Search: palestine icc

...countries referred the situation in Ukraine to the court’s prosecutor, Karim Khan, to open an investigation. These governments have been vocal in their support for the investigation from the start. Yet a year earlier, when the previous ICC prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, opened a Palestine investigation, there was deafening silence from ICC member countries, and at least two openly opposed the investigation. This was despite the grave nature of the many violations and the pervasive climate of impunity that made the ICC’s scrutiny of the situation necessary.   The United States has...

[Kate Vigneswaran is a Senior Legal Advisor with the International Commission of Jurists. She previously worked in the Immediate Office of the Prosecutor and OTP Appeals Division at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia. Melinda Taylor is currently acting as Lead Counsel for the Defence of Al Hassan Ag Abdoul Aziz Ag Mohamed Ag Mahmoud before the ICC, and has been engaged in Defence cases before the ICC since April 2006, including as Counsel in the Office of Public Counsel for the Defence. This post was written together to underscore...

...position. The implementation of that diversity should begin with the election of an African as the next Registrar of the ICC. The reasons for this are compelling. In June 2022, the ICC Presidency made public a shortlist of 12 candidates under consideration for the position of ICC Registrar. The candidates are all nationals of ICC member states with the breakdown by regional grouping as follows: Africa (4), Asia-Pacific (1), Latin American and Caribbean States-GRULAC (3) and Western European and Other States-WEOG (4). This announcement for a critical role in the...

example here and here). Moreover, the CSO Africa Legal Aid held a first retreat of 28 African ICC states parties in October 2024 to discuss a “crime of aggression regime that is both fair and legitimate”. A follow-up retreat took place in May 2025 “to solidify Africa’s stance on a crime of aggression regime devoid of inequity and double standards”. During the Assembly of States Parties both in 2023 and 2024, states affirmed their intention to undertake the review upcoming in July by consensus (ICC-ASP/22/Res.3(157); ICC-ASP/23/Res.1(161)). Since then, the ICC’s...

to the issue of complementarity between international and domestic reparation processes, finding that other reparation efforts are outside the scope of ICC proceedings (para. 52). As advocated by REDRESS and other organisations, positive complementarity to actively consider how ICC reparation orders could potentially be replicated or complemented by national efforts would foster a harmonious co-existence of the different existing processes. While the Chamber did not adopt a principle on positive complementarity, it at least recognised that ICC orders are not isolated from the broader context of reparation for victims of...

...by subordinates employing AI-driven targeting technologies. A Key Opportunity for the ICC to Engage with AI in warfare Although it remains speculative until charges are made public and (potentially) further attacks are charged, the arrests warrant for Netanyahu and Gallant could provide an opportunity for the ICC to engage with modern warfare. Whether and how the ICC will choose to grapple technological features of AI targeting systems is an open question. Will they engage with relevant technological aspects? How will the ICC acquire the necessary expertise to understand these? This...

ICC hearing within proximity to the victims or arguably in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. Surprisingly, the prospect of prosecution of these crimes before the Bangladeshi judicial forums failed to attract any serious attention to the date. According to the ICC Pre-Trial Chamber’s authorisation decision, the ICC is exercising its territorial jurisdiction over this situation only due to the fact that a part of conduct was arguably committed on the territory of Bangladesh, a State Party to the Rome Statute. As the ICC is mobilizing with its mandate of investigation and prosecution...

...the technological boundaries even further where Artificial Intelligence in the area of weapons systems become a practicable reality. Kai Ambos, in his Treatise on International Criminal Law, specified that the Rome Statute [hereinafter, ‘ICCSt.’]  does not make a reference to general omission liability because a consensus could not be reached by delegates during the deliberations over content of the ICCSt. Therefore, omission liability in the ICCSt. stays restricted to Art. 28 and some genuine crimes of omission (eg. starvation under Art. 8(2)(b)(xxv), ICCSt.). As a result, only in specific cases,...

ICC. Their investigation also addresses alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity by Taliban forces. Sanctioning ICC lawyers is also contrary to our longstanding national commitment to human rights, the rule of law, and accountability for those who commit atrocities. To stand against atrocities, while simultaneously opposing investigations of those who allegedly commit them, strains credibility. If the U.S. wishes to avoid ICC jurisdiction over Americans, our government can invoke its right to investigate alleged war crimes itself. Under the ICC Statute, that would bar ICC jurisdiction. This option remains...

Not surprisingly, I strongly disagree with Julian’s insistence that “the ICC really is now the obstacle to peace” in Uganda. To begin with, we need to give the ICC credit where credit is due: as Mark Leon Goldberg pointed out earlier today at the invaluable UN Dispatch, “[i]t was not until the ICC began its investigation and issued indictments that the LRA began to seek a peace agreement with the Ugandan government in good faith; the ICC indictments provided the critical leverage to get the peace process going.” I think...

thereby increase ICC jurisdiction under article 15bis, which, in turn, could also increase deterrence. The author stresses the importance of deterrence because activation of the 4th crime is not designed to generate ICC cases; in a perfect world, there will be no ICC crime of aggression cases to prosecute because deterrence has worked. Thus, while the decades of drafting work and negotiations are now finished, there is much remaining work to be accomplished regarding the ICC’s 4th crime. The path forward—resuming the long-dormant legacy of the Nuremberg Tribunal—is just beginning....

to the ICC System and effectively embrace an almost universal jurisdiction. Despite being sensitive to the victim’s cry for accountability, this was not what the ICC System was designed for. By not becoming a State Party, Turkey remains, however unsatisfactory this might seem to the victims, in some way, out of the ICC’s reach. The ICC treaty-based nature means it is in principle limited to adjudicate matters in relation to state parties. This harsh reality necessarily implies that some grave injustices and international crimes cannot be tried before the ICC....