Editing International Criminal Court (section)

== History ==
[[File:International Criminal Court 2022.jpg|thumb|265px|The premises of the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands. The ICC moved into this building in December 2015.]]

=== Background ===
The establishment of an [[International court|international tribunal]] to judge political leaders accused of international crimes was first proposed during the [[Paris Peace Conference, 1919|Paris Peace Conference]] in 1919 following the [[First World War]] by the [[Commission of Responsibilities]].<ref>{{Cite journal |date=January 1920 |title=Commission on the Responsibility of the Authors of the War and on Enforcement of Penalties |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0002930000133482/type/journal_article |journal=American Journal of International Law|volume=14 |issue=1–2 |pages=95–154 |doi=10.2307/2187841 |jstor=2187841 |s2cid=246013323 |issn=0002-9300|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Schabas |first=William A. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9Awa7ghw5Q4C&pg=PA302 |title=An Introduction to the International Criminal Court |date=2011-02-17 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-139-49660-5}}</ref> The issue was addressed again at a conference held in [[Geneva]] under the auspices of the [[League of Nations]] in 1937, which resulted in the conclusion of the first convention stipulating the establishment of a permanent international court to try acts of international terrorism.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Archibugi |first1=Daniele |title=Crime and global justice: the dynamics of international punishment |last2=Pease |first2=Alice |date=2018 |publisher=Polity press |isbn=978-1-5095-1261-4 |location=Cambridge Medford (Mass.)}}</ref> The convention was signed by 13 states, but none ratified it and the convention never entered into force.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Galicki |first=Z |year=2016 |title=International Law and Terrorism |journal=American Behavioral Scientist |volume=48 |issue=6 |pages=743–757 |doi=10.1177/0002764204272576 |s2cid=144313162}}</ref>

Following the [[Second World War]], the [[Allies of World War II|allied powers]] established two ''[[ad hoc]]'' tribunals to prosecute [[Axis powers|Axis]] leaders accused of war crimes. The [[International Military Tribunal]], which sat in [[Nuremberg]], prosecuted German leaders while the [[International Military Tribunal for the Far East]] in [[Tokyo]] prosecuted Japanese leaders.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Fichtelberg |first=Aaron |date=2009 |title=Fair Trials and International Courts: A Critical Evaluation of the Nuremberg Legacy |url=https://philpapers.org/rec/AARFTA |access-date=2023-12-02 |journal=Criminal Justice Ethics |volume=28 |pages=5–24 |doi=10.1080/07311290902831268}}</ref> In 1948 the [[United Nations General Assembly]] first recognized the need for a permanent international court to deal with atrocities of the kind prosecuted after World War II.<ref name="iccfact">{{Cite web |date=December 2002 |title=The International Criminal Court |url=https://www.un.org/News/facts/iccfact.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061205220343/http://www.un.org/News/facts/iccfact.htm |archive-date=5 December 2006 |access-date=5 December 2006 |publisher=United Nations Department of Public Information}}</ref> At the request of the General Assembly, the [[International Law Commission]] (ILC) drafted two statutes by the early 1950s but these were shelved during the [[Cold War]], which made the establishment of an international criminal court politically unrealistic.<ref name="Cato">{{Cite web |last=Dempsey |first=Gary T. |date=16 July 1998 |url=http://www.cato.org/pubs/pas/pa-311es.html |title=Reasonable Doubt: The Case Against the Proposed International Criminal Court |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061228072538/http://www.cato.org/pubs/pas/pa-311es.html |archive-date=28 December 2006 |publisher=[[Cato Institute]] |access-date=31 December 2006}}</ref>

