Part 2 Jurisdiction, Admissibility, and Applicable Law: Compétence, Recevabilité, Et Droit Applicable, Art.8bis Crime of aggression/Crime d’agression

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Schabas William A
Keyword(s):  
United Nations ◽  
International Criminal Court ◽  
Rome Statute ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
Criminal Court ◽  
Secretary General ◽  
State Party ◽  
Applicable Law ◽  
The Subject ◽  
One Year

This chapter comments on Article 8bis of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. Article 8bis defines the crime of aggression, one of four categories of offence within the subject-matter jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court. The provision is part of a package of amendments adopted at the Kampala Review Conference in 2010. It entered into force in accordance with article 121(5) one year after ratification of the amendments by the first State Party. Liechtenstein was the first State Party to ratify the amendments, on May 8, 2012. Consequently, the amendment entered into force on May 8, 2013. On that date, the amendment was registered by the depository, the Secretary-General of the United Nations. However, exercise of jurisdiction by the Court over article 8bis is subject to article 15bis and article 15ter.

Part 13 Final Clauses: Clauses Finales, Art.127 Withdrawal/Retrait

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Schabas William A
Keyword(s):  
United Nations ◽  
International Criminal Court ◽  
Rome Statute ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
Criminal Court ◽  
The State ◽  
Secretary General ◽  
State Party ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
One Year

This chapter comments on Article 127 of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. Article 127 addresses the withdrawal of a State Party from this Statute. A State may withdraw from the Rome Statute by providing a written notification to the depositary, the Secretary-General of the United Nations. The withdrawal takes effect one year after receipt of the notification by the Secretary-General, unless a later date is specified. There have been no notifications of withdrawal from the Rome Statute. The Statute does not indicate whether a notice of withdrawal can itself be withdrawn, thereby returning the State to ordinary status as a Party. Withdrawal does not affect the continuation of the Statute with respect to other States Parties, even if the number of them falls below the threshold of sixty.

Part 2 Jurisdiction, Admissibility, and Applicable Law: Compétence, Recevabilité, Et Droit Applicable, Art.13 Exercise of jurisdiction/Exercice de la compétence

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Schabas William A
Keyword(s):  
United Nations ◽  
Security Council ◽  
International Criminal Court ◽  
Rome Statute ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
Criminal Court ◽  
United Nations Security Council ◽  
State Party ◽  
Applicable Law ◽  
The Law

This chapter comments on Article 13 of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. Article 13 is the first of three provisions in the Rome Statute on the ‘triggering’ of the jurisdiction. Once it is established that the Court has jurisdiction, a ‘situation’ must be triggered by one of the three mechanisms set out in article 13. The law applicable to referral by a State Party, which is authorized by article 13(a), is thoroughly addressed in article 14 of the Rome Statute. Similarly, the law concerning proprio motu initiation of proceedings by the Prosecutor is dealt with in article 15. As a result, the present analysis focuses on article 13(b), which establishes the authority of the United Nations Security Council to refer a ‘situation’ to the Court.

Construction Site for More Justice: The International Criminal Court After Two Years

2005 ◽  
Vol 99 (2) ◽  
pp. 370-384 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hans-Peter Kaul
Keyword(s):  
The Netherlands ◽  
United Nations ◽  
International Criminal Court ◽  
Rome Statute ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
Criminal Court ◽  
Secretary General ◽  
Construction Site ◽  
The Hague ◽  
Kofi Annan

The International Criminal Court (ICC) was officially opened in The Hague on March 11, 2003, in a special ceremony attended by Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands and United Nations secretary-general Kofi Annan. Less than four years after the historic breakthrough by the Diplomatic Conference of Plenipotentiaries in Rome on July 17, 1998, the Statute of the ICC had entered into force on July 1, 2002. The required number of sixty ratifications, which is laid down in Article 126, paragraph 1 of the Rome Statute, was reached much faster than for other comparable multilateral treaties and faster than had been expected by the global public. Secretary-General Annan attracted widespread attention when he observed that July 1, 2002, was a decisive landmark in breaking with the cynical worldview of people like Joseph Stalin, who is alleged to have remarked that while “a single death is a tragedy, a million deaths is a statistic.”

Part 13 Final Clauses: Clauses Finales, Art.126 Entry into force/Entrée en vigueur

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Schabas William A
Keyword(s):  
United Nations ◽  
International Criminal Court ◽  
Rome Statute ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
Criminal Court ◽  
Secretary General ◽  
The United Nations

This chapter comments on Article 126 of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. Article 126 deals with the entry into force of the Rome Statute. The Statute entered into force on the first day of the month after the sixtieth day following the date of the deposit of the sixtieth instrument of ratification, acceptance, approval, or accession with the Secretary-General of the United Nations, that is, on July 1, 2002. For States that ratify, accept, approve, or accede after the entry into force of the Statute, it will enter into force for them on the first day of the month after the sixtieth day following the deposit of instruments of ratification, acceptance, approval, or accession.

