[Diplomacy] International Criminal Court (ICC) : Organization, functions, powers

1. International Criminal Court (ICC): introduction
2. What is Rome Statute?
3. Where is ICC located?
4. What are the functions of ICC?
5. What is International court of Justice?
6. Punishment powers of ICC?
7. any time limits on cases?
8. Wanted Criminals by ICC
9. How does ICC get criminals arrested?
10. Why USA doesn’t sign the treaty?
11. Who pays for the Administrative expenses of ICC?
12. Holidays for the Court
13. Mock Questions

Yes There is one more ICC, apart from the ICC that organizes the Cricket World Cup.
International Criminal Court (ICC): introduction

• ICC is an independent international organisation, and it is not a part of the United Nations system.

What is Rome Statute?

• 1998:  120 States adopted the Rome Statute, the legal basis for establishing the permanent International Criminal Court. (USA has not ratified it- reasons given at bottom portion of this article.)
• The Rome Statute provides two entities:
  • 1. ICC
  • 2. Trust Fund for Victims.
• 2002: The Rome Statute comes into force and ICC starts operating.

Where is ICC located?

• seat of the Court is in The Hague in the Netherlands.
• Although The Rome Statute provides that the Court may sit elsewhere whenever the judges consider it desirable. The Court has also set up offices in the areas where it is conducting investigations.

What are the functions of ICC?

• To prosecute those responsible for
  • genocide,
  • crimes against humanity
  • war crimes – committed anywhere in the world.
• It is a court of last resort, intervening only when national authorities cannot or will not prosecute.

What is International court of Justice?

• International Court of Justice (sometimes called the World Court) is the organ of United Nations.
• It rules on disputes between governments.
• ICJ cannot prosecute individuals. While ICC can prosecute individuals.

Punishment powers of ICC?

• The Court cannot impose a death sentence.
• The maximum sentence is 30 years.
• However, in extreme cases, the Court may impose a term of life imprisonment.
• Convicted persons serve their prison sentences in a State designated by the Court from a list of States which have indicated to the Court their willingness to accept convicted persons.

any time limits on cases?

• The ICC court has no retrospective jurisdiction – it can deal only with crimes committed after 1 July 2002 when the 1998 Rome Statute came into force.
• court has automatic jurisdiction only for crimes committed on the territory of a state which has ratified the treaty; or by a citizen of such a state; or when the United Nations Security Council refers a case to it.

What kind of cases is the court pursuing?

• All of the cases currently open are in Africa – prompting some African leaders to say it is biased.
• highest profile person to be brought to the ICC is Ivory Coast’s former President Laurent Gbagbo.

How does ICC get criminals arrested?

• ICC has no police force of its own to track down and arrest suspects.
• Instead it must rely on national police services to make arrests and seek their transfer to The Hague.
• Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir remains at liberty, with several ICC signatory countries refusing to co-operate in his arrest.

How does the ICC system work?

• prosecutor begins an investigation if a case is referred either by the UN Security Council or by a ratifying state.
• He or she can also take independent action, but prosecutions have to be approved by a panel of judges.
• Both the prosecutor and the judges are elected by the states taking part in the court
• Each state has a right to nominate one candidate for election as a judge.

Who has agreed to co-operate with the court?

• Rome Treaty has been ratified by 121 states so far, meaning they therefore bound themselves to co-operate.
• Only one Arab state has ratified so far – Jordan.

Why USA doesn’t sign the treaty?

• During negotiations, the US argued that its soldiers might be the subject of politically motivated or frivolous prosecutions.
• Various safeguards were introduced, and Bill Clinton did eventually sign the treaty in one of his last acts as president but it was never ratified by Congress.
• However, the Bush administration was adamantly opposed to the court and to any dilution of US sovereignty in criminal justice.
• US threatened to pull its troops out of the UN force in Bosnia unless they were given immunity from prosecution by the ICC.
• Some have not even signed the treaty, such as China, India, Pakistan, Indonesia, and Turkey.
• Others have signed but remain dubious and have not ratified, for example, Egypt, Iran, Israel and Russia.

Who pays for the Administrative expenses of ICC?

• The states which take part. This will be according to the same rules that govern their contributions to the UN – roughly based on their national wealth.
• absence of the US and Japan in particular will make the funding of the court more expensive for others.
• Germany, France and Britain will be the largest contributors.

Holidays for the Court

Official Holidays for the year 2012 [few important ones for indirect GK]

1. 20 August – Eid Al Fetr Day = Marks the end of Ramzan.
2. 26 September – Yom Kippur Day = Fasting and prayer day for Jews
3. 25 December – Christmas Day = Birthday of Jesus Christ.
4. 26 December – Boxing Day = Day after Christmas, it is bank / public holiday in UK, Hong Kong, Australia etc.

Mock Questions for CSAT 2013/ APFC

Which of the following statements are correct?

1. International Court Justice can prosecute individuals for war crimes.
2. Headquarter of International Criminal court is located at Lisbon.
3. ICC is established by United Nations.

Mock GS paper II question

• Write a short note on International Criminal Court and International Court of Justice. (150 words/ 15 marks)

Interview:

• What do you know about Nuremberg trials, Pol Pot and Khamer Rouge?

Source/ Ref: BBC article and Official Website of ICC.