The ICC- International Criminal Court

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The ICC-International Criminal Court

• Who are they?
• What do they do?
• Wheres the U.S. in the ICC?

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What is the ICC?

• The ICC is the International Criminal Court
  established from the treaty of the Rome Statue
  signed in 1998.
• The Rome Statue is a treaty that was signed by 60
  parties (states) in which caused the ICC to be
  established.
• Today, 104 states world-wide are part of the ICC.

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United Nations Court?

• The ICC is not a part of the UN, although many of
  the same states are members.
• ICC is based out of the Netherlands, but has been
  or could easily based elsewhere.
• The ICC does work closely with the UN, but is not
  directly connected to the UN because there are
  states that are part of the UN and not the ICC.

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What is the court of the ICC made up of?

• The ICC is made up of four different organs
• 1)Presidency
• 2)Judicial Divisions
• 3)Office of the Prosecutor
• 4)Registry

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The Presidency itself

• This organ is responsible for administering the
  court with the exception of the Office of the
  Prosecutor and Registry.
• There are three judges elected to the ICC
  Presidency currently for a three year term.
• These three positions consist of President of
  the Court, First Vice-President, and Second Vice
  President.

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Who is your President, and what does he do?

• Judge Philippe Kirsch of Canada was elected in
  March of 2006, for a three year term as
  President.
• This Presidency is slightly like our
  Presidency is put together.
• They are the courts administrators for Court kind
  of like the U.S. President oversees our
  government.

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And in the line-up as number two and three..

• The two Vice-Presidents are placed first
  vice-president and second vice president going
  by
• First Vice- President Judge Akua Kuenyeahia of
  Ghana.
• Second Vice-President Judge Renè Blattmann of
  Bolivia.
• Both also given a term of three years.

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Kuenyehia-1st Vice
Blattmann- 2nd Vice
Kirsch- President
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And his chambers

• The chambers of the ICC consists of 14 judges
  besides the three judges of the Presidency.
• Each of these judges either have experience and
  competence in criminal law or international law.
• This chamber is split into groups equaling 10
  criminal law judges and 7 international law
  judges currently.

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And where in the world do they come from?

• These Judges come from various areas such as
  Canada, Ghana, Bolivia, Trinidad and Tobago,
  France, Cyprus, Costa Rica, South Africa,
  Republic of Korea, Italy, Ireland, Finland, Mali,
  Latvia, the UK, Brazil and Bulgaria.
• It is noticed that the judges are very sporadic
  in location and dont necessarily come from one
  continent or region.

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And. They do what in Pre-Trials?

• With Pre-trial Chambers- either one single judge
  or a three judge bench are assigned.
• This bench or single judge decides whether or not
  to authorize an investigation.
• Judges assigned to the Pre-Trial Chambers are as
  follows Kuenyhia (Ghana), Jorda (France), Kual
  (Germany), Politi (Italy), Diarra (Mali), Steiner
  (Brazil), and Trendafilova (Bulgaria).

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Goin to Trial.

• The next of the Chambers of the ICC is the Trial
  Division.
• The Trial Divisions job is to oversee the trial
  itself and determine the defendants innocence or
  guilt.
• Following the outcome, the Trial Division has the
  duty to sentence the guilty in imprisonment or
  monetary payment.

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Who decides destiny?

• The Judges which are included in the Trial
  Division are
• Blattmann (Bolivia), Hudson-Phillips (Trinadad
  and Tobago), Odio-Benito (Costa Rica), Harding
  Clark (Ireland), Usacka (Latvia) and Fulford (the
  UK).
• Trial Division are also only made up of three
  judges at a time making up the Trial Chamber.

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You appeal what?

• The last division is the Appeals Division.
• This consists of primarily of judges that are
  experienced and competent in international law.
• The Appeals Division main duty is decide whether
  or not a procedural error, error of the law,
  error in fact or any other problems that would
  cause an unfair trial have been made and if it is
  means to reverse the judgment or redo the whole
  trial again.

