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.
Universal jurisdiction is a legal principle that allows states or international organizations to prosecute individuals for serious crimes,such as genocide,war crimes,and crimes against humanity,regardless of where the crime was committed and irrespective of the accused's nationality or residence. Rooted in the belief that certain offenses are so heinous that they threaten the international community as a whole,universal jurisdiction holds that such acts are beyond the scope of any single nation's laws. Instead,these crimes are considered to violate norms owed to the global community and fundamental principles of international law,making them prosecutable in any court that invokes this principle.
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.
Thomas Lubanga Dyilo is a convicted war criminal from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and the first person 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.
The states parties to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court are those sovereign states that have ratified,or have otherwise become party to,the Rome Statute. The Rome Statute is the treaty that established the International Criminal Court,an international court that has jurisdiction over certain international crimes,including genocide,crimes against humanity,and war crimes that are committed by nationals of states parties or within the territory of states parties. States parties are legally obligated to co-operate with the Court when it requires,such as in arresting and transferring indicted persons or providing access to evidence and witnesses. States parties are entitled to participate and vote in proceedings of the Assembly of States Parties,which is the Court's governing body. Such proceedings include the election of such officials as judges and the Prosecutor,the approval of the Court's budget,and the adoption of amendments to the Rome Statute.
The eighteen judges of the International Criminal Court (ICC) are elected for nine-year terms by the member-countries of the court. Candidates must be nationals of those countries and they must "possess the qualifications required in their respective States for appointment to the highest judicial offices".
Karim Asad Ahmad Khan is a British lawyer specialising in international criminal law and international human rights law,who has served as Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court since 2021.
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.
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).
The International Criminal Court investigation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo or the situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is an ongoing investigation by the International Criminal Court (ICC) into crimes committed in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) during the Second Congo War and its aftermath,including the Ituri and Kivu conflicts. The war started in 1998 and despite a peace agreement between combatants in 2003,conflict continued in the eastern parts of the country for several years. In April 2004 the government of the DRC formally referred the situation in the Congo to the International Criminal Court,and in June 2004,prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo,formally opened an investigation. To date,arrest warrants have been issued for:
Silvia Alejandra Fernández de Gurmendi is an Argentine lawyer,diplomat and judge. She was a judge at the International Criminal Court (ICC) from 18 November 2009 to 10 March 2018 and was the first woman President of the ICC from March 2015 to March 2018. In 2020 she was elected to serve as President of the Assembly of States Parties to Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court for the twentieth to twenty-second sessions (2021-2023).
Amal Clooney is a British international human rights lawyer. Notable clients of hers include former Maldivian president Mohamed Nasheed,Australian WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange,former Ukrainian prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko,Yazidi human rights activist Nadia Murad,Filipino-American journalist Maria Ressa,Azerbaijani journalist Khadija Ismayilova,and Egyptian-Canadian journalist Mohamed Fahmy. She has held various appointments with the Government of the United Kingdom and the United Nations,and is also an adjunct law professor at Columbia Law School. In 2016,she and her husband,the American actor George Clooney,co-founded the Clooney Foundation for Justice.
Ahmad al-Faqi al-Mahdi was a member of Ansar Dine,a Tuareg Islamist militia in North Africa. Al-Mahdi admitted guilt in the International Criminal Court (ICC) in 2016 for the war crime of attacking religious and historical buildings in the Malian city of Timbuktu. Al-Mahdi was the first person convicted by the ICC for such a crime,and in general the first individual to ever be prosecuted solely on the basis of cultural crimes. He was sentenced to nine years in prison. On 25 November 2021,his sentence was commuted to 7 years in prison,and he was released on 18 September 2022.
The Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC),Fatou Bensouda,on 20 December 2019 announced an investigation into war crimes allegedly committed in Palestine by members of the Israeli military or Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups since 13 June 2014.
Tomoko Akane is a Japanese jurist and current judge at the International Criminal Court (ICC) for Japan,as well as the president of the court.
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.
The International Criminal Court investigation in Ukraine or the Situation in Ukraine is an ongoing investigation by the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) into "any past and present allegations of war crimes,crimes against humanity or genocide committed on any part of the territory of Ukraine by any person" during the period starting "from 21 November 2013 onwards",on an "open-ended basis",covering the Revolution of Dignity,the Russo-Ukrainian War including the 2014 annexation of Crimea by Russia,the war in Donbas and the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The ICC prosecutor commenced these investigations on 2 March 2022,after receiving referrals for the situation in Ukraine from 39 ICC State Parties.
On 17 March 2023,following an investigation of war crimes,crimes against humanity and genocide,the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Vladimir Putin,the president of Russia,and Maria Lvova-Belova,Russian commissioner for children's rights,alleging responsibility for the war crime of unlawful deportation and transfer of children during the Russo-Ukrainian War. The warrant against Putin is the first against the leader of a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council.
