The International Criminal Court
- LAST MODIFIED: 26 July 2017
- DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780199796953-0156
- LAST MODIFIED: 26 July 2017
- DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780199796953-0156
Introduction
The International Criminal Court (ICC or “the Court”) is the world’s first permanent international court enforcing international criminal law. The ICC has attracted enormous scholarly attention from both lawyers and non-lawyers. Entire journals have been filled with commentaries on its legal framework—primarily the Rome Statute by which it was created—and the case-law developing that framework. But as the breadth of research on the ICC in non-legal disciplines demonstrates, the Court’s relevance goes far beyond the application and development of international criminal law; even without much judicial activity, it produces wide-ranging consequences in the world. Much material on the ICC is subsumed in literature on international criminal tribunals or international criminal law generally. This entry focuses on literature that is ICC-specific. Even though the Rome Statute’s provisions and its case law on substantive international criminal law are in some instances ICC-specific, this article leaves substantive criminal law (for instance genocide, modes of liability, or defenses) for Oxford Bibliographies entries on those topics.
Primary Materials
Before reading any of the secondary material, one should consult core primary material such as the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (keeping in mind the amendments, and the procedures for the entry into force of the amendments, reflected in Depository Notification C.N.533.2010.TREATIES-6, Depository Notification C.N.651.2010.TREATIES-8 and Depository Notification C.N.7.2016.TREATIES-XVIII.10), the Rules of Procedure and Evidence and the Elements of Crimes. It is advisable to check the literature against these primary materials: some secondary material is based on assumptions about, rather than a careful reading of, the legal framework. For the case law, see International Criminal Court or the ICC Legal Tools database.
Depository Notification C.N.533.2010.TREATIES-6: Adoption of Amendment to Article 8.
This depository notification of the Secretary-General of the United Nations contains the amendment to Article 8 of the Statute adopted by the Review Conference of the Rome Statute, and the procedure for the entry into force of the amendment. As a result of the amendment, the Court will now also have jurisdiction over three offenses involving the use of certain weapons when used in situations of non-international armed conflicts.
Depository Notification C.N.651.2010.TREATIES-8: Adoption of Amendments on the Crime of Aggression.
This depository notification of the Secretary-General of the United Nations contains amendments adopted with respect to the crime of aggression by the Review Conference of the Rome Statute, and the procedure for the entry into force of the amendments. The amendments include, inter alia, a definition of the crime of aggression and provisions on the Court’s jurisdiction over the crime.
This depository notification of the Secretary-General of the United Nations contains the amendment to Article 124 adopted by the Fourteenth Assembly of States Parties, and refers to the provisions for its entry into force. The amendment deletes Article 124, a “transitional provision” that allowed a state, upon becoming a party to the Statute, to declare that for a period of seven years it would not accept the Court’s jurisdiction over war crimes committed on its territory or by its national.
As per Article 9 of the Rome Statute, the Assembly of States Parties has adopted Elements of Crimes to assist the Court in the interpretation and application of the articles containing the definitions of the crimes within its subject-matter jurisdiction.
This free online database includes much more than ICC records, but when it comes to finding ICC decisions, it is in many ways more user friendly than the ICC’s website.
The Court’s website contains many essential primary materials on the Court’s work, including decisions and judgments. Even though the website has been entirely revamped, it is not always easy to find specific documents. For case law, one can either search per investigation and case (click on the tab “investigations and cases”) or use the shortcut to “court records.”
Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.
Adopted in Rome on 17 July 1998, the Statute is the treaty that both creates and governs the ICC. After sixty ratifications, the Statute entered into force on 1 July 2002. In addition to a preamble setting forth the aspirations of the States Parties, the Statute contains provisions on the Court’s establishment, jurisdiction, admissibility and applicable law, general principles of criminal law, composition and administration, investigation and prosecution, as well as the trial, penalties, international cooperation, the Assembly of States Parties and treaty law.
Rules of Procedure and Evidence.
In accordance with Article 51(1) of the Statute, the ICC’s Rules of Procedure and Evidence were adopted by the Assembly of States Parties at its first session in September 2002 (ICC-ASP/1/3). In the case of conflict between the Statute and the Rules, the Statute prevails (Article 51(5) Statute). The Assembly of States Parties periodically amends the Rules (ICC-ASP/10/Res.1, ICC-ASP/11/Res.2 and ICC-ASP/12/Res.7), so it is useful to consult the ICC website to ensure one is reading the latest version.
