International Criminal Court History
buayaberdiri.blogspot.com - The International Criminal Court (ICC) is a permanent court that was established in 2002 with the aim of investigating and prosecuting individuals who have committed serious crimes such as genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes. The court is based in The Hague, Netherlands, and is the first and only international court that has jurisdiction over individuals. This article provides a brief overview of the history of the ICC.
The purpose of establishing the International Criminal Court
The International Criminal Court (ICC) was established with the purpose of providing an international forum for the prosecution of individuals accused of the most serious crimes of concern to the international community as a whole, namely genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and, more recently, the crime of aggression.
Prior to the establishment of the ICC, there was no permanent international criminal court to deal with such crimes. Ad hoc tribunals were set up by the United Nations Security Council to prosecute individuals accused of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity in specific countries, such as the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. However, these tribunals were only established for a limited time period and had jurisdiction over a limited range of crimes.
The ICC was established by the Rome Statute, which was adopted in 1998 and entered into force on July 1, 2002. The Rome Statute provides a legal framework for the ICC to prosecute individuals accused of genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression. The ICC is a permanent international criminal court with jurisdiction over these crimes committed after the entry into force of the Rome Statute.
The establishment of the ICC was a significant milestone in the development of international criminal law and the fight against impunity for the most serious crimes of concern to the international community. The ICC is intended to be a complement to national criminal jurisdictions, and it is designed to step in when national courts are unable or unwilling to prosecute individuals accused of such crimes. The ICC is also intended to act as a deterrent to potential perpetrators of these crimes by making it clear that there is a possibility of international prosecution and punishment for such crimes.
Background to the Establishment of the ICC
The idea of establishing an international criminal court can be traced back to the late 19th century when Gustav Moynier, one of the founders of the International Committee of the Red Cross, proposed the creation of a permanent court to deal with war crimes. However, it was not until the end of World War II that the idea gained momentum. The Nuremberg and Tokyo trials, which were held to prosecute Nazi and Japanese war criminals, respectively, paved the way for the establishment of a permanent international criminal court.
The first attempt to establish such a court was made in 1948, when the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. The convention called for the establishment of an international criminal court to try individuals accused of genocide. However, the proposal did not receive the necessary support from member states, and the court was never created.
The Rome Statute
It was not until the 1990s that the idea of an international criminal court gained renewed interest. The collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War led to an increase in the number of conflicts around the world, many of which were marked by serious human rights abuses and war crimes. The atrocities committed during the wars in the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda in the mid-1990s provided a catalyst for the establishment of a permanent international criminal court.
In 1998, the United Nations Diplomatic Conference of Plenipotentiaries on the Establishment of an International Criminal Court was held in Rome. The conference resulted in the adoption of the Rome Statute, which established the International Criminal Court as a permanent institution with the power to investigate and prosecute individuals for the most serious crimes under international law.
The Rome Statute defines four core international crimes that fall under the jurisdiction of the ICC: genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression. The statute also provides for the establishment of an Office of the Prosecutor and a Registry, which are responsible for investigating and prosecuting crimes and providing support to the court's judges.
The ICC Today
Since its establishment, the ICC has investigated and prosecuted individuals accused of committing war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide. Notable cases include the trials of Thomas Lubanga, a former warlord from the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Jean-Pierre Bemba, a former vice-president of the same country, both of whom were convicted of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
However, the ICC has faced criticism from some quarters for its perceived bias against African countries. All of the ICC's cases to date have involved African defendants, leading some African leaders to accuse the court of targeting their continent. In addition, some countries, including the United States and Russia, have refused to recognize the jurisdiction of the ICC, arguing that it undermines their national sovereignty.
Despite these criticisms, the ICC continues to play an important role in the fight against international crimes. Its existence serves as a deterrent to would-be war criminals and provides hope for victims of atrocities around the world that justice will be served. The ICC remains a symbol of the international community's commitment to ending impunity for the most serious crimes under international law.
List ICC Members
As of March 2023, there are 123 member states of the International Criminal Court (ICC). The following is a list of these member states, sorted by the date they ratified the Rome Statute, the treaty that established the ICC:
- Senegal (1999)
- Trinidad and Tobago (1999)
- San Marino (2000)
- Italy (2001)
- Switzerland (2001)
- Belgium (2001)
- Peru (2001)
- Uruguay (2002)
- Mali (2002)
- Andorra (2002)
- Iceland (2002)
- Bolivia (2002)
- Denmark (2002)
- Ecuador (2002)
- Costa Rica (2002)
- Venezuela (2002)
- Ireland (2002)
- Croatia (2002)
- Slovenia (2002)
- South Africa (2002)
- Cameroon (2002)
- Canada (2002)
- Germany (2002)
- Netherlands (2002)
- Finland (2002)
- Czech Republic (2002)
- Bulgaria (2002)
- Sweden (2002)
- Romania (2002)
- United Kingdom (2002)
- France (2002)
- Argentina (2002)
- Norway (2002)
- Latvia (2002)
- Slovakia (2002)
- Estonia (2002)
- Georgia (2003)
- Lithuania (2003)
- Ukraine (2003)
- Slovenia (2003)
- Panama (2003)
- Switzerland (2003)
- Spain (2003)
- Mexico (2005)
- Cyprus (2005)
- Mauritius (2005)
- Serbia (2005)
- Brazil (2005)
- Chile (2005)
- Costa Rica (2006)
- Luxembourg (2006)
- Argentina (2006)
- Ghana (2006)
- Bosnia and Herzegovina (2006)
- Montenegro (2006)
- Qatar (2006)
- Gabon (2006)
- Jordan (2007)
- Belgium (2007)
- Estonia (2007)
- Djibouti (2007)
- Bahamas (2007)
- Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (2007)
- Antigua and Barbuda (2007)
- Guinea (2007)
- Bulgaria (2007)
- Samoa (2007)
- Saint Kitts and Nevis (2007)
- Vanuatu (2008)
- Liechtenstein (2008)
- Fiji (2008)
- Costa Rica (2009)
- Cyprus (2009)
- Switzerland (2009)
- Trinidad and Tobago (2011)
- Maldives (2011)
- Saint Lucia (2011)
- Belize (2011)
- Malta (2011)
- Bangladesh (2010)
- Honduras (2011)
- Niger (2011)
- Comoros (2013)
- Congo (2014)
- Palestine (2015)
- Timor-Leste (2016)
- El Salvador (2016)
- Madagascar (2017)
- Mongolia (2017)
- Botswana (2018)
- Barbados (2018)
- Bolivia (2018)
- Guyana (2018)
- Lesotho (2018)