[[Benjamin B. Ferencz]], an investigator of [[Nazi war crime]]s after World War II and the Chief Prosecutor for the [[United States Army]] at the [[Einsatzgruppen trial]], became a vocal advocate of the establishment of international [[rule of law]] and of an international criminal court. In his book ''Defining International Aggression: The Search for World Peace'' (1975), he advocated for the establishment of such a court.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.benferencz.org/bio.html |title=Benjamin B Ferencz, Biography  |date=9 January 2008 |access-date=1 March 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080109011136/http://www.benferencz.org/bio.html |archive-date=9 January 2008}}</ref> Another leading proponent was [[Robert Kurt Woetzel]], a German-born professor of international law, who co-edited ''Toward a Feasible International Criminal Court'' in 1970 and created the Foundation for the Establishment of an International Criminal Court in 1971.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Ferencz |first=Benjamin B. |date=January 1972 |editor-last=Stone |editor-first=Julius |editor2-last=Woetzel |editor2-first=Robert K. |title=Toward a Feasible International Criminal Court |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0002930000148201/type/journal_article |journal=American Journal of International Law|location=Geneva |publisher=World Peace Through Law Center |volume=66 |issue=1 |pages=213–215 |doi=10.2307/2198479 |jstor=2198479 |issn=0002-9300|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

=== Formal proposal and establishment ===
In June 1989, the [[Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago]], [[A. N. R. Robinson]], revived the idea of a permanent international criminal court by proposing the creation of tribunal to address the [[illegal drug trade]].<ref name="Cato" /><ref>{{cite web |date=20 June 2006 |title=Election of Mr Arthur N.R. Robinson to the Board of Directors of the Victims Trust Fund |url=http://www.icc-cpi.int/pressrelease_details%26id%3D152%26l%3Den.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927003646/http://www.icc-cpi.int/pressrelease_details%26id%3D152%26l%3Den.html |archive-date=27 September 2007 |access-date=3 May 2007 |work=International Criminal Court}}</ref> In response, the General Assembly tasked the ILC with once again drafting a statute for a permanent court.<ref name="ICCHistory">{{Cite web |title=History of the ICC |url=https://www.iccnow.org/index.html%3Fmod=icchistory.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070307195635/http://www.iccnow.org/?mod=icchistory |archive-date=7 March 2007 |access-date=4 June 2012 |publisher=Coalition for the International Criminal Court}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Ba |first=Oumar |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/states-of-justice/A919F84A580AB04F29B51817ECB8A192 |title=States of Justice: The Politics of the International Criminal Court |date=2020 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-108-48877-8 |location=Cambridge |doi=10.1017/9781108771818}}</ref>

While work began on the draft, the [[UN Security Council]] established two ''ad hoc'' tribunals in the early 1990s: The [[International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia]], created in 1993 in response to large-scale atrocities committed by armed forces during the [[Yugoslav Wars]], and the [[International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda]], created in 1994 following the [[Rwandan genocide]]. The creation of these tribunals further highlighted to many the need for a permanent international criminal court.<ref name="ICCHistory" /><ref>{{Cite book |last=Schiff |first=Benjamin N. |title=Building the international criminal court |date=2008 |publisher=Cambridge Univ. Press |isbn=978-0-521-87312-3 |edition=1. publ |location=New York, NY}}</ref>

In 1994, the ILC presented its final draft statute for the International Criminal Court to the General Assembly and recommended that a conference be convened to negotiate a treaty that would serve as the Court's statute.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://legal.un.org/ilc/texts/instruments/english/draft%20articles/7_4_1994.pdf |title=Draft Statute for an International Criminal Court, 1994 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131019222229/http://legal.un.org/ilc/texts/instruments/english/draft%20articles/7_4_1994.pdf |archive-date=19 October 2013 |access-date=4 June 2012}}</ref> To consider major substantive issues in the draft statute, the General Assembly established the Ad Hoc Committee on the Establishment of an International Criminal Court, which met twice in 1995.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |title=Establishment of an International Criminal Court – overview |url=https://legal.un.org/icc/general/overview.htm |access-date=2024-06-20 |website=legal.un.org}}</ref><ref name=":3" /> After considering the Committee's report, the General Assembly created the Preparatory Committee on the Establishment of the ICC to prepare a consolidated draft text.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":3">{{Cite web |title=ICC history |url=https://www.coalitionfortheicc.org/icc-history |access-date=2024-06-20 |website=Coalition for the International Criminal Court}}</ref> From 1996 to 1998, six sessions of the Preparatory Committee were held at the [[Headquarters of the United Nations|United Nations headquarters]] in New York City, during which NGOs provided input and attended meetings under the umbrella organisation of the [[Coalition for the International Criminal Court]] (CICC). In January 1998, the Bureau and coordinators of the Preparatory Committee convened for an Inter-Sessional meeting in [[Zutphen]] in the Netherlands to technically consolidate and restructure the draft articles into a draft.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Bassiouni |first=M. Cherif |date=1999 |title=Negotiating the Treaty of Rome on the Establishment of an International Criminal Court |url=https://scholarship.law.cornell.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1449&context=cilj |journal=Cornell International Law Journal |volume=32 |issue=3 Symposium 1999 |pages=444}}</ref>

