INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT

The International Criminal Court (ICC), governed by the Rome Statute, is the first permanent,
treaty based, international criminal court established to help end impunity for the perpetrators of
the most serious crimes of concern to the international community.

The ICC is an independent international organisation, and is not part of the United Nations

system. Its seat is at The Hague in the Netherlands. Although the Courts expenses are funded
primarily by States Parties, it also receives voluntary contributions from governments,
international organisations, individuals, corporations and other entities.

The international community has long aspired to the creation of a permanent international court,
and, in the 20th century, it reached consensus on definitions of genocide, crimes against
humanity and war crimes. The Nuremberg and Tokyo trials addressed war crimes, crimes against
peace, and crimes against humanity committed during the Second World War.

In the 1990s after the end of the Cold War, tribunals like the International Criminal
Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and for Rwanda were the result of consensus that impunity is
unacceptable. However, because they were established to try crimes committed only within a
specific time-frame and during a specific conflict, there was general agreement that an
independent, permanent criminal court was needed.

On 17 July 1998, the international community reached an historic milestone when 120 States
adopted the Rome Statute, the legal basis for establishing the permanent International Criminal
Court.

The Rome Statute entered into force on 1 July 2002 after ratification by 60 countries and ICC
was established.

JURISDICTION :
Subject-matter jurisdiction
The Court's subject-matter jurisdiction is the crimes for which individuals can be
prosecuted. Individuals can only be prosecuted for crimes that are listed in the Statute. The
primary crimes are listed in article 5 of the Statute and defined in later articles:
I. genocide (defined in article 6),
II. crimes against humanity (defined in article 7),

III. war crimes (defined in article 8)and

IV. crimes of aggression (defined in article 8 bis).
V. In addition, article 70 defines offences against the administration of justice, which are
also crimes for which individuals can be prosecuted.
Territorial jurisdiction
The territorial jurisdiction of the Court includes the territory, registered vessels, and registered
aircraft of states which have either (1) become party to the Rome Statute or (2) accepted the
Court's jurisdiction by filing a declaration with the Court.[69]

Personal jurisdiction
The personal jurisdiction of the Court extends to all natural persons who commit crimes, regardless
of where they are located or where the crimes were committed, as long as those individuals are
nationals of either (1) states that are party to the Rome Statute or (2) states that have accepted the
Court's jurisdiction by filing a declaration with the Court.

UNSC PRIVILEGE
In situations that are referred to the Court by the United Nations Security Council, the territorial
jurisdiction and personal jurisdiction is defined by the Security Council, which may be more
expansive that the Court's normal territorial jurisdiction.

Temporal jurisdiction
Temporal jurisdiction is the time period over which the Court can exercise its powers.However, the
Court's jurisdiction is not completely retroactive. Individuals can only be prosecuted for crimes that
took place on or after 1 July 2002, which is the date that the Rome Statute entered into force.
Organs of the Court
The Court has four organs: the Presidency, the Judicial Division, the Office of the Prosecutor, and
the Registry.

Presidency
Song Sang-Hyun has been President of the Court since 2009
The Presidency is responsible for the proper administration of the Court (apart from the Office of
the Prosecutor).It comprises the President and the First and Second Vice-Presidentsthree
judges of the Court who are elected to the Presidency by their fellow judges for a maximum of two
three-year terms.

Judicial Divisions
The Judicial Divisions consist of the 18 judges of the Court, organized into three chambersthe
Pre-Trial Chamber, Trial Chamber and Appeals Chamberwhich carry out the judicial functions of
the Court.Judges are elected to the Court by the Assembly of States Parties.They serve nine-year

terms and are not generally eligible for re-election.[34] All judges must be nationals of states
parties to the Rome Statute, and no two judges may be nationals of the same state.

Office of the Prosecutor

The Office of the Prosecutor is responsible for conducting investigations and prosecutions.It is
headed by the Chief Prosecutor, who is assisted by one or more Deputy Prosecutors.The Rome
Statute provides that the Office of the Prosecutor shall act independently;[as such, no member of
the Office may seek or act on instructions from any external source, such as states, international
organisations, non-governmental organisations or individuals.
The Prosecutor may open an investigation under three circumstances:
1. when a situation is referred to him or her by a state party;
2. when a situation is referred to him or her by the United Nations Security Council, acting to
address a threat to international peace and security;
3. when the Pre-Trial Chamber authorises him or her to open an investigation on the basis of
information received from other sources, such as individuals or non-governmental
organisations.
Any person being investigated or prosecuted may request the disqualification of a prosecutor from
any case "in which their impartiality might reasonably be doubted on any ground".
Critics of the Court argue that there are "insufficient checks and balances on the authority of the
ICC prosecutor and judges" and "insufficient protection against politicized prosecutions or other
abuses".Henry Kissinger says the checks and balances are so weak that the prosecutor "has
virtually unlimited discretion in practice".Some efforts have been made to hold Kissinger himself
responsible for perceived injustices of American foreign policy during his tenure in government.

Registry
The Registry is responsible for the non-judicial aspects of the administration and servicing of the
Court. This includes, among other things, "the administration of legal aid matters, court
management, victims and witnesses matters, defence counsel, detention unit, and the traditional
services provided by administrations in international organisations, such as finance, translation,
building management, procurement and personnel".The Registry is headed by the Registrar, who
is elected by the judges to a five-year term.The current Registrar is Herman von Hebel, who was
elected on 8 March 2013.

Kampala Declaration:
Two amendments to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court were adopted.
The first one is to extend the jurisdiction of the Court over some war crimes committed in
non-international conflicts for which it already had jurisdiction if committed in international
conflicts.

The second one defines the crime of aggression and lays out conditions for the jurisdiction
of the Court to be in force.
Pending proposals for ICC reform :
1.General Assembly
In November 2009, South Africa floated a proposal at the Assembly of States Party that
the power of the United Nations Security Council to defer an investigation should also be
given to the United Nations General Assembly. This followed the African Union's
unsuccessful attempt to defer the investigation in Darfur.
2.Drug Trafficking
In September 2007, Trinidad and Tobago specifically called for drug trafficking to be
included in the list of crimes.
3.Targeting of Journalists
The British television media company, ITN, wrote to the UK government in 2007 asking
them to support an amendment to the definition of war crimes to include the intentional
targeting of journalists.