VI International Criminal Court (ICC)
| Author | Göran Sluiter |
| Date | 01 September 2005 |
| DOI | 10.1177/016934410502300311 |
| Published date | 01 September 2005 |
| Subject Matter | Part B: Human Rights News |
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VI INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT (ICC)
GO
¨RAN SLUITER*
1. INTRODUCTION
This is the first contribution on the work and progress of the ICC, which occupies an
important place in the protection of human rights. Since its establishment at the
diplomatic conference in Rome in the summer of 1998, efforts were aimed at
turning the paper institution into a functioning court as soon as possible. With three
to five cases on the agenda and an ever-expanding institution supported by a
growing number of States, we can safely say that the ICC lives up to the expectations
in this moment of time.
This first overview and analysis of developments is not confined to the last couple
of months, but seizes the opportunity to select a number of important general issues
since the creation of the Court. As those will exceed the scope of this contribution, a
number of them will be dealt with in the present contribution whereas the next two
contributions will deal with the remaining points of general interests, this in
addition to an overview and analysis of the latest developments. As the Court is not
yet producing a significant amount of cases, I have opted at the present stage for
offering to the NQHR two contributions a year.
2. RATIFICATION PROCESS AND OPPOSITION BY THE US
As with any universal human rights instrument, the authority of the Court depends
on the number of ratifications. Also from a more practical perspective an increase in
the number of ratifying States is of vital interest for the functioning of the Court. For
example, as States non-parties are under no obligation to cooperate with the Court,
indicted war criminals could easily hide in those States. The ICC Statute has set in
Article 126(1) a threshold of 60 ratifications for its entry into force. This threshold
was met early 2002, as a result of which the Statute entered into force on 1 July 2002.
Practically, this means that the temporal jurisdiction of the Court begins on that
date.
One notices from the Court’s creation in 1998 onwards a steady increase in the
number of ratifications. At the time of writing, 15 June 2005, 99 States, more than
half of the international community, have ratified the Statute. An additional 40
States have expressed by signing the Statute their intention to ratify that instrument
in the future. As a result, the number of States that currently support the idea of the
ICC amounts to 139, considerably more than the 120 States that voted in favour of
the ICC Statute at the diplomatic conference in Rome. While a rough two-thirds of
the international community currently supports the ICC, a small one-third is not yet
* Senior lecturer in (international) criminal law, University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
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