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I find you quite appealing

• The Judges which are included in the Appeals
  Court are
• Kircsh (Canada), Pikis (Cyprus), Pillay (South
  Africa), Song (Republic of Korea), and Kourula
  (Finland).
• All five judges are to take part in each appeals
  case they receive.

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To make it work

• Like all of us know, we need some prosecution to
  work in the power of the ICC, therefore there is
  a division of Prosecutors.
• These Prosecutors work to help the ICCs case be
  argued through out the trial period.

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Whos prosecuting?

• The head Prosecutor is Mr. Luis Moreno-Ocampo of
  Argentina as first Chief Prosecutor of the Court.
• His job is to be the representative in court.
• He is helped out by two Deputy Prosecutors, Mr.
  Serge Brammertz of Belgium as Deputy Prosecutor
  of the Court. Mr. Brammertz is in charge of the
  Investigations Division of the Office of the
  Prosecutor, along with Mrs. Fatou Bensouda of the
  Gambia who was elected Deputy Prosecutor by the
  Assembly of States Parties. She is in charge of
  the Prosecution Division of the Office of the
  Prosecutor.

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How do they do what they do?

• The chief prosecutor starts an investigation once
  a referral comes through about a possible crime
  committed.
• These referrals may come from the Security
  Council of the UN.
• Before the investigation is put into action, it
  goes to the Pre-Trial Chamber Judges to authorize
  the investigation.

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Where do referrals come from?

• Referrals can come from one of four places
• A state party referral
• A country part of the ICC
• The UN Security Council
• ICC Prosecutor

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Registry

• The Registry is responsible for the non-judicial
  aspects of the administration and servicing of
  the Court and is headed by the Registrar who is
  the principal administrative officer of the
  Court, elected by secret ballot by an absolute
  majority of judges meeting in plenary session.
• Registry is responsible for the administration of
  legal aid matters, court management, victims and
  witnesses matters, defense counsel, detention
  unit, and the traditional services provided by
  administrations in international organizations,
  such as finance, translation, building
  management, procurement and personnel.
• The current Registrar is Mr. Bruno Cathala
  (France) since June of 2003

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Now we know who, but what do they do??

• Now we know who does all the work for the ICC and
  what each job is doing, what is the ICC concerned
  about?
• The ICC is a court that tries serious crimes
  which include, war crimes, genocide, crimes
  against humanity, and crimes against
  international concern.
• There is a 98 page document that gives the
  procedural steps and actions that the ICC must
  take to consider each time a crime committed. It
  also includes what each job duty includes.

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Cases that the ICC deals with

• Like the Security Council of the UN, the ICC
  deals with the same problems and issues.
• As of November of 2006, 1700 possible crimes have
  been reported to the Prosecutor of the ICC, from
  close to 139 different countries.
• Unfortunately, 80 of the reports are outside the
  ICCs jurisdiction.

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Cases Being Dealt With.

• There are currently only three cases pending on
  the ICCs case load but one is being considered
  at this time. (Central African Republic)
• These cases are not working at a quick pace and
  have been open, some from before December of
  2003.
• As it can be seen, the ICC cannot quickly move
  through these cases and move to the next.

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Case of Uganda

• Ugandas official government referred the Lords
  Resistance Army (LRA) of Northern Uganda to the
  ICC.
• The Lords Resistance Army is a Christian
  terrorist group in Northern Uganda that is in
  rebellion against the official government of
  Uganda.
• The issues of concern for the LRA consist of
  human rights violations, mutilation, torture,
  rape, the abduction of civilians, and the use of
  child soldiers and massacres.

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LRA ---

• December of 2003, the referral to the ICC from
  President Yoweri Museveni to bring the LRA to the
  attention of the ICC.
• Pre-trial Chambers decide to let Prosecutors
  start investigation on LRA.
• LRA causing night commutes for children ages
  3-17, walking up to 12 miles a night to larger
  towns in search of safety.
• Because of the large amount of children in search
  of safety, they come in such large quantities
  that they are forced to sleep in extremely
  overcrowded areas.

