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.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 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 12 Financing: Financement, Art.114 Payment of expenses/Règlement des dépenses

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

This chapter comments on Article 114 of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. Article 114 states that the expenses of the Court and the Assembly of States Parties, including its Bureau and subsidiary bodies, shall be paid from the funds of the Court. Article 114 has been described as an attempt to avoid a practice resulting from the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea whereby the Secretary-General pays for meetings of States Parties and other bodies out of the general budget. Thus, should the Secretary-General host meetings, any expenses incurred, for example for Secretariat services, must be paid by the Court, not the United Nations.

Part 6 The Trial: Le Procès, Art.62 Place of trial/Lieu du procès

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Schabas William A
Keyword(s):  
The Netherlands ◽  
International Criminal Court ◽  
Rome Statute ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
General Rule ◽  
Criminal Court ◽  
International Courts ◽  
The Hague ◽  
Post Trial

This chapter comments on Article 62 of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. Article 62 establishes the seat of the Court as the place of the trial. International courts have a ‘seat’. It is where they ‘sit’. Article 3, entitled ‘Seat of the Court’, specifies that the seat ‘shall be established at The Hague in the Netherlands’. It does not state clearly that the Court is to sit, as a general rule, in The Hague, but this is implied by paragraph 3 of article 3. Article 62 seems somewhat redundant and even confusing. Taken literally, its placement in Part 6 of the Statute (‘The Trial’) might be taken to indicate, a contrario, that other proceedings, both pre- and post-trial, must be held in The Hague at the seat of the Court. But that seems to be an absurd result.

Part 1 Establishment of the Court: Institution de la Cour, Art.3 Seat of the Court/Siège de la Cour

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Schabas William A
Keyword(s):  
The Netherlands ◽  
International Criminal Court ◽  
Rome Statute ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
Criminal Court ◽  
Host State ◽  
The Hague

This chapter comments on Article 3 of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. Article consists of three paragraphs. Article 3(1) establishes The Hague as the seat of the Court. Paragraph (1) is mandatory, and does not allow for the seat of the Court to be located elsewhere, absent an amendment of the Statute. The Statute also specifies that the Netherlands is the ‘host State’. Article 3(2) requires that there be a Headquarters Agreement between the Court and the host State. Article 3(3) states that The Court may sit elsewhere, whenever it considers it desirable, ‘as provided in the Statute’.

Part 13 Final Clauses: Clauses Finales, Art.128 Authentic texts/Textes faisant foi

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

This chapter comments on Article 128 of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. Article 128 declares that the original of this Statute, of which the Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian, and Spanish texts are equally authentic, shall be deposited with the Secretary-General of the United Nations, who shall send certified copies thereof to all States. The six versions of the authentic text of the Statute correspond to the six official languages of the United Nations. It is normal practice to specify that all versions are equally authentic. Because of the complexities of the Statute and the haste with which the Conference operated, there were inevitably some errors in the versions that were actually voted upon on July 17, 1998. Subsequently, corrections were circulated to the participants for their concurrence, and the official text is now slightly different from the one adopted at the Conference.

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