Answer:
The International Criminal Court (“the ICC” or “the Court”) is a permanent international court
established to investigate, prosecute and try individuals accused of committing the most serious
crimes of concern to the international community as a whole, namely the crime of genocide, crimes
against humanity, war crimes and the crime of aggression.
Some of the most heinous crimes were committed during the conflicts which marked the twentieth
century. Unfortunately, many of these violations of international law have remained unpunished. The
Nuremberg and Tokyo tribunals were established in the wake of the Second World War. In 1948, when
the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide was adopted, the United
Nations General Assembly recognised the need for a permanent international court to deal with the
kinds of atrocities which had just been perpetrated.
The idea of a system of international criminal justice re-emerged after the end of the Cold War.
However, while negotiations on the ICC Statute were underway at the United Nations, the world was
witnessing the commission of heinous crimes in the territory of the former Yugoslavia and in Rwanda.
In response to these atrocities, the United Nations Security Council established an ad hoc tribunal for
each of these situations.
These events undoubtedly had a most significant impact on the decision to convene the conference
which established the ICC in Rome in the summer of 1998
