Criminal Aspects Analysis of the International Criminal Court

Abstract

The International Criminal Court (ICC; the Court) is an international court that prosecutes individual perpetrators of international crimes: war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide and aggression. The Court was established with the objective of ending "impunity for the perpetrators of these crimes and thus contributing to the prevention of (...) serious crimes [that] threaten the peace, security and well-being of the world." The founding document of the ICC is the Rome Statute, which was adopted in June 1998. Following the sixtieth ratification of the Rome Statute in April 2002, the Court began its work on July 1, 2002, and is based in La Haya, the Netherlands. Ad hoc tribunals and courts such as the Nuremberg Tribunals or the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda have prosecuted the perpetrators of international crimes for more than 50 years. However, these courts have limited jurisdiction, both temporal and territorial. Furthermore, the costs of continually establishing new courts are prohibitive. Therefore, a permanent international criminal court is more practical, inexpensive, and far-reaching.