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- Act of State Doctrine
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- African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights and the Af...
- Africa’s International Intellectual Property Law Regimes
- Africa’s International Investment Law Regimes
- Agreements, Bilateral and Regional Trade
- Agreements, Multilateral Environmental
- Aliens
- Applicable Law in Investment Agreements
- Archipelagic States
- Arctic Region
- Armed Opposition Groups
- Aut Dedere Aut Judicare
- Balance of Power
- Bandung Conference, The
- British Mandate of Palestine and International Law, The
- Children's Rights
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- Codification
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- Constitutional Law, International
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- Contemporary Catholic Approaches
- Continental Shelf, Idea and Limits of the
- Cooperation in Criminal Matters, Cross-Border
- Countermeasures
- Courts, International
- Crimes against Humanity
- Criminal Law, International
- Cultural Rights
- Cyber Espionage
- Cyber Warfare
- Debt, Sovereign
- Decolonization in International Law
- Democracy
- Development Law, International
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- Discrimination
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- Drugs, International Regulation, and Criminal Liability
- Early 19th Century, 1789-1870
- Ecological Restoration and International Law
- Economic Law, International
- Effectiveness and Evolution in Treaty Interpretation
- Enforced Disappearances in International Law
- Enforcement of Human Rights
- Environmental Compliance Mechanisms
- Environmental Institutions, International
- Environmental Law, International
- Estoppel
- European Arrest Warrant
- Extraterritorial Application of Human Rights Treaties
- Feminist Approaches to International Law
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- Foreign Investment
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- French Revolution
- General Customary Law
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- Genocide
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- Grotius, Hugo
- Habeas Corpus
- History of International Law, 1550–1700
- Hostilities, Direct Participation in
- Human Rights
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- Human Rights, European Court of
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- Human Trafficking
- Hybrid International Criminal Tribunals
- Immunities
- Immunity, Sovereign
- Indigenous Peoples
- Individual Criminal Responsibility
- Institutional Law
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- International Community
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- International Criminal Court, The
- International Criminal Law, Complicity in
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- International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia ...
- International Fisheries Law
- International Humanitarian Law
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- International Law, the State in
- International Law, the Turn to History in
- International Law, Trade and Development in
- International Law, Unequal Treaties in
- International Law, Use of Force in
- International Regulation of the Internet
- International Territorial Administration
- International Trade and Human Rights
- Intervention, Humanitarian
- Investment Protection Treaties
- Islamic International Law
- Islamic Law and Human Rights
- Islands
- Jurisdiction
- Jurisprudence (Judicial Law-Making)
- Jus Cogens
- Just War
- Landlocked Countries and the Law of the Sea
- Law of the Sea
- Law of Treaties, The
- Law-Making by Non-State Actors
- League of Nations, The
- Lebanon, Special Tribunal for
- Legal Status of Military Forces Abroad
- Liability for International Environmental Harm
- Liberation and Resistance Movements
- Mandates in International Law
- Maritime Delimitation
- Martens Clause
- Medieval International Law
- Mens Rea, International Crimes
- Middle East Boundaries and State Formation
- Migration
- Military Necessity
- Military Occupation
- Minorities
- Modes of Participation
- Most-Favored-Nation Clauses
- Multinational Corporations in International Law
- Nationality and Statelessness
- Natural Law
- Neutrality
- New Approaches to International Law
- New Haven School of International Law, The
- Non liquet
- Noninternational Armed Conflict (“Civil War”)
- Nonstate Actors
- Nuclear Non-Proliferation
- Nuremberg Trials
- Organizations, International
- Pacifism in International Law
- Palestine (and the Israel Question)
- Peace Treaties
- Piracy
- Political Science, International Law and
- Positivism
- Private Military and Security Companies
- Protection, Diplomatic
- Public Interest, Human Rights, and Foreign Investment
- Rational Choice Theory
- Recognition of Foreign Penal Judgments
- Refugees
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- Reparations
- Russian Approaches to International Law
- Sanctions, International
- Secession
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- Space Law
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- Sports Law, International
- State of Necessity
- Superior Orders
- Taba Arbitration, The
- Teaching International Law
- Territorial Title
- Terrorism
- Theory, Critical International Legal
- Tibet
- Tokyo Trials, The
- Torture
- Transnational Constitutionalism, Africa and
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- Treaty Interpretation
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- Underwater Cultural Heritage
- Unilateral Acts
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