Prosecutor requests arrest warrant for Sudan’s Omar al-Bashir

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...

DRC authorities transferred Lubanga to The Hague, making him the first person detained by the ICC. His trial concerned conscripting and enlisting children under 15 and using them in hostilities. The...

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 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...

States Parties met for the first review conference, hosted in Uganda. Negotiations addressed the crime of aggression and reviewed implementation of the Statute. Holding the conference in an African...

States Parties adopted a definition of the crime of aggression and conditions for ICC jurisdiction. The amendments reflected long-standing demands to address leaders’ responsibility for unlawful...