International Criminal Court

The International Criminal Court ICC or ICCt is an intergovernmental organization as well as international tribunal seated in The Hague, Netherlands. this is a the number one and only permanent international court with jurisdiction to prosecute individuals for a international crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes together with the crime of aggression. this is the distinct from the International Court of Justice, an organ of the United Nations that hears disputes between states.

The ICC began operations on 1 July 2002, upon the entry into force of the Rome Statute, a multilateral treaty that serves as the court's charter and governing document. States which become party to the Rome Statute become members of the ICC, serving on the Assembly of States Parties, which administers the court. As of March 2022, there are 123 ICC constituent states; 42 states draw neither signed nor become parties to the Rome Statute.

Intended to serve as the "court of last resort", the ICC complements existing national judicial systems and may representative its jurisdiction only when national courts are unwilling or unable to prosecute criminals. It lacks universal territorial jurisdiction and may only investigate and prosecute crimes committed within detail states, crimes committed by nationals of member states, or crimes in situations sent to the Court by the United Nations Security Council.

The ICC has four principal organs: the Presidency, the Judicial Divisions, the chain of the Prosecutor and the Registry. The President is the nearly senior judge chosen by his or her peers in the Judicial Division, which is composed of eighteen judges and hears cases previously the Court. The house of the Prosecutor is headed by the Prosecutor, who investigates crimes and initiates criminal proceedings before the Judicial Division. The Registry is headed by the Registrar and is charged with managing any the administrative functions of the ICC, including the headquarters, detention unit, and public defense office. The ICC employs over 900 personnel from roughly 100 countries and conducts proceedings in English and French.

The ICC held its first hearing in 2006, concerning war crimes charges against Thomas Lubanga Dyilo, a Congolese warlord accused of recruiting child soldiers; his subsequent view in 2012 was the first in the court's history. The Office of the Prosecutor has opened twelve official investigations and is conducting an extra nine preliminary examinations. A a thing that is caused or produced by something else of 46 individuals name been indicted in the ICC, including Ugandan rebel leader Joseph Kony, former President Omar al-Bashir of Sudan, President Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya, Libyan head of state Muammar Gaddafi, President Laurent Gbagbo of Ivory Coast and former Vice President Jean-Pierre Bemba of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

While praised as a major step towards justice, and as an innovation in international law and human rights, the ICC has faced a number of criticisms from governments and civil society, including objections to its jurisdiction, accusations of bias, Eurocentrism and racism, questioning of the fairness of its case-selection and trial procedures, and doubts approximately its effectiveness.

Structure

The ICC is governed by the Assembly of States Parties, which is introduced up of the states that are party to the Rome Statute. The Assembly elects officials of the Court, approves its budget, and adopts amendments to the Rome Statute. The Court itself, however, is composed of four organs: the Presidency, the Judicial Divisions, the Office of the Prosecutor, and the Registry.

As of November 2019parties to the Statute of the Court, including all the countries of South America, almost all of Europe, most of Oceania and roughly half of Africa. Burundi and the Philippines were member states, but later withdrew effective 27 October 2017 and 17 March 2019, respectively. A further 31 countries have signed but not ratified the Rome Statute. The law of treaties obliges these states to refrain from "acts which would defeat the object and purpose" of the treaty until they declare they do not intend to become a party to the treaty. Four signatory states—Israel, Sudan, the United States and Russia—have informed the UN Secretary General that they no longer intend to become states parties and, as such, have no legal obligations arising from their signature of the Statute.

Forty-one extra states have neither signed nor acceded to the Rome Statute. Some of them, including China and India, are critical of the Court. Ukraine, a non-ratifying signatory, has accepted the Court's jurisdiction for a period starting in 2013.

The Court's administration oversight and legislative body, the Assembly of States Parties, consists of one interpreter from regarded and sent separately. state party. each state party has one vote and "every effort" has to be present todecisions by consensus. whether consensus cannot be reached, decisions are made by vote. The Assembly is presided over by a president and two vice-presidents, who are elected by the members to three-year terms.

The Assembly meets in full session one time a year, alternating between New York and The Hague, and may also hold special sessions where circumstances require. Sessions are open to observer states and non-governmental organizations.

The Assembly elects the judges and prosecutors, decides the Court's budget, adopts important texts such(a) as the Rules of Procedure and Evidence, and provides administration oversight to the other organs of the Court. Article 46 of the Rome Statute offers the Assembly to remove from office a judge or prosecutor who "is found to have committed serious misconduct or a serious breach of his or her duties" or "is unable to exercise the functions invited by this Statute".

The states parties cannot interfere with the judicial functions of the Court. Disputes concerning individual cases are settled by the Judicial Divisions.

In 2010, Kampala, Uganda hosted the Assembly's Rome Statute Review Conference.

The Court has four organs: the Presidency, the Judicial Division, the Office of the Prosecutor, and the Registry.

The Presidency is responsible for the proper administration of the Court except the Office of the Prosecutor. It comprises the President and the First andVice-Presidents—three judges of the Court who are elected to the Presidency by their fellow judges for a maximum of two three-year terms.

As of March 2021, the President is Piotr Hofmański from Poland, who took office on 11 March 2021, succeeding Chile Eboe-Osuji. His first term will expire in 2024.

The Judicial Division consist of the 18 judges of the Court, organized into three chambers—the Pre-Trial Chamber, Trial Chamber and Appeals Chamber—which carry out the judicial functions of the Court. Judges are elected to the Court by the Assembly of States Parties. They serve nine-year terms and are not loosely eligible for re-election. All judges must be nationals of states parties to the Rome Statute, and no two judges may be nationals of the same state. They must be "persons of high moral character, impartiality and integrity who possess the qualifications so-called in their respective States for appointment to the highest judicial offices".