In The Know: The International Criminal Court

The International Criminal Court (ICC) is an independent institution that tries persons accused of the “most serious crimes of international concern,” particularly genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and the crime of aggression.

The ICC was established by virtue of the Rome Statute, which was adopted by 120 countries on July 17, 1998. The Rome Statute entered into force after 60 countries ratified it on July 1, 2002.

The Philippines was the 117th country to ratify the statute effective last month.

The ICC consists of 18 judges organized into the Pre-Trial Division, the Trial Division and the Appeals Division, responsible for conducting the proceedings at different stages.

The judges are elected by secret ballot at a meeting of the Assembly of States Parties. Judges have a term of nine years and shall not be eligible for reelection. They are also required to serve on a full-time basis.

Each state party may nominate one candidate to the court.

A candidate should have competence in criminal law and procedure as well as relevant experience in criminal proceedings. An aspirant to the post should also be competent in international law with extensive experience and fluent in at least one of the working languages of the court, such as Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish.

No two judges may be nationals of the same state. In electing candidates to the court, the states parties are advised to take into consideration the representation of the principal legal systems of the world; equitable geographical representation and a fair representation of female and male judges.

Based in The Hague, The Netherlands, the ICC has a cooperative relationship with the United Nations, but maintains its independence from the international body. As a court of last resort, it does not act if a case is investigated or prosecuted by a national judicial system unless the national proceedings are not genuine.

The current judges of the ICC are Sang-Hyun Song (Republic of Korea), Fatoumata Dembele Diarra (Mali), Hans-Peter Kaul (Germany), Elizabeth Odio Benito (Costa Rica), Akua Kuenyehia (Ghana), Erkki Kourula (Finland), Anita Usacka (Latvia), Sir Adrian Fulford (United Kingdom), Sylvia Steiner (Brazil), Ekaterina Trendafilova (Bulgaria), Daniel David Ntanda Nsereko (Uganda), Bruno Cotte (France), Joyce Aluoch (Kenya), Sanji Mmasenono Monogeng (Botswana), Christine van den Wyngaert (Belgium), Cuno Tarfusser (Italy), Silvia Alejandra Fernández de Gurmendi (Argentina), Kuniko Ozaki (Japan) and René Blattman (Bolivia).

So far, 14 cases have been brought before the ICC, concerning situations in Uganda, Congo, Central African Republic, Sudan, Kenya, Libya and Côte d’Ivoire.

The ICC differs from the UN International Court of Justice (ICJ), which has no jurisdiction over individuals accused of war crimes or crimes against humanity.

The ICJ, which is composed of 15 judges, has a dual role of settling legal disputes between states and giving advisory opinions on legal matters referred to it by UN organs and agencies. Lawrence de Guzman, Inquirer Research

Sources: International Criminal Court official website; Rome Statute; Inquirer Archives