Security Council establishes the Rwanda Tribunal

The UN General Assembly adopted the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. It recognized genocide as an international crime and called for an international penal...

The General Assembly affirmed that genocide and other international crimes required international prosecution and asked the International Law Commission to study a permanent criminal court....

Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister A.N.R. Robinson asked the UN General Assembly to consider an international court, initially to address international drug trafficking. The proposal reopened wider...

Security Council Resolution 827 established the ICTY after reports of grave violations in the former Yugoslavia. The ad hoc tribunal revived international criminal prosecutions, but its creation by...

The International Law Commission completed a draft statute for an international criminal court. Its work followed the atrocities in the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda, and helped shift the debate from a...

The General Assembly established a Preparatory Committee to produce a widely acceptable treaty text. Negotiations covered jurisdiction, complementarity, prosecutor independence, Security Council...

The General Assembly invited the International Law Commission to continue work on a draft code and a possible international criminal court. The work formed part of a longer, uneven effort to codify...

Delegates from 160 states, international organizations and civil society began the conference to negotiate a permanent criminal court. Newly independent and smaller states argued alongside major...

The Rome Statute was adopted by 120 votes to 7, with 21 abstentions. It created a permanent court with jurisdiction over genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes, later extended to aggression....

After adoption, the Rome Statute opened for signature. Signature expressed intent to consider ratification but did not itself make a state a party. Several powerful states later stayed outside the...