History of the ICC and Sudan

The International Criminal Court (ICC) was born out of the desire to have a universal court that would try the most heinous and serious of crimes committed. It was established in order to provide the world with a court of last resort which would have the mandate of bringing to justice those suspected of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.

The ICC would be a permanent court which would replace the ad-hoc tribunals that have occurred after atrocities were committed, for example, the Nuremburg trials and the International Criminal Tribunals for Rwanda and Yugoslavia.

On 17 July 1998, 120 states adopted the Rome Statute. This statute provides the legal basis for the court and effectively established the Court. In early 2002, the required amount of 60 states then ratified the Statute of the International Criminal Court, and thus initiated the establishment of the ICC. The statute has since been ratified by a myriad of other states, so that today 106 states are party to the Court, including Britain.

The Court is sanctioned with the power to carry out trials if a member state’s judicial system proves unable, or unwilling to carry out the process. The Court is also authorised to take action if trials taking place in a nation state are deemed to be carried out solely for superficial functions and not with the aim of genuine prosecution. The ICC is an independent international organisation which is not affiliated with any state or organisation including the United Nations and is located at The Hague in the Netherlands.

In particular, the relationship between the ICC and the United States has been rather contentious. The US is controversially, although somewhat predictably opposed to the idea of the Court. It is not a member party and has remained sceptical about its activity. However, in the case of Sudan, the US seemingly put aside its reservations by abstaining from voting on Resolution 1593 rather than vetoing the move, although former US envoy to Sudan, Andrew Natsios has made his ‘reservations’ about the ICC clear on more than one occasion and the US has been keen to reiterate its status as a non-party state.