The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court is the

treaty A treaty is a formal, legally binding written agreement between sovereign states and/or international organizations that is governed by international law. A treaty may also be known as an international agreement, protocol, covenant, convention ...

that established the

International Criminal Court The International Criminal Court (ICC) is an intergovernmental organization and International court, international tribunal seated in The Hague, Netherlands. It is the first and only permanent international court with jurisdiction to prosecute ...

(ICC). It was adopted at a diplomatic conference in

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

on 17 July 1998Michael P. Scharf (August 1998)
''Results of the Rome Conference for an International Criminal Court''
. The American Society of International Law. Retrieved on 31 January 2008. and it entered into force on 1 July 2002. As of January 2025, 125 states are party to the statute. Among other things, it establishes court function,

jurisdiction Jurisdiction (from Latin 'law' and 'speech' or 'declaration') is the legal term for the legal authority granted to a legal entity to enact justice. In federations like the United States, the concept of jurisdiction applies at multiple level ...

and

structure A structure is an arrangement and organization of interrelated elements in a material object or system, or the object or system so organized. Material structures include man-made objects such as buildings and machines and natural objects such as ...

. The Rome Statute established four core international crimes:

genocide Genocide is violence that targets individuals because of their membership of a group and aims at the destruction of a people. Raphael Lemkin, who first coined the term, defined genocide as "the destruction of a nation or of an ethnic group" by ...

crimes against humanity Crimes against humanity are certain serious crimes committed as part of a large-scale attack against civilians. Unlike war crimes, crimes against humanity can be committed during both peace and war and against a state's own nationals as well as ...

war crime A war crime is a violation of the laws of war that gives rise to individual criminal responsibility for actions by combatants in action, such as intentionally killing civilians or intentionally killing prisoners of war, torture, taking hostage ...

s, and the crime of aggression. Those crimes "shall not be subject to any

statute of limitations A statute of limitations, known in civil law systems as a prescriptive period, is a law passed by a legislative body to set the maximum time after an event within which legal proceedings may be initiated. ("Time for commencing proceedings") In ...

". Under the Rome Statute, the ICC can only investigate and prosecute the four core international crimes in situations where states are "unable" or "unwilling" to do so themselves. The jurisdiction of the court is complementary to jurisdictions of domestic courts. The court has jurisdiction over crimes only if they are committed in the territory of, by a national of, or on a vessel registered under a state party or a non-party that has accepted the jurisdiction of the Court; or if the

United Nations Security Council The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN) and is charged with ensuring international peace and security, recommending the admission of new UN members to the General Assembly, an ...

makes a referral. The provisions on the crime of aggression did not take effect until after it was defined at the 2010 Kampala Conference.

Purpose

The Rome Statute established four core international crimes: (I)

Genocide Genocide is violence that targets individuals because of their membership of a group and aims at the destruction of a people. Raphael Lemkin, who first coined the term, defined genocide as "the destruction of a nation or of an ethnic group" by ...

, (II)

Crimes against humanity Crimes against humanity are certain serious crimes committed as part of a large-scale attack against civilians. Unlike war crimes, crimes against humanity can be committed during both peace and war and against a state's own nationals as well as ...

, (III)

War crime A war crime is a violation of the laws of war that gives rise to individual criminal responsibility for actions by combatants in action, such as intentionally killing civilians or intentionally killing prisoners of war, torture, taking hostage ...

s, and (IV) Crime of aggression. Following years of negotiation, aimed at establishing a permanent international tribunal to prosecute individuals accused of

and other serious international crimes, such as

s and

crimes of aggression In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definitions of", in Can ...

, the

United Nations General Assembly The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA or GA; , AGNU or AG) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN), serving as its main deliberative, policymaking, and representative organ. Currently in its Seventy-ninth session of th ...

convened a five-week diplomatic conference in Rome in June 1998 "to finalize and adopt a convention on the establishment of an international criminal court".United Nations (1999).
Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court – Overview
''. Retrieved on 31 January 2008.Coalition for the International Criminal Court. . Retrieved on 31 January 2008.

