Thomas Lubanga transferred to ICC custody

The Assembly of States Parties elected Argentine jurist Luis Moreno Ocampo as the first Prosecutor. His office would decide which situations to investigate within the jurisdiction conferred by the...

The Prosecutor opened an investigation after the DRC referred its situation. The first ICC case concerned recruitment and use of child soldiers by Thomas Lubanga. The case demonstrated the Court’s...

Following Uganda’s self-referral, the Prosecutor opened the Court’s first investigation, focused on the Lord’s Resistance Army. The referral enabled ICC action but narrowed the initial focus toward...

UN Security Council Resolution 1593 referred the situation in Darfur to the Court, the first such referral. Sudan was not a Rome Statute party. The referral extended jurisdiction but exempted...

The Court unsealed warrants for five senior LRA figures, including Joseph Kony. The warrants marked the Court’s first arrest requests. Their practical force depended on governments capturing and...

Pre-Trial Chamber I confirmed charges of conscripting, enlisting and using children under 15 in hostilities. This was the first confirmation of charges in ICC history. The Court’s narrow charge...

The Prosecutor applied for a warrant against Sudan’s sitting president on genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes allegations. The request brought head-of-state immunity, Security Council...

The judges issued a warrant for al-Bashir on crimes against humanity and war crimes charges. It was the first ICC warrant against a sitting head of state. The Court’s dependence on states to arrest...

The AU Assembly decided that member states would not cooperate with the ICC request to arrest al-Bashir, arguing that the Security Council had failed to respond to its request for a deferral and...

Pre-Trial Chamber II authorized an investigation into alleged crimes against humanity following the Prosecutor’s proprio motu request. This was the Court’s first situation opened without a state or...