The ICCInternational Criminal Court
Who are they?
What do they do?
Where’s the U.S. in the ICC?
What is the ICC?
The ICC is the International Criminal Court
established from the treaty of the Rome
Statue signed in 1998.
The Rome Statue is a treaty that was signed
by 60 parties (states) in which caused the
ICC to be established.
Today, 104 states world-wide are part of the
ICC.
United Nations Court?
The ICC is not a part of the UN, although
many of the same states are members.
ICC is based out of the Netherlands, but has
been or could easily based elsewhere.
The ICC does work closely with the UN, but
is not directly connected to the UN
because there are states that are part of
the UN and not the ICC.
What is the court of the ICC made
up of?
The ICC is made up of four different organs:
1)Presidency
2)Judicial Divisions
3)Office of the Prosecutor
4)Registry
The Presidency itself…
This organ is responsible for administering
the court with the exception of the Office
of the Prosecutor and Registry.
There are three judges elected to the ICC
Presidency currently for a three year term.
These three positions consist of: President
of the Court, First Vice-President, and
Second Vice President.
Who is your President, and what
does he do?
Judge Philippe Kirsch of Canada was elected
in March of 2006, for a three year term as
President.
This “Presidency” is slightly like our
“Presidency” is put together.
They are the courts administrators for Court
kind of like the U.S. President oversees
our government.
And in the line-up as number two
and three…..
The two Vice-Presidents are placed first
vice-president and second vice president
going by:
First Vice- President: Judge Akua
Kuenyeahia of Ghana.
Second Vice-President: Judge Renè
Blattmann of Bolivia.
Both also given a term of three years.
And his chambers…
The chambers of the ICC consists of 14
judges besides the three judges of the
Presidency.
Each of these judges either have experience
and competence in criminal law or
international law.
This chamber is split into groups equaling
10 criminal law judges and 7 international
law judges currently.
And where in the world do they
come from?
These Judges come from various areas such
as: Canada, Ghana, Bolivia, Trinidad and
Tobago, France, Cyprus, Costa Rica, South
Africa, Republic of Korea, Italy, Ireland,
Finland, Mali, Latvia, the UK, Brazil and
Bulgaria.
It is noticed that the judges are very
sporadic in location and don’t necessarily
come from one continent or region.
And…. They do what in Pre-Trials?
With Pre-trial Chambers- either one single judge or
a three judge bench are assigned.
This bench or single judge decides whether or not
to authorize an investigation.
Judges assigned to the Pre-Trial Chambers are as
follows: Kuenyhia (Ghana), Jorda (France), Kual
(Germany), Politi (Italy), Diarra (Mali), Steiner
(Brazil), and Trendafilova (Bulgaria).
Goin’ to Trial….
The next of the Chambers of the ICC is the
Trial Division.
The Trial Division’s job is to oversee the trial
itself and determine the defendant’s
innocence or guilt.
Following the outcome, the Trial Division has
the duty to sentence the guilty in
imprisonment or monetary payment.
Who decides destiny?
The Judges which are included in the Trial Division
are:
Blattmann (Bolivia), Hudson-Phillips (Trinadad and
Tobago), Odio-Benito (Costa Rica), Harding
Clark (Ireland), Uśacka (Latvia) and Fulford (the
UK).
Trial Division are also only made up of three
judges at a time making up the Trial Chamber.
You appeal what?
The last division is the Appeals Division.
This consists of primarily of judges that are
experienced and competent in international law.
The Appeals Division main duty is decide whether
or not a procedural error, error of the law, error
in fact or any other problems that would cause
an unfair trial have been made and if it is means
to reverse the judgment or redo the whole trial
again.
I find you quite appealing…
The Judges which are included in the
Appeals Court are:
Kircsh (Canada), Pikis (Cyprus), Pillay
(South Africa), Song (Republic of Korea),
and Kourula (Finland).
All five judges are to take part in each
appeals case they receive.
To make it work…
Like all of us know, we need some
prosecution to work in the power of the
ICC, therefore there is a division of
Prosecutors.
These Prosecutors work to help the ICC’s
case be argued through out the trial
period.
Who’s prosecuting?
The head Prosecutor is Mr. Luis Moreno-Ocampo of
Argentina as first Chief Prosecutor of the Court.
His job is to be the representative in court.
He is helped out by two Deputy Prosecutors, Mr. Serge
Brammertz of Belgium as Deputy Prosecutor of the
Court. Mr. Brammertz is in charge of the Investigations
Division of the Office of the Prosecutor, along with Mrs.
Fatou Bensouda of the Gambia who was elected Deputy
Prosecutor by the Assembly of States Parties. She is in
charge of the Prosecution Division of the Office of the
Prosecutor.
How do they do what they do?
The chief prosecutor starts an investigation
once a referral comes through about a
possible crime committed.
These referrals may come from the Security
Council of the UN.
Before the investigation is put into action, it
goes to the Pre-Trial Chamber Judges to
authorize the investigation.
Where do referrals come from?
Referrals can come from one of four places:
1) A state party referral
2) A country part of the ICC
3) The UN Security Council
4) ICC Prosecutor
Registry
The Registry is responsible for the non-judicial aspects of
the administration and servicing of the Court and is
headed by the Registrar who is the principal
administrative officer of the Court, elected by secret
ballot by an absolute majority of judges meeting in
plenary session.
Registry is responsible for the administration of legal aid
matters, court management, victims and witnesses
matters, defense counsel, detention unit, and the
traditional services provided by administrations in
international organizations, such as finance, translation,
building management, procurement and personnel.