Finally, the General Assembly convened a conference in Rome in June 1998, with the aim of finalizing the treaty to serve as the Court's statute. On 17 July 1998, the [[Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court]] was adopted by a vote of 120 to seven, with 21 countries abstaining. The seven countries that voted against the treaty were [[China]], [[Iraq]], [[Israel]], [[Libya]], [[Qatar]], the U.S., and [[Yemen]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Scharf |first=Michael P. |date=August 1998 |url=http://www.asil.org/insights/insigh23.htm |title=Results of the Rome Conference for an International Criminal Court |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120515183257/http://www.asil.org/insights/insigh23.htm |archive-date=15 May 2012 |publisher=[[American Society of International Law]] |access-date=4 December 2006}}</ref>

Israel's opposition to the treaty stemmed from the inclusion in the list of war crimes "the action of transferring population into occupied territory",<ref>{{Cite press release |url=https://www.un.org/press/en/1998/19980720.l2889.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180630024926/https://www.un.org/press/en/1998/19980720.l2889.html |archive-date=30 June 2018 |url-status=live |publisher=United Nations Meetings Coverage and Press Releases |quote=Israel has reluctantly cast a negative vote. It fails to comprehend why it has been considered necessary to insert into the list of the most heinous and grievous war crimes the action of transferring population into occupied territory. The exigencies of lack of time and intense political and public pressure have obliged the Conference to by-pass very basic sovereign prerogatives to which we are entitled in drafting international conventions, in favour of finishing the work and achieving a Statute on a come-what-may basis. We continue to hope that the Court will indeed serve the lofty objectives for the attainment of which it is being established. |title=UN DIPLOMATIC CONFERENCE CONCLUDES IN ROME WITH DECISION TO ESTABLISH PERMANENT INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT |date=20 July 1998}}</ref> a provision added during the Rome Conference at the insistence of Arab countries with the specific intention of targeting Israeli citizens.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Blumenthal |first1=Daniel |title=The Politics of Justice: Why Israel Signed the International Criminal Court Statute and What the Signature Means |journal=Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law |date=2002 |volume=30 |page=596 |url=https://digitalcommons.law.uga.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=&httpsredir=1&article=1367&context=gjicl |access-date=2024-11-29}}</ref>

The UN General Assembly voted on 9 December 1999 and again on 12 December 2000 to endorse the ICC.<ref name="ares54105">{{cite news |title=A/RES/54/105 |url=https://documents-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N00/250/92/IMG/N0025092.pdf?OpenElement |publisher=UN General Assembly |date=25 January 2000 |access-date=2 February 2023 |archive-date=4 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231004084801/https://documents-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N00/250/92/IMG/N0025092.pdf?OpenElement}}</ref><ref name="ares55155">{{cite news |title=A/RES/55/155 |url=https://documents-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N00/568/69/PDF/N0056869.pdf?OpenElement |publisher=UN General Assembly |date=19 January 2001 |access-date=2 February 2023 |archive-date=2 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230202191819/https://documents-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N00/568/69/PDF/N0056869.pdf?OpenElement}}</ref> Following 60 ratifications, the Rome Statute entered into force on 1 July 2002 and the International Criminal Court was formally established.<ref name="ai2002">{{Cite web |publisher=Amnesty International |date=11 April 2002 |url=https://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/IOR40/008/2002 |title=The International Criminal Court&nbsp;– A Historic Development in the Fight for Justice |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141224183911/http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/IOR40/008/2002 |archive-date=24 December 2014 |access-date=20 March 2008}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |title=The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court: a commentary |date=2002 |publisher=Oxford Univ. Press |isbn=978-0-19-829862-5 |editor-last=Cassese |editor-first=Antonio |location=Oxford}}</ref>

