The International Criminal Court: seeking global justice.

• Author: Moreno-Ocampo, Luis
• Position: International Conference in Commemoration of the Sixtieth Anniversary of the Negotiation of the Genocide Convention

INTRODUCTION

The Rome Statute is an innovative legal design, a twenty-first century institution modeled to address the threats and challenges of the twenty-first century. The Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) must apply this new law and make daily decisions on new operational standards. To that purpose, he must maintain a continuous dialogue with academic communities.

This essay tackles the wide prospects opened by the Rome Treaty, and addresses the nature of the interactions among the Court, states, and international organizations.

1. THE ROME STATUTE'S INNOVATIONS CONCERNING THE INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM

   The goal of the Rome Statute is to end the impunity for the most serious crimes of international concern--genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes--and to contribute to the prevention of such crimes, (1) To achieve its goal, the Rome Statute created a novel system of interaction among States, international organizations, and a permanent international criminal court supported by an emerging global civil society. (2) States not only committed to applying this law within their own borders, but they also agreed to participate in a novel system of international cooperation. They committed themselves to supporting a permanent ICC, whenever and wherever the Court decides to intervene. The Rome Statute is more than a Court; it created a global criminal justice system.

   The ICC model took over a century to develop. In 1873, Louis Gabriel Gustave Moynier, the Swiss lawyer who co-founded the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), proposed the creation of a permanent and impartial international criminal court. He noted that

   [a] treaty was not a law imposed by a superior authority on its subordinates ... [but] only a contract whose signatories cannot decree penalties against themselves since there would be no one to implement them. The only reasonable guarantee should lie in the creation of international jurisdiction with the necessary power to compel obedience. (3) Despite his efforts, the world witnessed the horror of three genocides--in the Holocaust, the Former Yugoslavia, and Rwanda--before the international community decided to create ad hoc international tribunals to address those crimes.

   Finally, in 1998, countries from all the continents actively participated in the elaboration of a new and comprehensive body of law: the Rome Statute. Substantive law was codified in one detailed text, and different legal and procedural traditions integrated into a new international model. The duties of the states, the complementarity system, and the conditions to trigger the jurisdiction of the Court were well-defined. (4) In 1998, a global criminal justice system was at last established.

2. THE INTERACTION BETWEEN THE COURT, STATES, AND INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS

   After five years of operations, the time has come to take a look at this new system from a wider point of view. The Office of the Prosecutor (OTP) opened investigations in four situations and collected evidence against those most responsible for massive crimes. The Judges issued ten arrest warrants, held one confirmation of charges hearing, and the Court's first trial is about to begin. The ICC has made the law a working system and is driving other actors, such as states, international organizations, and global civil society, to new and demanding challenges.

   Since the Court entered into operation, the number of states parties has continued to grow. It has grown from the required sixty to enter into force to 106 state parties, Madagascar being the most recent addition. (5) This number of ratifications helped to harmonize the work of the ICC with the United Nations and other international organizations, such as the African Union, the European Union, the Organization of American States, and the Arab League. U.N. Security Council Resolution 1593, referring the Darfur case to the Prosecutor, confirmed this recognition, which is even more remarkable because the recognition included the decision of non-state parties. (6)

   Additionally, more than forty states have now passed some form of legislation implementing the ICC rules and bringing their domestic laws into conformity with their international obligations, (7) Implementing legislation strengthens the interaction between States and the ICC, and contributes to ending the culture of impunity by condemning these crimes with a louder, more unified voice. In Colombia, the Rome Statute's provisions influenced legislation and proceedings against paramilitary forces. One of the most interesting achievements of the Rome Statute is that armies around the world are adjusting their regulations to avoid the possibility of committing acts falling under ICC jurisdiction. National prosecutions for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and other crimes connected with these atrocities now occur all over the world.

   Political leaders and negotiators in the context of international conflicts are learning--not without reluctance--to manage international conflicts and to demobilize violent groups, thereby respecting the new framework established by the Rome Statute. There are continuous discussions on how to execute the arrest warrants of individuals protected by their own governments or by their own armies. An emerging global civil society, especially nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) from different regions of the world under the auspices of the Coalition for the ICC, have been deeply involved in these activities. The Court's operations are starting to create a new global dynamic.

3. THE IMPORTANT ROLE OF INTERNATIONAL ACADEMIA WITHIN THE NEW GLOBAL CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM

   The involvement of academic communities will be invaluable in the analysis of this new system, particularly in introducing new theoretical frameworks to explain a jurisdiction that reaches beyond any national or regional boundary, and in defining how the Rome Statute integrates sovereign states...