About

• • The International Criminal Court is a permanent judicial body established by the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court .
  • The ICC investigates and tries individuals charged with the most serious crimes of concern to the international community such as genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crimes of aggression.
    • Crimes Against Humanity: It includes murder, extermination, torture, rape, sexual offences, persecution, and other inhumane acts intentionally causing great suffering, or serious injury to the body or to mental or physical health when committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against a civilian population pursuant to or in furtherance of a state or organizational policy.
    • War Crimes: It includes grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions in the context of armed conflict, and include wilful killing or torture of civilians or prisoners of war, extensive unlawful destruction and appropriation of property not justified by military necessity and so on.

• Based at: The Hague, Netherlands

• It is a court of last resort and seeks to complement, not replace, national courts. It prosecutes cases only when states are unwilling or unable to do so. 
• This principle of complementarity is from the Rome Statute.
• Currently, 124 countries are Parties to the Rome Statute. (India isn’t a party).
• The ICC does have jurisdiction over crimes committed by nationals of both State Parties and non-state Parties on the territory of a State Party.

Are ICC’s decisions binding?

• The ICC’s decisions are binding. However, it relies on the cooperation of States for support, particularly for making arrests and transferring the arrested individuals to the ICC detention centre, for freezing assets, and enforcing sentences.

Sources

• https://www.icc-cpi.int/asp