International+Criminal+Court

3-24-09 (International Criminal Court Homepage) (Wikipedia)
 * International Criminal Court**


 * History and Background**
 * The International Criminal Court (ICC or ICCt) is a permanent [|tribunal] to prosecute individuals for [|genocide], [|crimes against humanity] , [|war crimes] , and the [|crime of aggression] (although it cannot currently exercise jurisdiction over the crime of aggression)
 * The court came into being on 1 July 2002 — the date its founding [|treaty], the [|Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court] , entered into force— and it can only prosecute crimes committed on or after that date.
 * As of March 2009 [|[update]], 108 states are [|members of the Court] ; A further 40 countries have signed but not [|ratified] the Rome Statute. However, a number of states, including [|China] , [|Russia] , [|India] and the [|United States] , are critical of the court and have not joined.
 * The ICC can generally exercise [|jurisdiction] only in cases where the accused is a national of a state party, the alleged crime took place on the [|territory] of a state party, or a situation is referred to the court by the [|United Nations Security Council].
 * To date, the court has opened investigations into [|four situations] : Northern [|Uganda], the [|Democratic Republic of the Congo] , the [|Central African Republic] and [|Darfur] . The court has issued public arrest warrants for [|thirteen people] ; seven of them remain free, two have died, and [|four are in custody] . The ICC's first trial, of Congolese militia leader [|Thomas Lubanga] , began on 26 January 2009.

On 17 July 1998, the [|Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court] was adopted by a vote of 120 to 7, with 21 countries abstaining. The seven countries that voted against the treaty were China, [|Iraq], [|Israel] , [|Libya] , [|Qatar] , the United States, and [|Yemen].
 * Rome** **Statute**


 * Jurisdiction**
 * Article 5 of the Rome Statute grants the court jurisdiction over four groups of crimes, which it refers to as the “most serious crimes of concern to the international community as a whole”: the crime of [|genocide], [|crimes against humanity] , [|war crimes] , and the [|crime of aggression] . The statute defines each of these crimes except for aggression: it provides that the court will not exercise its jurisdiction over the crime of aggression until such time as the states parties agree on a definition of the crime and set out the conditions under which it may be prosecuted
 * India lobbied to have the use of [|nuclear weapons] and other [|weapons of mass destruction] included as war crimes but this move was also defeated. India has expressed concern that “the Statute of the ICC lays down, by clear implication, that the use of weapons of mass destruction is not a war crime. This is an extraordinary message to send to the international community.”
 * A [|Review Conference] is due to take place in the first half of 2010. Among other things, the conference will review the list of crimes contained in Article 5. The final resolution on adoption of the Rome Statute specifically recommended that terrorism and drug trafficking be reconsidered at this conference.
 * allowing the court to exercise jurisdiction only under the following limited circumstances:
 * where the person accused of committing a crime is a national of a state party (or where the person's state has accepted the jurisdiction of the court);
 * where the alleged crime was committed on the territory of a state party (or where the state on whose territory the crime was committed has accepted the jurisdiction of the court); or
 * where a situation is referred to the court by the UN Security Council.
 * The Rome Statute provides that all persons are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond [|reasonable doubt], and establishes certain rights of the accused and persons during investigations.


 * Relationship with the UN**
 * Unlike the [|International Court of Justice], the ICC is legally and functionally independent from the United Nations. However, the Rome Statute grants certain powers to the [|United Nations Security Council] . Article 13 allows the Security Council to refer to the court situations that would not otherwise fall under the court's jurisdiction (as it did in relation to the [|situation in Darfur] , which the court could not otherwise have prosecuted as [|Sudan] is not a state party).
 * Article 16 allows the Security Council to require the court to defer from investigating a case for a period of 12 months. Such a deferral may be renewed indefinitely by the Security Council

[|Joseph Kony] Fugitive [|Vincent Otti] Died in 2007 [|Raska Lukwiya] Died on 12 August 2006 [|Okot Odhiambo] Fugitive, rumoured to have died in April 2008 [|Dominic Ongwen] Fugitive [|Thomas Lubanga] 17 March 2006 In ICC custody, trial began on 26 January 2009 [|Germain Katanga] 17 October 2007 In ICC custody, charges confirmed, awaiting trial [|Mathieu Ngudjolo Chui] 6 February 2008 In ICC custody, charges confirmed, awaiting trial [|Bosco Ntaganda] Fugitive [|Jean-Pierre Bemba] 3 July 2008 In ICC custody, awaiting confirmation of charges [|Ahmed Haroun] Fugitive [|Ali Kushayb] Fugitive [|Omar al-Bashir] Fugitive
 * __Summary of investigations and prosecutions by the International Criminal Court (as of March 2009)__**
 * Northern [|Uganda] Government of Uganda (December 2003) July 2004**
 * [|Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC)] Government of the DRC (March 2004) June 2004**
 * [|Central African Republic (CAR)] Government of the CAR (December 2004) May 2007**
 * [|Darfur], [|Sudan] [|UN Security Council] (March 2005) June 2005**

As of 4 October 2007, the Prosecutor had received [|2889 communications] about alleged crimes in at least 139 countries. After initial review, however, the vast majority of these communications were dismissed as “manifestly outside the jurisdiction of the Court”.