Establishment of the ICC

Establishment of the ICC

The intergovernmental agency known as the International Criminal Court has been established in the Netherlands and was first proposed in 1919 during the Paris Peace Conference by the Commission of Responsibilities.  It was addressed again with the League of Nations in Geneva in 1937, whose conclusion established a permanent international criminal court with the jurisdiction to prosecute individuals for the international crimes of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. 

Specific conditions must be met prior to taking matters into the hands of the ICC forum, such as when national courts fail to provide justice or when the UN refers a case to the court.  The International Criminal Court has officially opened its doors in 2002 as a permanent functioning entity and its chief operating guidelines include the Rome Statutes, which is a multilateral treaty with 124 states involved.  To date, 39 people have been indicted in the ICC.

There are four principle organs of the ICC:

     - Presidency 

     - Judicial Divisions

     - Office of the Prosecutor

     - Registry

Article 1: The Court

Article 1 establishes the ICC as described above, which provides the baseline of which the ICC shall operate to address the most serious crimes of international concern.  The court itself is governed by provisions of the Rome Statutes.

Article 2: Relationship of the ICC with the UN

Through an agreement, the International Criminal Court has been brought into relationship with the United Nations and approved by the Assembly of States Parties and concluded by the President of the ICC itself.

Article 3:  Seat of the Court

The seat of the ICC was established in the host state of the Hague, Netherlands.  There exists an agreement known as the Headquarters Agreement with the host state of the Hague, approved by the Assembly of the States Parties and concluded by the President of the ICC.  The Rome Statues provides a section that allows the ICC to sit elsewhere if deemed desirable.

Article 4:  Legal Status & Powers of the ICC

In order to operate functionally, it is necessary to give the court an international legal personality and the legal capacity to exercise its necessary functions and the fulfillment of its purposes, as provided by the Rome Statutes.