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Many international organizations also have supranational aspects, meaning that decisions can be made by the organization as a whole that are binding on member states that disagree.
Political Unification Revisited: On Building Supranational Communities by Amitai Etzioni [1] offers the definition of supranationality that is used in this entry. Etzioni writes that supranationality can be thought of as "a composite of several elements." These elements can be present alone or all together. The three elements of supranationality are defined as follows:
| European Court of Human Rights | Founded 1950, Reformed 1998 |
| Aspect | Supranational Element |
| Judges of the Court serve in an individual capacity. Though elected by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, they receive no instructions from States or any entity outside the court and cannot be dismissed but by a vote of two thirds of their own grouping. [2] | 1 |
| The Court can rule against the government of the offending States Parties. Judgements of the Court as to remedies for rights violations are binding on States Parties. [3] | 2 |
| The jurisdiction of the Court is automatically compulsory. The statute of the Court is a part of the European Convention on Human Rights and thus states party to the Convention are party to the Court. While not having initial jurisdiction over complaints, there is no provision for refusal by States brought before the Court. [4] | 2 |
| Citizens of States Parties to the European Convention on Human Rights may bring their human rights grievances directly to an international body of judges (the Court), albeit only when all domestic remedies have been exhausted. [5] | 3 |
| Inter-American Court of Human Rights | Founded 1979 |
| Aspect | Supranational Element |
| The Court can rule against the government of a State Party it finds has violated the American Convention on Human Rights. Judgements of the Court as to remedies for rights violations are binding on States Parties. [6] [7] | 2 |
| States may accept compulsory jurisdiction of contentious cases through declaration. This means any other State Party accepting compulsory jurisdiction may bring a case against it before the Court. Alternatively the state declaring compulsory jurisdiction may be brought before the court by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights over a complaint filed by an individual to the Commission. [8] | 2 |
| Note: Unlike the European Court of Human Rights, there is no provision for direct application by individuals to the Court. Rather individuals must file a complaint with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, which may decide after exhausting non-contentious measures of resolution, to submit the complaint to the Court, on the condition the State Party to the Convention has accepted the jurisdiction of the Court. | |
| International Court of Justice | Founded 1922, Reformed 1945 |
| Aspect | Supranational Element |
| The judges which compose the Court serve in a personal capacity, and though they are elected by the General Assembly on the advice of the Security Council, they are forbidden from receiving instructions from national governments or any entity outside the Court. [9] | 1 |
| ICJ rulings in contentious cases are binding on the States Parties to the dispute. Thus its decisions have the status of a treaty obligation for the State Party in question. [10] | 2 |
| In case of non-compliance with decisions, the ICJ may refer a state party to the Security Council for enforcement, although this provision has never been used. [11] | 2 |
| The ICJ Statute is a self-executing treaty, meaning (dependent on the Constitutional provisions of the State Party in question) the provisions of the treaty are enforceable in the respective legal structures of States Parties, indistinguishable from national laws of the State Party. Taken with fact that decisions its decisions are indistinguishable in obligation from the Statute of the ICJ itself, the decisions of the ICJ have the status of national law in national courts. [12] | 2 |
| The Court has the power in a contentious case to indicate any provisional measures for the preservation of the rights of either party. [13] | 2 |
| States parties to the ICJ Statute may declare acceptance of the jurisdiction of the Court in all cases. This means that any other state party having declared compulsory jurisdiction as well may bring the state party before the Court for an alleged violation of international law. Should the ICJ decide to take up the dispute, the party is required to defend itself in a case before the ICJ and accept the decision of the Court. Certain treaties also confer on the ICJ compulsory jurisdiction over the treaty. [14] | 2 |
| International Criminal Court | Founded 2002 |
| Aspect | Supranational Element |
| The Prosecutor may independently open investigations into cases of widespread violation of the Statute, such as war crimes, genocide, and crimes against Humanity, given the consent of the Pre-Trial Chamber. The Prosecutor may conduct investigations on the territory of a State Party. [15] | 1 |
| Judges and members of the Office of the Prosecutor serve in a personal capacity and, though accountable to the Assembly of States Parties, act entirely independently and without instruction from national governments or any entity outside the Court. [16] [17] | 1 |
| The Court has jurisdiction over persons, who are individually responsible and punishable for crimes under the Statute, such as war crimes, genocide, and crimes against humanity. [19] | 2, 3 |
| The Pre-Trial Chamber may, after an investigation by the Prosecutor and on the application of the Prosecutor, issue a warrant of arrest for an individual if it has reasonable grounds to believe the individual has committed a crime under the Statute involved in the case under investigation by the Prosecutor. [20] | 2, 3 |
| Arrest warrants are binding on States Parties, which are obligated to take steps to arrest the person in question immediately. [21] | 2 |