History

Background

The Rome Statute is the result of multiple attempts for the creation of a supranational and international tribunal. At the end of the 19th century, the international community took the first steps toward the institution of permanent courts with supranational jurisdiction. With the Hague International Peace Conferences of 1899 and 1907, representatives of the most powerful nations made an attempt to harmonize

laws of war The law of war is a component of international law that regulates the conditions for initiating war (''jus ad bellum'') and the conduct of hostilities (''jus in bello''). Laws of war define sovereignty and nationhood, states and territories, ...

and to limit the use of technologically advanced weapons. After the Nuremberg trials of

Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

leaders, international institutions began prosecuting individuals responsible for

which are inhumane actions that may be legal in a given nation, but represent gross human rights violations. In order to re-affirm basic principles of democratic civilisation, the accused received a regular trial, the right to

defense Defense or defence may refer to: Tactical, martial, and political acts or groups * Defense (military), forces primarily intended for warfare * Civil defense, the organizing of civilians to deal with emergencies or enemy attacks * Defense industr ...

and the

presumption of innocence The presumption of innocence is a legal principle that every person Accused (law), accused of any crime is considered innocent until proven guilt (law), guilty. Under the presumption of innocence, the legal burden of proof is thus on the Prosecut ...

. The Nuremberg trials marked a crucial moment in

legal history Legal history or the history of law is the study of how law has evolved and why it has changed. Legal history is closely connected to the development of civilizations and operates in the wider context of social history. Certain jurists and his ...

, and after that, some treaties that led to the drafting of the Rome Statute were signed. UN General Assembly Resolution n. 260 9 December 1948, the

Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide The Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (CPPCG), or the Genocide Convention, is an International Agreement, international treaty that criminalizes genocide and obligates state parties to pursue the enforcement of ...

, was the first step toward the establishment of an international permanent criminal tribunal with jurisdiction on crimes yet to be defined in international treaties. In the resolution there was a hope for an effort from the Legal U.N. commission in that direction. The U.N. General Assembly, after the considerations expressed from the commission, established a committee to draft a statute and study the related legal issues. In 1951 a first draft was presented; a second draft followed in 1955 but there were a number of delays, officially due to the difficulties in the definition of the crime of aggression, that were only solved with diplomatic assemblies in the years following the statute's coming into force. The geopolitical tensions of the

Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...

also contributed to the delays. In December 1989,

Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago, officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean, comprising the main islands of Trinidad and Tobago, along with several List of islands of Trinidad and Tobago, smaller i ...

asked the General Assembly to re-open the talks for the establishment of an international criminal court and in 1994 presented a draft statute. The General Assembly created an ''ad hoc'' committee for the International Criminal Court and, after hearing the conclusions, a Preparatory Committee that worked on the draft for two years from 1996 to 1998. Meanwhile, the United Nations created the ''ad hoc'' tribunals for the former Yugoslavia ( ICTY) and for Rwanda ( ICTR) using statutes—and amendments due to issues raised during pre-trial or trial stages of the proceedings—that are quite similar to the Rome Statute. The UN’s International Law Commission (ILC) considered the inclusion of the crime of

ecocide Ecocide (from Greek 'home' and Latin 'to kill') is the destruction of the natural environment, environment by humans. Ecocide threatens all human populations that are dependent on natural resources for maintaining Ecosystem, ecosystems and ensu ...

to be included within the Draft Code of Crimes Against the Peace and Security of Mankind, the document which later became the Rome Statute. Article 26 (crime against the environment) was publicly supported by 19 countries in the Legal Committee but was removed due to opposition from the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

, the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

and the

United States of America The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 contiguo ...

Establishment

During its 52nd session, the UN General Assembly decided to convene a diplomatic conference "to finalize and adopt a convention on the establishment of an international criminal court". The conference was convened in

from 15 June to 17 July 1998. It was attended by representatives from 161 member states, along with observers from various other organizations, intergovernmental organizations and agencies, and non-governmental organizations (including many human rights groups) and was held at the headquarters of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, located about 4 km away from the Vatican (one of the states represented). On 17 July 1998, the Rome Statute was adopted by a vote of 120 to 7, with 21 countries abstaining. By agreement, there was no official record of each delegation's vote regarding the adoption of the Rome Statute. Therefore, there is some dispute over the identity of the seven countries that voted against the treaty.Stephen Eliot Smith, "Definitely Maybe: The Outlook for U.S. Relations with the International Criminal Court During the Obama Administration", '' Florida Journal of International Law'', 22:155 at 160, n. 38. It is certain that the People's Republic of China, Israel, and the United States were three of the seven because they have publicly confirmed their negative votes. India, Indonesia, Iraq, Libya, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, and Yemen have been identified by various observers and commentators as possible sources for the other four negative votes, with Iraq, Libya, Qatar, and Yemen being the four most commonly identified. Explanations of Vote was publicly declared by India, Uruguay, Mauritius, Philippines, Norway, Belgium, United States, Brazil, Israel, Sri Lanka, China, Turkey, Singapore, and the United Kingdom. On 11 April 2002, ten countries ratified the statute at the same time at a special ceremony held at the United Nations headquarters in New York City,Amnesty International (11 April 2002).
The International Criminal Court – a historic development in the fight for justice
''. Retrieved on 31 January 2008. bringing the total number of signatories to sixty, which was the minimum number required to bring the statute into force, as defined in Article 126. The treaty entered into force on 1 July 2002; the ICC can only prosecute crimes committed on or after that date.Article 11 of th

. Retrieved on 18 October 2013. The states parties held a Review Conference in

Kampala Kampala (, ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Uganda. The city proper has a population of 1,875,834 (2024) and is divided into the five political divisions of Kampala Central Division, Kampala, Kawempe Division, Kawempe, Makindy ...

