The International Criminal Court is an intergovernmental organization and international tribunal seated in The Hague,Netherlands. It is the first and only permanent international court with jurisdiction to prosecute individuals for the international crimes of genocide,crimes against humanity,war crimes and the crime of aggression. The ICC is distinct from the International Court of Justice,an organ of the United Nations that hears disputes between states.
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 hostages,unnecessarily destroying civilian property,deception by perfidy,wartime sexual violence,pillaging,and for any individual that is part of the command structure who orders any attempt to committing mass killings including genocide or ethnic cleansing,the granting of no quarter despite surrender,the conscription of children in the military and flouting the legal distinctions of proportionality and military necessity.
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 foreign nationals. Together with war crimes,genocide,and the crime of aggression,crimes against humanity are one of the core crimes of international criminal law and,like other crimes against international law,have no temporal or jurisdictional limitations on prosecution.
The Movement for the Liberation of the Congo is a political party in Democratic Republic of the Congo. Formerly a rebel group operating in the Democratic Republic of Congo that fought the government throughout the Second Congo War,it subsequently took part in the transitional government and is one of the main opposition parties.
International criminal law (ICL) is a body of public international law designed to prohibit certain categories of conduct commonly viewed as serious atrocities and to make perpetrators of such conduct criminally accountable for their perpetration. The core crimes under international law are genocide,war crimes,crimes against humanity,and the crime of aggression.
Jean-Pierre Bemba Gombo is a politician in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). After he served as Deputy Prime Minister of Defense 2023 to 2024,he was moved to the Deputy Prime Minister of Transportation. He was previously one of four vice-presidents in the transitional government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo from 17 July 2003 to December 2006. He led the Movement for the Liberation of the Congo (MLC),a rebel group turned political party. He received the second-highest number of votes in the 2006 presidential election. In January 2007,he was elected to the Senate.
In the practice of international law,command responsibility is the legal doctrine of hierarchical accountability for war crimes,whereby a commanding officer (military) and a superior officer (civil) is legally responsible for the war crimes and the crimes against humanity committed by his subordinates;thus,a commanding officer always is accountable for the acts of commission and the acts of omission of his soldiers.
Thomas Lubanga Dyilo is a convicted war criminal from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and the first person ever convicted by the International Criminal Court (ICC). He founded and led the Union of Congolese Patriots (UPC) and was a key player in the Ituri conflict (1999–2007). Rebels under his command have been accused of massive human rights violations,including ethnic massacres,murder,torture,rape,mutilation,and forcibly conscripting child soldiers.
The International Criminal Court has opened investigations in Afghanistan,the Central African Republic,Côte d'Ivoire,Darfur in Sudan,the Democratic Republic of the Congo,Kenya,Libya,Uganda,Bangladesh/Myanmar,Palestine,the Philippines,and Venezuela. Additionally,the Office of the Prosecutor conducted preliminary examinations in situations in Bolivia,Colombia,Guinea,Iraq / the United Kingdom,Nigeria,Georgia,Honduras,South Korea,Ukraine and Venezuela. Preliminary investigations were closed in Gabon;Honduras;registered vessels of Comoros,Greece,and Cambodia;South Korea;and Colombia on events since 1 July 2002.
Christine,Baroness Van den Wyngaert is a Belgian jurist and judge. She served as international and comparative criminal law expert from 2009 to 2018 as a judge on the International Criminal Court. She served in the Trial Division Chamber. On 8 July 2013,Van den Wyngaert was ennobled by King Albert II of Belgium as a baroness for her services as a judge. From 2003 to 2005 she was a Judge at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia,and from 2000 to 2002 an ad hoc judge on the International Court of Justice.
Marc Perrin de Brichambaut is a French career judge and diplomat. From 2011 to 2015 he was the Secretary General of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe,and from 2015 to 2024 he was a judge at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague.
Sylvia Helena de Figueiredo Steiner is a Brazilian judge who was a member of the International Criminal Court from 2003 to 2016.
Germain Katanga,also known as Simba,is a former leader of the Patriotic Resistance Force in Ituri (FRPI),an armed group in the Ituri Province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). On 17 October 2007,the Congolese authorities surrendered him to the International Criminal Court (ICC) to stand trial on six counts of war crimes and three counts of crimes against humanity. The charges include murder,sexual slavery,rape,destruction of property,pillaging,willful killing,and directing crimes against civilians.
Daniel David Ntanda Nsereko is a Ugandan judge and legal scholar. He was a member of the Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Court (ICC) from 2008 to 2012,and currently serves as a judge on the Special Tribunal for Lebanon.
Mathieu Ngudjolo Chui is a colonel in the Congolese army and a former senior commander of the National Integrationist Front (FNI) and the Patriotic Resistance Force in Ituri (FRPI).
United Nations Security Council Resolution 1931,adopted unanimously on June 29,2010,after recalling resolutions 827 (1993),1581 (2005),1597 (2005),1613 (2005),1629 (2005),1660 (2006),1668 (2006),1800 (2008),1837 (2008),1849 (2008),1877 (2009),1900 (2009) and 1915 (2010),the Council noted that the 2010 target for the completion of trials at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) could not be met,and therefore extended the terms of 23 judges at the ICTY.
United Nations Security Council resolution 1477,adopted unanimously on 29 April 2003,after recalling resolutions 955 (1994),1165 (1998),1329 (2000),1411 (2002) and 1431 (2002),the Council forwarded a list of nominees for permanent judges at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) to the General Assembly for consideration.
United Nations Security Council Resolution 1993,adopted unanimously on June 29,2011,after recalling resolutions 827 (1993),1503 (2003) and 1534 (2003),the Council extended the terms of office of 17 permanent and temporary judges at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY).
Piotr Józef Hofmański is a Polish jurist and judge who served as President of the International Criminal Court (ICC) from 2021 to 2024 and as a judge of the ICC from 2015 to 2024. Prior to this tenure,Hofmański was a legal expert and advisor at the Council of Europe.