| The Prosecutor of the Court, with the consent of the Pre-Trial Chamber, consisting of three judges, is authorized to directly summon a person if there are reasonable grounds to believe the person committed an alleged crime under the Statute and a summons is sufficient to ensure the person's appearance. [20] | 3 |
| Individuals concerned have the right to challenge an arrest warrant at the international level and apply at the international level for release pending trial. [22] | 3 |
| International Seabed Authority | Founded 1994 |
| Aspect | Supranational Element |
| The Authority organizes, carries out, and controls activities in the seabed and ocean floor (the Area) on behalf of mankind. [23] | 2 |
| The Authority may adopt regulations for the protection of human life, the marine environment, and for the prospecting, exploration, and exploitation in the Area. [24] | 2 |
| The Council of the Authority issues plans of work (contracts) for private parties for activities in the Area. [25] | 3 |
| International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea | Founded 1994 |
| Aspect | Supranational Element |
| The Tribunal has automatic compulsory jurisdiction. All States Parties to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea are States Parties to the ITLOS, as its Statute is contained in the Convention. Any other state party may bring any other state party before the Tribunal for an alleged violation of the Convention, should the Tribunal accept the case. [26] | 2 |
| The decisions of the Tribunal are binding on parties to a dispute brought before it. [27] | 2 |
| The decisions of the Tribunal's Seabed Disputes Chamber are enforceable in the territory of the parties to a dispute in the same manner as the highest court of the State Parties. [28] | 2 |
| North American Free Trade Agreement | Agreed 1992 |
| Aspect | Supranational Element |
| The decisions of NAFTA arbitral panels apply to and are binding on private parties and individuals. [29] | 2 |
| States Parties to NAFTA have initial jurisdiction over anti-dumping violations of the Agreement, which may be brought before the court by private parties and individual persons against private parties and individual persons in another State Party. However, if the first private party seeks an appeal of the highest court within its State, the other private party may bring the case before a NAFTA arbitral panel. [30] | 3 |
| Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons | Founded 1997 |
| Aspect | Supranational Element |
| The Organization sends inspectors to search suspected sites of substances prohibited by the Convention in the territory of States Parties. This includes governmental and private sites alike. [31] | 1, 3 |
| CWC Inspection teams are appointed by and accountable to the Technical Secretariat of the OPCW, and operate in their capacity as persons, not representatives of states. [32] [33] [34] | 1 |
| Under implementing legislation, refusing inspections by the OPCW is a violation of national law. Inspection teams are, however, required to notify a State Party when they begin a search. [35] [36] | 2 |
 Security Council | Founded 1945 |
| Aspect | Supranational Element |
| The members of the United Nations agree that in carrying out its duties in maintaining peace and security, the Security Council Acts on their behalf. [37] | 2 |
| The members of the United Nations agree to accept and carry out the decisions of the Security Council. Thus Security Council resolutions are binding on involved member states, or even on all member states. [38] | 2 |
| The Security Council may compel the members states to apply measures decided upon to give effect to its decisions, such as diplomatic or economic sanctions. [39] | 2 |
| The Security Council may take action through the use of military force to enforce its decisions and maintain or restore international peace and security. This provision has been used somewhat infrequently – the Korean War (1950), intervention in the Congo Crisis(1961), the First Gulf Conflict (1991) [40] | 2 |
| The Security Council may enforce the decisions of the International Court of Justice, although this provision has never been used. [41] | 2 |
| The Security Council may create subsidiary organs to assist in carrying out its functions. Since the decisions of the Security Council are binding, the effect is that such subsidiary organs can add new ways for the Council to exercise its obligations. The most prominent examples of this were the creation of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. [42] | 3 |
| The Statute of the International Criminal Court confers upon the Security Council an ability to refer situations of war crimes, crimes against humanity, or genocide in states not party to the Statute to the ICC for investigation and prosecution. [43] | 3 |
| United Nations General Assembly | Founded 1945 |
| Aspect | Supranational Element |
| The 1950 General Assembly resolution number 377 recognizes the right of the General Assembly, when the veto of a permanent member causes the Security Council to fail in maintaining the peace, to recommend the use of all actions including military force to preserve the peace. Paragraph 7 further recommends that member states maintain armed forces ready to be made available to serve as UN units up the recommendation of the Security Council or General Assembly. Used in Suez Crisis, 1956, Soviet Intervention in Hungary, 1956, the Lebanon-Jordan crisis, 1958, etc. [44] | 2 |
| World Trade Organization | Founded 1994 |
| Aspect | Supranational Element |
| The WTO Council can, with the votes of a three-fourths majority of member states, adopt an interpretation of trade agreements falling under WTO jurisdiction. | 2 |
| WTO Dispute Resolution Panels have compulsory jurisdiction, in that any state may bring an alleged violation of WTO trade law by another state to a panel for adjuciation. | 2 |
| Decisions of dispute resolution panels are binding on state parties. | 2 |
| WTO Panel decisions may be enforced through authorization for slighted parties to undertake retaliatory trade sanctions. | 2 |
The International Criminal Court (ICC) 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.
