International Criminal Court : Ask Biography

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The International Criminal Court ( ; commonly referred to as the ICC or ICCt) is a permanent tribunal to prosecute individuals for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression (although it cannot currently and will in no way before 2017 be able to exercise jurisdiction over the crime of aggression).

It came into being on 1 July 2002-the date its founding treaty, the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, entered into force-and it can only prosecute crimes committed on or after that date. The court's official seat is in The Hague, Netherlands, but its proceedings may take place anywhere.The court can generally exercise jurisdiction only in cases where the accused is a national of a state party, the alleged crime took place on the territory of a state party, or a situation is referred to the court by the United Nations Security Council. It is designed to complement existing national judicial systems: it can exercise its jurisdiction only when national courts are unwilling or unable to investigate or prosecute such crimes. Primary responsibility to investigate and punish crimes is therefore left to individual states.

To date, the Court

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As of April 2011, three trials against four people are underway: two trials regarding the situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (with one of them scheduled to be closed in August 2011) and one trial regarding the Central African Republic. Another two people have been committed to a fourth trial in the situation of Darfur, Sudan; this trial is anticipated to begin in 2012. One confirmation of charges hearing (against one person in the situation of the DR Congo) is to start in August 2011 while two others (against a total of six persons in the situation of Kenya) will begin in September 2011.