The first bench of 18 judges was elected by the Assembly of States Parties in February 2003. They were sworn in at the inaugural session of the Court on 11 March 2003.<ref>{{cite web |author=Coalition for the International Criminal Court. |url=http://www2.icc-cpi.int/Menus/ICC/Press+and+Media/Press+Releases/2005/Warrant+of+Arrest+unsealed+against+five+LRA+Commanders.htm |title=Judges and the Presidency |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120824123631/http://www2.icc-cpi.int/Menus/ICC/Press+and+Media/Press+Releases/2005/Warrant+of+Arrest+unsealed+against+five+LRA+Commanders.htm |archive-date=24 August 2012 |date=13 October 2005}}</ref>

The Court issued its first [[arrest warrant]]s on 8 July 2005,<ref name="LRA warrants">{{Cite web |date=14 October 2005 |title=Warrant of Arrest Unsealed Against Five LRA Commanders |url=http://www.icc-cpi.int/en_menus/icc/situations%20and%20cases/situations/situation%20icc%200204/related%20cases/icc%200204%200105/press%20releases/Pages/warrant%20of%20arrest%20unsealed%20against%20five%20lra%20commanders.aspx |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141006171449/http://www.icc-cpi.int/en_menus/icc/situations%20and%20cases/situations/situation%20icc%200204/related%20cases/icc%200204%200105/press%20releases/Pages/warrant%20of%20arrest%20unsealed%20against%20five%20lra%20commanders.aspx |archive-date=6 October 2014 |access-date=30 September 2014 |publisher=International Criminal Court}}</ref> and the first pre-trial hearings were held in 2006.<ref>{{cite web |date=9 November 2006 |title=Prosecutor Presents Evidence That Could Lead to First ICC Trial |url=http://www.icc-cpi.int/press/pressreleases/201.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070709002335/http://www.icc-cpi.int/press/pressreleases/201.html |archive-date=9 July 2007 |access-date=5 December 2006 |publisher=International Criminal Court}}</ref>

The Court issued its first judgment in 2012 when it found Congolese rebel leader [[Thomas Lubanga Dyilo]] guilty of war crimes related to [[Military use of children|using child soldiers]].<ref>{{cite news |title=ICC finds Congo warlord Thomas Lubanga guilty |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-17364988 |work=BBC News |date=14 March 2012 |access-date=29 September 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141015024924/http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-17364988 |archive-date=15 October 2014 |url-status=live }}</ref> Lubanga was sentenced to 14 years in prison.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-17358799|title=Profile: DR Congo militia leader Thomas Lubanga|date=13 March 2012|publisher=BBC}}</ref>

In 2010, the states parties of the Rome Statute held the first [[Review Conference of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court]] in [[Kampala]], Uganda.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://treaties.un.org/pages/ViewDetails.aspx?src=TREATY&mtdsg_no=XVIII-10-a&chapter=18&clang=_en|title=United Nations Treaty Collection|publisher=United Nations|access-date=7 May 2019}}</ref> The Review Conference led to the adoption of two resolutions that amended the crimes under the jurisdiction of the Court. Resolution 5 amended Article 8 on war crimes, criminalizing the use of certain kinds of weapons in non-international conflicts whose use was already forbidden in international conflicts. Resolution 6, pursuant to Article 5(2) of the Statute, provided the definition and a procedure for jurisdiction over the [[crime of aggression]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.pgaction.org/ilhr/rome-statute/kampala-amendments.html|title=Kampala Amendments|website=Parliamentarians for Global Action – Mobilizing Legislators as Champions for Human Rights, Democracy and Peace|access-date=7 May 2019|archive-date=7 May 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190507011630/https://www.pgaction.org/ilhr/rome-statute/kampala-amendments.html}}</ref>