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 Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court is the treaty that established the International Criminal Court (ICC). It was adopted at a diplomatic conference in Rome, Italy on 17 July 1998 and it entered into force on 1 July 2002. As of October 2024, 125 states are party to the statute. Among other things, it establishes court function, jurisdiction and structure.
The crime of apartheid is defined by the 2002 Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court as inhumane acts of a character similar to other crimes against humanity "committed in the context of an institutionalized regime of systematic oppression and domination by one racial group over any other racial group or groups and committed with the intention of maintaining that regime".
The law of war is a component of international law that regulates the conditions for initiating war and the conduct of hostilities. Laws of war define sovereignty and nationhood, states and territories, occupation, and other critical terms of law.
The Nuremberg principles are a set of guidelines for determining what constitutes a war crime. The document was created by the International Law Commission of the United Nations to codify the legal principles underlying the Nuremberg Trials of Nazi party members following World War II.
An ex post facto law is a law that retroactively changes the legal consequences or status of actions that were committed, or relationships that existed, before the enactment of the law. In criminal law, it may criminalize actions that were legal when committed; it may aggravate a crime by bringing it into a more severe category than it was in when it was committed; it may change the punishment prescribed for a crime, as by adding new penalties or extending sentences; it may extend the statute of limitations; or it may alter the rules of evidence in order to make conviction for a crime likelier than it would have been when the deed was committed.
A war of aggression, sometimes also war of conquest, is a military conflict waged without the justification of self-defense, usually for territorial gain and subjugation, in contrast with the concept of a just war.
The International law bearing on issues of Arab–Israeli conflict, which became a major arena of regional and international tension since the birth of Israel in 1948, resulting in several disputes between a number of Arab countries and Israel.
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.
The United States is not a state party to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, which founded the International Criminal Court (ICC) in 2002.
A crime of aggression or crime against peace is the planning, initiation, or execution of a large-scale and serious act of aggression using state military force. The definition and scope of the crime is controversial. The Rome Statute contains an exhaustive list of acts of aggression that can give rise to individual criminal responsibility, which include invasion, military occupation, annexation by the use of force, bombardment, and military blockade of ports. In general, committing an act of aggression is a leadership crime that can only be committed by those with the power to shape a state's policy of aggression, as opposed to those who discharge it.
International law is the set of rules, norms, and standards that states and other actors feel an obligation to obey in their mutual relations and generally do obey. In international relations, actors are simply the individuals and collective entities, such as states, international organizations, and non-state groups, which can make behavioral choices, whether lawful or unlawful. Rules are formal, often written expectations for behavior and norms are less formal, customary expectations about appropriate behavior that are frequently unwritten. It establishes norms for states across a broad range of domains, including war and diplomacy, economic relations, and human rights.
Air warfare must comply with laws and customs of war, including international humanitarian law by protecting the victims of the conflict and refraining from attacks on protected persons.
An atrocity crime is a violation of international criminal law that falls under the historically three legally defined international crimes of genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity. Ethnic cleansing is widely regarded as a fourth mass atrocity crime by legal scholars and international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) working in the field, despite not yet being recognized as an independent crime under international law.
The term international framework of sexual violence refers to the collection of international legal instruments – such as treaties, conventions, protocols, case law, declarations, resolutions and recommendations – developed in the 20th and 21st century to address the problem of sexual violence. The framework seeks to establish and recognise the right all human beings to not experience sexual violence, to prevent sexual violence from being committed wherever possible, to punish perpetrators of sexual violence, and to provide care for victims of sexual violence. The standards set by this framework are intended to be adopted and implemented by governments around the world in order to protect their citizens against sexual violence.
The terrorist group, self-proclaimed Islamic State (Islamic State of Iraq and Levant also known as Islamic State of Iraq and Syria has committed several fundamental violations of children's rights in the Middle East, particularly in Iraq and Syria The conventions protecting children's rights is the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. This is the most ratified international human rights treaty in history which established the widely supported view that children and young persons have the same basic general human rights as adults and also specific rights that recognize their special needs. A further two additional protocols were adopted by the UN General Assembly on 25 May 2000 covering the involvement of children in armed conflict and on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography. In ISIL's rise in the recent years, they have committed various violations of the and its protocols, which have been signed and ratified by Iraq and Syria.
The 1973 United Nations International Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid was the first binding international treaty which declared the crime of apartheid and racial segregation under international law. It was adopted by the General Assembly on 30 November 1973 and came into force on 18 July 1976. It passed by 91 votes in favor, four against and 26 abstentions. 110 countries are currently parties to the convention, with 26 signatories.
The prohibition of torture is a peremptory norm in public international law—meaning that it is forbidden under all circumstances—as well as being forbidden by international treaties such as the United Nations Convention Against Torture.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine violated international law. The invasion has also been called a crime of aggression under international criminal law, and under some countries' domestic criminal codes – including those of Ukraine and Russia – although procedural obstacles exist to prosecutions under these laws.
