What is ICC?

ICC: International Criminal Court

International Criminal Court, known as acronym ICC on AbbreviationFinder.org, English International Criminal Court [ ɪ ntə næ ʃ nl kr ɪ m ɪ nl k ɔ ː t], acronym ICC [a ɪ si ː si ː ], (also permanent international court World Criminal Court called) to Prosecution of genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and the crime of aggression as criminal offenses under international criminal law. On July 17, 1998, the founding statute of the ICC was adopted by 120 states at a UN conference in Rome. The statute came into force on July 1, 2002 after the 60th instrument of ratification had been deposited in New York on April 11, 2002. In September 2002 the Assembly of States Parties adopted rules of procedure, evidence and interpretative guides for the offenses. In contrast to the ICJ, the ICC is not a UN body, but an organization affiliated to the UN by agreement. The 18 judges elected in February 2003 by the Conference of the 89 Contracting States were sworn in on March 11, 2003; this enabled the ICC (seat: The Hague) to officially begin its work. The Argentine Luis Moreno Ocampo became the chief prosecutor in April 2003. In July 2008, the chief prosecutor of the IIStGH applied for an arrest warrant against an incumbent head of state, the Sudanese head of state, for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes for the first time.

The statute of the ICC has not been ratified by some states; the US withdrew its signature to the statute in May 2002 and has since refused to recognize the ICC. They are also trying to exempt their own nationals from the jurisdiction of the ICC by means of bilateral treaties and resolutions of the UN Security Council. At the end of 2016, the ICC had 124 member states.

In June 2000, a worldwide code of criminal procedure was adopted for the activities of the ICC. The ICC, which does not replace domestic criminal justice but complements it, acts as a criminal prosecutor either on the basis of a state complaint, an initiative of the UN Security Council or the prosecutor’s own initiative, if states do not want or are unable to seriously prosecute a criminal offense falling under the jurisdiction of the ICC. However, the ICC can only exercise its activities if the jurisdiction of the ICC has been recognized by the state on whose territory the crime took place or whose nationality the accused is a citizen of. In the event of a judgment by the ICC, the death penalty may not be imposed. – Germany deposited as the 25th state on December 11th.

International Criminal Court

International criminal law

International criminal law, the epitome of international legal norms that regulate criminal liability for certain serious crimes and, if necessary, their prosecution by international criminal courts; to be distinguished from international criminal law, the domestic norms of the law on the application of penalties for cases with foreign relevance (although some authors summarize both areas under the heading of international criminal law).

According to the classical view, international law as the law of sovereign and equal states is not aimed directly at individuals; these are “mediatized” by the respective state by virtue of its personal and territorial sovereignty (international legal order). Accordingly, an individual can in principle only make himself liable to prosecution if he is subject to a certain state penal sovereignty. However, certain extremely serious crimes against the peaceful coexistence of states and peoples have – since the middle of the 20th century – been made directly criminal under international law and are prosecuted by international courts to which the states have transferred their genuine right to prosecute in individual cases or in general (international criminal law im narrower sense, supranational criminal law). In addition, the states have committed themselves in a series of treaties to criminalize individual offenses within the state (international criminal law in the broader sense).

Development: The war crimes trials carried out by the Allies against their opponents after the Second World War formed – according to a few earlier approaches – the starting point of modern international criminal law.

The criminal offenses contained in the statute of the Nuremberg Court (Nuremberg Trials) were initially politically confirmed by the UN General Assembly (Resolution 95 of December 13, 1946). The prosecution of genocide (1949) and apartheid (1973) as international crimes subsequently became binding in binding conventions. It was only after the end of the Cold War that states became more willing to develop international criminal law. In 1996, after several years of preparatory work, the UN International Law Commission presented the draft of a codification of five »crimes against peace and the security of humanity«. This was incorporated into the 1998 statute of International Criminal Court, which contains substantive penal provisions (war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide) and general criminal and procedural rules. The work of the ad hoc war crimes tribunals also provided important impetus for thiswhich the Security Council, in the exercise of its general task of maintaining international peace (Article 41 of the UN Charter), had set up in 1993 to prosecute war and other crimes in the former Yugoslavia and in 1994 in relation to genocide and war crimes in Rwanda. In contrast to the International Criminal Court, the jurisdiction of the tribunals set up by the Security Council is limited in terms of location and time. Their establishment requires the consent of all permanent members of the Security Council (veto) and therefore does not affect the interests of great powers either directly or indirectly.

Regardless of the internationalization of criminal prosecution, the national criminal claim remains in principle in the sense of a mutual complementation of national criminal law and international criminal law.

International criminal law in the broader sense also includes international crimes (Latin »delicta iuris gentium«), the prosecution of which is incumbent on the states in accordance with their domestic criminal law. Contractually stipulated international crimes include: damage to submarine cables (March 14, 1884), trafficking in girls (May 4, 1910), slave trade (September 25, 1926, supplemented September 7, 1956), counterfeiting (April 20, 1929), Genocide (December 9, 1948), war crimes (Geneva Conventions of August 12, 1949 with additional protocol of June 8, 1977, also the Convention on the non-statute of limitations for war crimes of September 16, 1968), piracy (high- Maritime Agreement of April 29, 1958), drug offenses (March 30, 1961), air piracy, aircraft hijacking and other offenses against the safety of air traffic (Tokyo Agreement of September 14, 1963, Hague Agreement of December 16, 1963). 1970, Montreal Convention of September 23, 1971, also the European Convention on Terrorism of January 27, 1977), attacks on diplomats (December 14, 1973) and hostage-taking (December 18, 1979). The international law principle anchored in some conventions extends the jurisdiction of national criminal courts in cases with foreign affairs. In order to ensure effective criminal prosecution, numerous contracts also comply with the principle “aut dedere aut judicare”; according to this, the contractually bound state is obliged either to carry out the prosecution itself (under certain circumstances under international observation) or to extradite the alleged perpetrator. The international law principle anchored in some conventions extends the jurisdiction of national criminal courts in cases with foreign affairs. In order to ensure effective criminal prosecution, numerous contracts also comply with the principle “aut dedere aut judicare”; according to this, the contractually bound state is obliged either to carry out the prosecution itself (under certain circumstances under international observation) or to extradite the alleged perpetrator. The international law principle anchored in some conventions extends the jurisdiction of national criminal courts in cases with foreign affairs. In order to ensure effective criminal prosecution, numerous contracts also comply with the principle “aut dedere aut judicare”; according to this, the contractually bound state is obliged either to carry out the prosecution itself (under certain circumstances under international observation) or to extradite the alleged perpetrator.