, Uganda from 31 May to 11 June 2010.Assembly of States Parties (14 December 2007). . Retrieved on 31 January 2008. The Review Conference adopted a definition of the crime of aggression, thereby allowing the ICC to exercise jurisdiction over the crime for the first time. It also adopted an expansion of the list of war crimes. Amendments to the statute were proposed to implement these changes.

Ratification status

Jurisdiction, structure and amendment

The Rome Statute outlines the ICC's structure and areas of jurisdiction. The ICC can prosecute individuals (but not states or organizations) for four kinds of crimes: genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression. These crimes are detailed in Articles 6, 7, 8, and 8 ''bis'' of the Rome Statute, respectively. They must have been committed after 1 July 2002, when the Rome Statute came into effect. The ICC has jurisdiction over these crimes in three cases: first, if they took place on the territory of a State Party; second, if they were committed by a national of a State Party; or third, if the crimes were referred to the Prosecutor by the UN Security Council. The ICC may begin an investigation before issuing a warrant if the crimes were referred by the UN Security Council or if a State Party requests an investigation. Otherwise, the Prosecutor must seek authorization from a Pre-Trial Chamber of three judges to begin an investigation ''proprio motu'' (on its own initiative). The only type of immunity the ICC recognizes is that it cannot prosecute those under 18 when the crime was committed. In particular, no officials – not even a head of state – are immune from prosecution. The issue of immunities from the jurisdiction of the Court has become recently relevant, when the Court issued arrest warrants for Russian and Israeli Heads of State, since their immunities are granted from states which are not parties to the Rome Statute. States which have ratified the statute have waived the immunities of their officials with respect to the jurisdiction of the court by accepting the provisions of article 27: However, according to the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, states which have not ratified a treaty cannot be bound by its provisions, meaning that states such as Russia and Israel have not agreed to waive the immunities of their officials for that purpose. On the other hand, states which are bound to cooperate with the court under part 9 of the Rome Statute, shall comply with any and all cooperation requests of the Court, including arrest warrants for officials of non-state parties. However, article 98 of the Court, which has been used as an argument by state parties defending their non-compliance with arrest warrants as such reads as follows: The Al-Bashir arrest warrant decisions have shed some light into the apparent conflict between these two articles by establishing two strong arguments in favor of the universality of article 27 and the nonexistence of a conflict with article 98. The first argument, commonly known as "The Security Council route", claims that when a situation is referred to the Court in accordance with article 13(b) of the Rome Statute, the Security Council is placing the state in question in the position of a state party to the Rome Statute, including the waiver of article 27. In the absence of a Security Council referral, the Court has included a plethora of other justifications for its decision. The argument, one of the justifications of the court which was reaffirmed in the decision against Mongolia in 2024, is highlighting the grammatical interpretation of article 98(1). The lack of reference on heads of state in the article, and the clear grammatical meaning that the article applies only to the State or diplomatic immunity of a person or property of a third State, is a strong indicator that the article is not an exception to article 27 for heads of state of States not Party. The Rome Statute established three bodies: the ICC itself, the Assembly of States Parties (ASP), and the Trust Fund for Victims. The ASP has two subsidiary bodies. These are the Permanent Secretariat, established in 2003, and an elected Bureau which includes a president and vice-president. The ICC itself has four organs: the Presidency (with mostly administrative responsibilities); the Divisions (the Pre-Trial, Trial, and Appeals judges); the Office of the Prosecutor; and the Registry (whose role is to support the other three organs). The functions of these organs are detailed in Part 4 of the Rome Statute. Any amendment to the Rome Statute requires the support of a two-thirds majority of the states parties, and an amendment (except those amending the list of crimes) will not enter into force until it has been ratified by seven-eighths of the states parties. A state party which has not ratified such an amendment may withdraw with immediate effect.Article 121 of th
Rome Statute
. Retrieved on 18 October 2013. Any amendment to the list of crimes within the jurisdiction of the court will only apply to those states parties that have ratified it. It does not need a seven-eighths majority of ratifications.

Notes

References

External links