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Latest Developments

• Warrants for arrest of five LRA members announced
  on July 8th and September 27th of 2005.

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Warrants against..Joseph Kony- Leader of the LRA

• The warrant of arrest for Joseph Kony lists
  thirty-three counts on the basis of his
  individual criminal responsibility including
• Twelve counts of crimes against humanity (murder,
  enslavement, sexual enslavement, rape, inhumane
  acts of inflicting serious bodily injury and
  suffering,)
• and
• one counts of war crimes (murder, cruel
  treatment of civilians, intentionally directing
  an attack against a civilian population,
  pillaging inducing rape, forced enlisting of
  children.)

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4 others

• There are also 4 other persons with warrants out
  for their arrest due to similar charges to Kony.
• Arrests have yet to be made.

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Cases against Republic of the Congo

• The Case against the Republic of the Congo is not
  again the country itself, but Thomas Lubanga of
  the country.
• Lubanga was the former leader of the Union of
  Congolese Patriots.
• A sealed (private) warrant for his arrest was
  declared in February of 2006.
• Reason for warrant war crime of using children
  soldiers.
• Lubanga was arrested that same day and brought to
  ICC headquarters.
• It is to be believed that Lubanga will be the
  first to be tried in the ICC courtroom.

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Case against Darfur

• Investigation has taken place in Darfur but no
  real solutions or action has taken place from the
  ICC.
• ICC Prosecutor is nearly finished with the
  investigation of Darfur, originally referred
  because of attacks of governmental buildings
  along with an overall account of genocide in
  the country of Darfur.
• ICC Prosecutor found that the evidence in this
  emerging first case, points to specific
  individuals who appear to bear the greatest
  responsibility for war crimes and crimes against
  humanity including persecution, torture, murder,
  and rape.
• This investigation will be finished soon,
  following some type of action done by the ICC.

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Case against Central African Republic

• On April 13, 2006 the Court of Cassation of the
  Central African Republic investigating charges or
  murder and rape committed by former President
  Ange-Felix Patasse and Congolese Vice-President
  Jean-Pierre Bemba.
• The allegations against Bemba from when his
  Movements for the Liberation of Congo rebel army
  was invited by Patasse to fight rebels who were
  fighting against Patasse.
• Also, given were the cases of a French policeman
  and two aides of Patasse who were all involved in
  the alleged crimes, which human rights groups
  allege had about 400 victims.
• Again, no action has been made in this case
  legally.

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The U.S. and the ICC.

• As of today, the US is not a party in the ICC.
• Although, the US is a part of the UN, this does
  not make them have to be part of the ICC.
• The public polls showed in 2005 that 69 of
  American citizens supported the U.S. involvement
  in the ICC.

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Why not the ICC and US?

• The US passed a Protection Act, called the
  American Servicemembers Protection Act, which
  included provisions against providing military
  aid to those countries which had ratified the
  treaty of establishing the court (ICC included)
• This also included a a number of Bilateral
  Immunity Agreements (BIAs, also known as "Article
  98 Agreements") with a number of countries,
  prohibiting the surrender to the ICC of a broad
  scope of persons including current or former
  government officials, military personnel, and
  U.S. employees (including non-national
  contractors) and nationals. As of 2 August 2006,
  the US Department of State reported that it had
  signed 101 of these agreements.61 The United
  States has cut aid to many countries which have
  refused to sign BIAs

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Rumors?

• There also has been a rumor of possible
  genocide arguments against Secretary of Defense
  Donald Rumsfeld, do to the Iraq situation and if
  part of the ICC, he could be charged.
• This is not proven nor stated in any documents
  but has been brought up.

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ICC in all

• This shows the positives of the ICC and what they
  are doing for our world.
• They are investigating and pursuing public and
  international issues to try to make our world a
  better place.
• Though the ICC is not supported in many
  countries, the United States included, it does
  not mean that it is not needed for our world to
  run.