Rome Statute makes the ICC complementary to national courts

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...

Article 27 provides that official capacity, including that of a head of state or government, does not exempt a person from criminal responsibility before the Court. The rule rejects status-based...

Article 16 permits the Security Council to defer an investigation or prosecution for renewable 12-month periods under Chapter VII. The provision connected the Court to a political body in which five...

Senegal deposited the first instrument of ratification, signaling early African support for a permanent court. The milestone complicates accounts that treat Africa only as the object of ICC action:...

The signature period ended with 139 signatories. A signature did not equal ratification. The United States signed on the final day under President Bill Clinton, but did not submit the treaty for...

Ten states deposited ratifications in a coordinated ceremony, bringing the total to 66 and triggering the treaty’s entry into force. The Court’s jurisdiction would generally apply only to crimes...

The Rome Statute entered into force, establishing the ICC as the first permanent treaty-based international criminal court. Its role is complementary: national jurisdictions retain primary...

The Assembly of States Parties held its first session and began establishing the Court’s budgetary, administrative and oversight arrangements. Member states became the institution’s principal...