ASSIGNMENT

of

INTERNATIONAL HUMANITARIAN LAW

on

INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT

SUBMITTED BY: SUBMITTED TO:

Since its founding in 2002, the International Criminal Court (ICC) has worked to bring cases against individual
s guilty of grave international crimes, including crimes against humanity, genocide and war crimes.
It provides justice to those who have suffered atrocities and discourages others from committing serious politic
al offenses. Following the receipt of over sixty ratifications, the Court convened for the first time on 1st July,
2002. It is situated in The Hague, Netherlands.
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) hears cases involving disputes between States, whereas
the International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutes criminal cases and has jurisdiction over individuals rather
than states.

The offenses that happened after July 1, 2002, and were either committed in the state that ratified the agreemen
t or by citizens of that state, fall under the jurisdiction of the Court.

However, the Court has encountered difficulties since its founding and has not been able to inculcate under its
jurisdiction, the super powers, such as China, the United Nations, Russia, etc.
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) is becoming more necessary than its founders thought
and its mandate is becoming more intimidating as human rights crises continue to rise quickly.
Few nations in the Middle East or Asia ratified the Rome Statute, despite the agreement being
highly praised and having been signed by about 140 nations by the time it went into effect.

ORIGIN OF THE COURT

The Nuremberg Trials, the first international war crimes tribunal, were started by the Allied Powers to bring
high-ranking Nazi officials to justice following World War II.
Governments did not come together in favor of creating a permanent court to convict people of the most
heinous crimes in history until the 1990s.The United Nations had established ad hoc international criminal trib
unals to address war crimes in Rwanda and Yugoslavia, but many experts in international law viewed these trib
unals as ineffective and insufficient.
In 1989, Trinidad and Tobago asked a UN commission to investigate the establishment of a permanent court.
In the years that followed, support for these initiatives grew, particularly in Europe and Africa.
In 2011, the European Union enacted a legally binding policy endorsing the International Criminal Court.
The UN General Assembly adopted the ICC's founding treaty during a conference in Rome in July 1998.
The Rome Statute came into effect in July of 2001 following its ratification by over sixty nations.
WORKING OF THE COURT

With its headquarters in The Hague, a city in the Netherlands home to numerous international organizations,
the ICC also maintains field offices across multiple nations.
Through the Office of the Prosecutor, which is headed by Gambian attorney Fatou Bensouda, the court conduct
s its investigative work.
The Court consists of eighteen judges, each chosen by the member states and hailing from a different member
nation. The International Criminal Court mandates that its members look for a gender-
balanced bench and that each of the UN's regions be represented on its judiciary.
The terms of office for judges and prosecutors are set for nine years, and they are not renewable.
The Court's two Vice Presidents and President are chosen from among its judges, and they are in charge of run
ning the Court's operations down the registry.
The court has jurisdiction over the following categories of crimes under international law:

 genocide, or the intention to destroy a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group in whole or in part;

 war crimes, or henious breaches of the laws of war, including the prohibitions placed by the Geneva
Conventions’ on torture and attacks on civilian targets, such as schools or hospitals;

 crimes against humanity, or the violations committed through large scale attacks against the civilian
populations, or violations committed as part of large-scale attacks against civilian populations,
including rape, slavery, torture, imprisionment and murder; and

 crimes of aggression, or the use or threat of armed force by a State against the territorial integrity,
sovereignty, or political independence of another State, or violations of the UN Charter.

The UN Security Council may refer a situation, the prosecutor may "suo moto" launch an investigation into a
member state, or the country itself may refer a situation. These are the three ways in which the court can begin
an investigation into the crimes. If the alleged offenses occurred on a member state's territory, the non-
member state acknowledges the court's jurisdiction, or the Security Council has authorized the investigation,
the court may look into the allegations made against individuals from that state.
The prosecutor must confirm that the alleged crimes are of "sufficient gravity" before opening an investigation,
and he can confirm this for himself following a preliminary examination.
The prosecutor's office dispatches investigators and other staff to gather evidence once the investigation is
opened.
The judiciary must approve the arrest warrant or summons before it can be issued, based on the prosecutor's
information. The decision of whether to proceed with a case to trial is made by a group of pretrial judges.
Defendants must represent themselves through legal representation, and they are also free to hire outside legal
representation.

HIGH PROFILE CASES

Muammar al-Gaddafi:

In 2011, the Security Council forwarded Libya's situation to the International Criminal Court (ICC) due to clai
ms that the Libyan leader was responsible for the deaths of unarmed civilians during the Arab Spring Protests.
In June 2011, the Court issued arrest warrants for Qaddafi, his brother-in-
law, and his son. However, Qaddafi fled and was killed before he could be found.
The son of Colonel Qaddafi, Saif al-Islam, is still a fugitive.

Omar al-Bashir:

Bashir, the first sitting president was indicted by the ICC for allegations of genocide, war crimes and crimes
against humanity in Sudan’s Darfur region. He is accused of planning deportations of members of ethnic
groups and mass killings. Bashir avoided arrest by travelling abroad after the assurances of foreign leaders that
they won’t turn him in. The Sudanese military in April, 2019 ousted Bashir and placed him under arrest due to
anti-government protests but they said that they won’t extradite him. Sudan’ has recently signaled that Al
Bashir might appear in the ICC.

Uhuru Kenyatta:

The ICC opened an investigation into violence in 2010 that killed more than 1000 people. Kenyatta and five
other major political leaders were named as suspects of crimes against war and humanity. The investigation
continued as Kenyatta won the presidency in 2013 with another ICC suspect William Ruto as his running mate.
The charges against Kenyatta were dropped by the ICC in 2014 and the charges against Ruto were dropped in
2016. Further, the prosecutor’s office claimed that the Kenyan government was uncooperative and the
tampering of witnesses made the case fall out.