The current Registrar is Mr. Bruno Cathala (France) since
June of 2003
Now we know who, but what do
they do??
Now we know who does all the work for the ICC
and what each job is doing, what is the ICC
concerned about?
The ICC is a court that tries serious crimes which
include, war crimes, genocide, crimes against
humanity, and crimes against international
concern.
There is a 98 page document that gives the
procedural steps and actions that the ICC must
take to consider each time a crime committed. It
also includes what each job duty includes.
Cases that the ICC deals with
Like the Security Council of the UN, the ICC
deals with the same problems and issues.
As of November of 2006, 1700 possible
crimes have been reported to the
Prosecutor of the ICC, from close to 139
different countries.
Unfortunately, 80% of the reports are
outside the ICC’s jurisdiction.
Cases Being Dealt With….
There are currently only three cases pending on
the ICC’s case load but one is being considered
at this time. (Central African Republic)
These cases are not working at a quick pace and
have been open, some from before December
of 2003.
As it can be seen, the ICC cannot quickly move
through these cases and move to the next.
Case of Uganda
Uganda’s official government referred the “Lord’s
Resistance Army” (LRA) of Northern Uganda to
the ICC.
The “Lord’s Resistance Army is a Christian terrorist
group in Northern Uganda that is in rebellion
against the official government of Uganda.
The issues of concern for the LRA consist of
human rights violations, mutilation, torture,
rape, the abduction of civilians, and the use of
child soldiers and massacres.
LRA --December of 2003, the referral to the ICC from President
Yoweri Museveni to bring the LRA to the attention of the
ICC.
Pre-trial Chambers decide to let Prosecutors start
investigation on LRA.
LRA causing night commutes for children ages 3-17,
walking up to 12 miles a night to larger towns in search
of safety.
Because of the large amount of children in search of safety,
they come in such large quantities that they are forced
to sleep in extremely overcrowded areas.
Latest Developments
Warrants for arrest of five LRA members
announced on July 8th and September 27th
of 2005.
Warrants against..
Joseph Kony- Leader of the LRA
The warrant of arrest for Joseph Kony lists thirty-three
counts on the basis of his individual criminal
responsibility including:
Twelve counts of crimes against humanity (murder,
enslavement, sexual enslavement, rape, inhumane acts
of inflicting serious bodily injury and suffering,)
and;
one counts of war crimes (murder, cruel treatment of
civilians, intentionally directing an attack against a
civilian population, pillaging; inducing rape, forced
enlisting of children.)
4 others
There are also 4 other persons with
warrants out for their arrest due to similar
charges to Kony.
Arrests have yet to be made.
Cases against Republic of the
Congo
The Case against the Republic of the Congo is not again
the country itself, but Thomas Lubanga of the country.
Lubanga was the former leader of the Union of Congolese
Patriots.
A sealed (private) warrant for his arrest was declared in
February of 2006.
Reason for warrant; war crime of using children soldiers.
Lubanga was arrested that same day and brought to ICC
“headquarters”.
It is to be believed that Lubanga will be the first to be tried
in the ICC courtroom.
Case against Darfur
Investigation has taken place in Darfur but no real
solutions or action has taken place from the ICC.
ICC Prosecutor is nearly finished with the investigation of
Darfur, originally referred because of attacks of
governmental buildings along with an overall account of
“genocide” in the country of Darfur.
ICC Prosecutor found that the evidence in this emerging
first case, points to specific individuals who appear to
bear the greatest responsibility for war crimes and
crimes against humanity including persecution, torture,
murder, and rape.
This investigation will be finished soon, following some type
of action done by the ICC.
Case against Central African
Republic
On April 13, 2006 the Court of Cassation of the Central
African Republic investigating charges or murder and
rape committed by former President Ange-Felix Patasse
and Congolese Vice-President Jean-Pierre Bemba.
The allegations against Bemba from when his Movements
for the Liberation of Congo rebel army was invited by
Patasse to fight rebels who were fighting against
Patasse.
Also, given were the cases of a French policeman and two
aides of Patasse who were all involved in the alleged
crimes, which human rights groups allege had about 400
victims.
Again, no action has been made in this case legally.
The U.S. and the ICC.
As of today, the US is not a party in the ICC.
Although, the US is a part of the UN, this
does not make them have to be part of
the ICC.
The public polls showed in 2005 that 69%
of American citizens supported the U.S.
involvement in the ICC.
Why not the ICC and US?
The US passed a Protection Act, called the American Servicemembers’
Protection Act, which included provisions against providing military
aid to those countries which had ratified the treaty of establishing
the court (ICC included)
This also included a a number of Bilateral Immunity Agreements (BIAs,
also known as "Article 98 Agreements") with a number of countries,
prohibiting the surrender to the ICC of a broad scope of persons
including current or former government officials, military personnel,
and U.S. employees (including non-national contractors) and
nationals. As of 2 August 2006, the US Department of State
reported that it had signed 101 of these agreements.[61] The
United States has cut aid to many countries which have refused to
sign BIAs
Rumors?
There also has been a rumor of possible
“genocide” arguments against Secretary of
Defense Donald Rumsfeld, do to the Iraq
situation and if part of the ICC, he could
be charged.
This is not proven nor stated in any
documents but has been brought up.
ICC in all
This shows the positives of the ICC and what they
are doing for our world.
They are investigating and pursuing public and
international issues to try to make our world a
better place.
Though the ICC is not supported in many
countries, the United States included, it does not
mean that it is not needed for our world to run.