THE INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT

This brief discusses and analyzes the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (Rome Statute), the international treaty providing for the creation of an international criminal court (ICC) for the prosecution, trial and sentencing of individuals found guilty of enumerated serious international crimes and its implications for international law and the world order. In that context it examines the position of the United States with respect to the ICC.

The ICC came about because of a consensus among most countries in the world that there was a need for a permanent international tribunal to deal with serious international crimes, particularly those involving atrocities and other human rights abuses. Its formation culminates an effort which is nearly a century old. Most nations agree that although temporary, ad hoc international criminal tribunals have served their purpose, too many perpetrators of such crimes have escaped punishment and that a permanent tribunal is needed to deter future crimes of this nature and to generate consistent and fair interpretations of governing international law. An example of confusing and inconsistent municipal court actions are the ultimately unsuccessful efforts by human rights groups in Spanish and British courts to obtain the extradition of General Augusto Pinochet for alleged human rights crimes in Chile. The United States government, however, presently di

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idespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian population." The United States opposed the inclusion of war crimes and crimes of aggression unless they were narrowly defined. Basically, war crimes are within ICC's purview only if they are: "part of a plan or policy or . . . large-scale commission of such crimes," (Article 8(1); "grave breaches" of the 1949 Geneva Convention (article 8.2(a); (c) war crimes arising in international armed conflict, within the framework of international law (Article 8.2(b); war crimes arising in internal armed conflicts so defined and certain other specified crimes (Article.2(c)(D)(e) and (f). Under Article 5.2 the crime of aggression is left to be defined by the Security Council on a case-by-case basis. Principle of Complimentarily. The United States with the support of many countries insisted that ICC stay away from prosecuting crimes which could be handled by domestic jurisdictions. Under Articles 18.1(b) and 19, any Party can challenge the jurisdiction of ICC unless it can show that a State with jurisdiction over the crime is unwilling or unable to genuinely prosecute it. The United States wanted the ability to opt out from any prosecution for crimes against humanity or war crimes f
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Approximate Word count = 2644
Approximate Pages = 11 (250 words per page)

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