About ICC

• The International Criminal Court (ICC) is a permanent judicial body established by the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (1998).
• It is an independent judicial body distinct from the UN.
• ICC investigates and tries individuals charged with the gravest crimes of concern to the international community: genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and the crime of aggression.
• The ICC was established as a court of last resort to prosecute the most heinous offenses in cases where national courts fail to act.
• It is headquartered in The Hague, Netherlands .

Membership

• Only those who ratified the Rome Statute are parties to ICC.
• 123 countries are States Parties to the Rome Statute of the ICC.
• Prominent  countries that are not members include China, India, Iraq, Libya, Yemen, Qatar, Israel, USA and Russia.

Jurisdiction

• The ICC can open an investigation into possible crimes in one of three ways: 
  • a member country can refer a situation within its own territory to the court; 
  • the UN Security Council can refer a situation; or 
  • the prosecutor can launch an investigation into a member state proprio motu, or “on one’s own initiative.” 
• The court can investigate individuals from non-member states if the alleged offenses took place in a member state’s territory, if the nonmember state accepts the court’s jurisdiction, or with the Security Council’s authorization.

Comparison of ICC and ICJ

Why in News?

• The U.S. announced sanctions, including asset freezes and visa bans against two officials of the International Criminal Court for an investigation into alleged war crimes by U.S. forces and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in Afghanistan since 2003. 
• Announcing the decision, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called the ICC a “thoroughly broken and corrupted institution”, threatening that the U.S. will not tolerate the ICC’s illegitimate attempts to subject Americans to its jurisdiction. 
• In particular, Mr. Pompeo pointed out that the U.S. had never ratified the “Rome Statute”, which created the ICC in 1998, and thus was not subject to its rulings.

Global response

• The U.S. decision has been criticised by the UN, the EU, 10 members of the UN Security Council, including the U.K. and France, as well as several international human rights agencies, all of which have called for the sanctions to be reversed. 
• According to them, the U.S.’s action was a setback to the international rules-based multilateral order, and the decision to sanction anybody assisting the ICC will deter victims of violence in Afghanistan from speaking out. 

India and ICC

• Although the U.S. was part of the founding movement to build the ICC to try cases of genocide and war crime, especially after the courts in Rwanda failed, it decided not to ratify the Statute in 2002. 
• Countries like Russia, China and India, however, were never in favour of the Rome Statute or the ICC, and never signed on.
• For India, the decision was based on a number of principles. The ICC is a criminal court, unlike the International Court of Justice (which adjudicates on civil matters), and arrogates to itself the right to prosecute matters against countries that aren’t even signatories. 
• India said that the Statute gave to the UN Security Council a role in terms that violates international law by giving the power to refer cases to the ICC, the power to block such references and the power to bind non-State parties to such decisions. 
• India also objected to the omission of cross-border terror, use of nuclear arms and weapons of mass destruction from the areas the ICC would institute its investigations.

What are the concerns?

• While the U.S.’s concerns about the ICC are shared by India and other countries that weren’t signatories, the U.S. action is seen as another blow to multilateralism. 
• In the last few years, the U.S. has walked out of several UN agencies and international agreements, including the Human Rights Council, UNESCO, the Paris climate change agreement and the Iran nuclear accord. 
• Particularly at a time the U.S. accuses China of disregarding international norms in the South China Sea and other areas, and of human rights violations in Xinjiang and Tibet, the U.S.’s pushback over the ICC’s case in Afghanistan seems counterproductive.

Reference:

1. https://www.thehindu.com/news/international/international-criminal-court-the-transnational-arm-of-law/article32532312.ece