The Importance Of The Roman Statue

2957 Words6 Pages

The International Criminal Court’s Roman Statue has many problems but has still managed to gain enough support to act as an international law making body. The International Criminal Court has obtained the support of over a hundred nations, but the unwillingness of the United States to join could jeopardize the effectiveness of the Court. The foundation of the International Criminal Court is set up in the Roman Statue, which was drafted by many countries at a conference in Rome. The Statue states what crimes the Court has jurisdiction over and it explains the structure of the Court. The Statue illustrates that the main goal of the International Criminal Court is to prosecute the most serious international crimes. It is questionable whether the Court is achieving this goal. The Roman Statue restricts the International Criminal Court from prosecuting many crimes because the Court has a strict time frame of when crimes can be tried and limits the amount of countries under its jurisdiction. The United States does not support the content of the Statue and has taken actions to omit themselves from its jurisdiction. These actions could stop the Court from successfully accomplishing their goal. The International Criminal Court is not an effective international organization because of the language of the Roman Statue and its inability to gain essential participation of the most influential nation in the world, the United States, who fears being prosecuted and cannot accept lack of control.
The creation of the International Criminal Court (ICC) was not the first attempt to create an international court. The first international trial can be traced back to 1474 when a war crime was tried by the Holy Roman Empire. In this case, a man named P...

... middle of paper ...

...ed States has too much impact on world affairs for an international organization to be prosperous without U.S. backing. This is why global organizations like the League of Nations failed. The U.S. is actively opposed to the ICC which makes it nearly impossible for it to be effective, efficient, and purposeful.
Flaws in the Roman Statute and lack of participation of the United States, one of the world’s most powerful and influential nations, prevent the International Criminal Court from reaching is goal of prosecuting the most serious international crimes. The ICC would be much more effective if it had U.S. support and made modifications to the Roman Statute, like adding the crimes of aggression, allowing more authority in jurisdiction, and becoming less dependent on State Parties. In the ICC’s current State it is ineffective and has little point in existing.

Open Document