Part 2 Jurisdiction, Admissibility, and Applicable Law: Compétence, Recevabilité, Et Droit Applicable, Art.14 Referral of a situation by a State Party/Renvoi d’une situation par un état partie

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Schabas William A
Keyword(s):  
Security Council ◽  
International Criminal Court ◽  
Rome Statute ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
Criminal Court ◽  
State Party ◽  
Applicable Law

This chapter comments on Article 14 of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. Article 14 is really the completion of article 13(a). Article 13 lists three sources of ‘triggering’ or authorization for exercise of jurisdiction: the Security Council, a State Party, and the propriomotu initiative of the Prosecutor. Article 14 contrasts with the brief text governing Security Council referral found in article 13(b). Arguably, the two processes are similar, and the different formulations of the concept of referral in articles 13(b) and 14 are puzzling. It would have been preferable to use equivalent language and terminology, given the substantive similarities. The differences can be explained by the complex drafting process, and the fact that the two concepts originate in different provisions within the early versions of the Statute.

Part 2 Jurisdiction, Admissibility, and Applicable Law: Compétence, Recevabilité, Et Droit Applicable, Art.7 Crimes against humanity/Crimes contre l’humanité

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Schabas William A
Keyword(s):  
International Criminal Court ◽  
Rome Statute ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
Criminal Court ◽  
Crimes Against Humanity ◽  
Organizational Policy ◽  
Applicable Law ◽  
Contextual Elements ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Individual

This chapter comments on Article 7 of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. Article 7 defines crimes against humanity, one of four categories of offence within the subject-matter jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court. The classic definitions of crimes against humanity, in such instruments as the Charter of the Nuremberg Tribunal, are vague and open-ended, leaving courts to interpret the scope of such expressions as ‘persecution’ and ‘inhumane acts’. Out of concern with the uncertain parameters of the crime, the drafters of the Rome Statute included extra language designed to restrain efforts at generous or liberal interpretation. The five distinct ‘contextual elements’ of crimes against humanity are: (i) an attack directed against any civilian population; (ii) a State or organizational policy; (iii) an attack of a widespread or systematic nature; (iv) a nexus between the individual act and the attack; and (v) knowledge of the attack.

Preamble: Préambule, Preamble/Préambule

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Schabas William A
Keyword(s):  
United Nations ◽  
International Criminal Court ◽  
Rome Statute ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
Criminal Court ◽  
International Justice ◽  
General Philosophy ◽  
Final Version ◽  
Underlying Principle ◽  
The Subject

This chapter comments on the Preamble to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. The Preamble consists of eleven paragraphs and some 305 words. It addresses several of the important principles that underpin the Statute, such as complementarity and gravity, the commitment to address impunity, and the obligations of States with respect to international justice in general. The Preamble also provides an appropriate place for the Statute to make reference to such instruments as the Charter of the United Nations. Although the final version of the Preamble provides indications as to the general philosophy animating the Statute, the earlier versions actually influenced the drafting process, most notably in the debate as to whether complementarity was merely an underlying principle or whether it required specific provisions and mechanisms for its implementation, and as regards the importance of gravity or seriousness in establishing the subject-matter jurisdiction of the Court.

Part 13 Final Clauses: Clauses Finales, Art.125 Signature, ratification, acceptance, approval, or accession/Signature, ratification, acceptation, approbation ou adhésion

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Schabas William A
Keyword(s):  
United Nations ◽  
International Criminal Court ◽  
Rome Statute ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
Criminal Court ◽  
The State ◽  
Secretary General ◽  
The United Nations

This chapter comments on Article 125 of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. Article 125 governs the mechanisms by which States become parties to the Rome Statute. While a signature of a treaty may, under certain circumstances, constitute a means of indicating a State's acceptance to be bound by the treaty's provisions, in the context of the Rome Statute signature is only a preliminary act — ‘a first step to participation’. It must be followed by deposit of an instrument of ratification, approval, or accession for the State to become a party to the Statute. The article also establishes, although somewhat implicitly, that the Secretary-General of the United Nations is the depositary of the Statute.

Part 13 Final Clauses: Clauses Finales, Art.121 Amendments/Amendements

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Schabas William A
Keyword(s):  
Subject Matter ◽  
International Criminal Court ◽  
Rome Statute ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
Criminal Court ◽  
State Party ◽  
The Subject ◽  
General Provision

This chapter comments on Article 121 of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. Article 121 is the general provision on amendment of the Rome Statute. After the expiry of seven years from the entry into force of the Statute, any State Party may propose amendments. The proposed amendment is voted upon at the next session of the Assembly of States Parties. An amendment only enters into force when seven-eighths of the States Parties have deposited instruments of accession or ratification. A State that does not agree may withdraw from the Statute with immediate effect. A special regime is established for changes to the subject-matter jurisdiction of the Court.

Part 13 Final Clauses: Clauses Finales, Art.120 Reservations/Réserves

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Schabas William A
Keyword(s):  
Subject Matter ◽  
International Criminal Court ◽  
Rome Statute ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
Criminal Court ◽  
Vienna Convention ◽  
Legal Assistance ◽  
State Party ◽  
Legal Effect ◽  
The Subject

This chapter comments on Article 120 of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. Article 120 prohibits reservations to the Statute. The Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties defines reservation as a unilateral statement, however phrased or named, made by a State when signing, ratifying, accepting, approving, or acceding to a treaty, whereby it purports to exclude or to modify the legal effect of certain provisions of the treaty in their application to that State. Although prohibiting reservations as such, the Statute authorizes certain declarations. Specifically, States may declare the language of correspondence and other details for purposes of legal assistance, and that they agree to accept prisoners from the Court. Two declarations expressly provided by the Rome Statute are, in reality, reservations. Both exclude the State Party from the subject-matter jurisdiction of the Court with respect to certain categories of crime.

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