Blog Details

Author - Associate Aliza Abdin

The International Criminal Court commonly known as the ICC is an inter-governmental judicial body that hears international cases relating to severe crimes such as massacre, crimes against humanity and war crimes. It has its headquarters in the Netherlands at the Hague. The court comprises of four major organs, that are, the Presidency, the Judicial Divisions, the Office of the Prosecutor, and the Registry. The ICC is headed by a President and two vice presidents of the Court; the President is the senior most judge and hears all cases before the court. While the Office of the Prosecutor is headed by the Prosecutor whose job is to investigate crimes and start all case proceedings, the Registrar who is in charge of the Registry takes care of all administrative functions of the International Criminal Court.

The ICC is regarded as the Court of last resort because it respects national courts of various countries and first lets them handle their cases and intervenes only when required, in severe cases where the national courts are unwilling or sometimes when the United Nations Security Council refers a case or when the respective country requests the ICC to hear a certain case.

HISTORY OF THE INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT

The International Criminal Court (ICC) was founded in 1998 under the treaty, the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court which was the first treaty that was adopted by various countries in order to establish a permanent international court that has jurisdiction over heinous cases of international crimes. It became functional on 1 July 2002 after a vital number of 60 countries ratified the agreement. And since then it has been sitting in the Netherlands at The Hague. This treaty governs the ICC and all its member states participation, the member states since 2002 has increased from 60 to 122 as of 2019, 42 of them are non-party and non-signatory states.

Although, the ICC was established in 1998 yet the idea emerged right after World War II and the end of cold war, when terrible crimes were taking place but no action was taken until the crimes in former Yugoslavia and Rwanda shook the entire world, after the United Nations General Assembly understood the need for a permanent International tribunal that had power to punish international criminals and give justice to the victims.

The ICC has solved and done justice in hundreds of cases yet it faces criticism and hatred from many countries that are not member states. Sometimes when the case involves two countries and the court gives judgment in favor of one, the court is highly criticized and accused of bias. Over a decade has passed since it started its jurisdiction yet it is questioned for its case-selection, trial procedures, investigations and its judgment.

IMPORTANT POINTS TO NOTE ABOUT THE ICC

1. Funding of the Court: Every year the court requires around 150 million dollars and most of it comes from contributions from the Member States and donations from various governments, international organizations, businessmen and companies. If the Security Council refers ant case to the ICC then the United Nations can provide extra funding.
2. Bench of the Court: The court sits permanently in the Netherlands at The Hague but the Rome Statute allows the court to sit somewhere else to judge a case if the Judge considers it necessary. The ICC also has several offices in countries where it has ongoing investigations by the Office of the Prosecutor.
3. Jurisdiction over people: The ICC has prosecution only over persons and not over groups and states. It can also not prosecute anybody who under 18 when the crime was committed i.e. it cannot prosecute children.
4. Independency of the ICC: The ICC is an independent organization and is not part of the United Nations. It was formed under the Rome Statute Treaty and is governed by it. Although it can try individuals outside its jurisdiction if the Security Council of the UN refers it.
5. Different from National Courts: As mentioned before, the ICC is different from National Courts and does not seek to replace them. In fact, it complements their judgments and hears only special cases involving international crimes. The national courts are given priority to deal with their country’s cases and the ICC takes responsibility only when the national courts are unwilling or unable to.
6. Jurisdiction over countries: The ICC has jurisdiction over member states of the Rome Statute and may prosecute individuals for crimes that are mentioned in the Statute. And the Member state can decide whether to accept or reject the jurisdiction of the ICC. However, in cases referred by the Security Council the rules mentioned in under Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter are followed.

ROLE OF THE ICC

The ICC aims at punishing those individuals who are involved in heinous international crimes, it interferes when the National Courts of the respective country fails to do justice. They have jurisdiction over the following crimes:

1. Genocide, massacre or any terrorist activity that wrecks or intents to wreck a part of the country.
2. Any crime that causes harm in the name of religion, racial or ethnic.
3. War crimes or heinous activities like torture, bombing, crimes on children and mass destruction of hospitals done in the name of war.
4. Crimes against humanity such as civilians murder, rape, slavery, imprisonment etc.