ICC or ICCt) is a permanent tribunal to prosecute individuals for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression (although it cannot currently exercise jurisdiction over the crime of aggression).
 
The ICC can generally exercise jurisdiction only in cases where the accused is a national of a state party, the alleged crime took place on the territory of a state party, or a situation is referred to the court by the United Nations Security Council.The court is designed to complement existing national judicial systems: it can exercise its jurisdiction only when national courts are unwilling or unable to investigate or prosecute such crimes.Primary responsibility to investigate and punish crimes is therefore left to individual states
 

Complementarity..

The ICC is intended as a court of last resort, investigating and prosecuting only where national courts have failed. Article 17 of the Statute provides that a case is inadmissible if:
 
"(a) The case is being investigated or prosecuted by a State which has jurisdiction over it, unless the State is unwilling or unable genuinely to carry out the investigation or prosecution;
(b) The case has been investigated by a State which has jurisdiction over it and the State has decided not to prosecute the person concerned, unless the decision resulted from the unwillingness or inability of the State genuinely to prosecute;
(c) The person concerned has already been tried for conduct which is the subject of the complaint, and a trial by the Court is not permitted under article 20, paragraph 3;
(d) The case is not of sufficient gravity to justify further action by the Court."
 
Article 20, paragraph 3, specifies that, if a person has already been tried by another court, the ICC cannot try them again for the same conduct unless the proceedings in the other court:
"(a) Were for the purpose of shielding the person concerned from criminal responsibility for crimes within the jurisdiction of the Court; or
(b) Otherwise were not conducted independently or impartially in accordance with the norms of due process recognized by international law and were conducted in a manner which, in the circumstances, was inconsistent with an intent to bring the person concerned to justice."
 

More on the ICC! 

 

Rome Statute(s)

 
  • The International Criminal Court (ICC) was created by a treaty called the Rome Statute, which entered into force on July 1, 2002.
  • By June 2009, 109 countries had ratified the Rome Statute and joined the ICC.
  • Most of the democracies of the world are members of the ICC, including Britain, Canada, Australia, Germany, France, and many others.
  • The ICC only prosecutes the most egregious crimes, namely:
  1. Genocide,
  2.  War Crimes, and
  3. Crimes Against Humanity.

People in the ICC..

 
  • The ICC has 18 judges who serve nine-year, non-renewable terms.
  • The first 18 judges were elected in February 2003. South Korean Sang-Hyun Song currently serves as the first President or Chief Judge.
  • The first Prosecutor, Argentine Luis Moreno Ocampo, was elected in April 2003.
  • The Registrar, Silvana Arbia of Italy, who will oversee the administration of the Court, took office April 17, 2008 for a term of five years.
 

More on Crimes..

 
Genocide:
 
The Rome Statute defines genocide as any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group:
 
  • Killing members of the group;
  • Inflicting serious harm on members of the group (including torture and rape);
  • Deliberately inflicting conditions calculated to bring about the group’s destruction (such as withholding food or medicine); or
  • Preventing births within the group or forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.
Crimes Against Humanity:
 
Drawing on existing agreements, like the Convention against Torture, the Rome Statute defines crimes against humanity as any of the following acts when committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian population:
 
  • Murder, Torture, or Enslavement (including trafficking of women and children);
  • Extermination (including withholding food and medicine);
  • Deportation or forcible transfer of population (ethnic cleansing)
  • Imprisonment or confinement in violation of fundamental rules of international law;
  • Rape, sexual slavery, enforced prostitution, forced pregnancy, or enforced sterilization;
  • Persecution against any identifiable group based on gender, political affiliation, race, nationality, ethnicity, culture, or religion; or
  • Enforced disappearance of persons.
 
War Crimes:
 
The Court has jurisdiction over war crimes that are committed as part of a plan or policy or as part of a large-scale commission of such crimes. Based on the Geneva Conventions, the Rome Statute includes the following war crimes (not a complete list):
 
  • Conscripting or enlisting children under age 15 into armed forces;
  • Taking hostages;
  • Intentionally directing attacks against civilians not participating in hostilities;
  • Intentionally directing attacks against peacekeepers and humanitarian aid workers;
  • Deliberately impeding relief supplies;
  • Use of poison gas; or
  • Rape, sexual slavery, enforced prostitution, forced pregnancy, or enforced sterilization.