Overview of the International Criminal Court

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Introduction
The International Criminal Court (ICC) is the permanent court made for the main purpose of dealing with criminal acts committed by individuals amongst a state in a bit to tamper with the territorial integrity of the state. The ICC has prosecuted altogether … cases; of which are war crimes, - are crimes against humanity, - concern crimes of aggression and – (few) were prosecuted for genocide. Dividing the essay into the four main crimes commonly known as the elements of crimes, the essay will discuss the origin of the ICC’s jurisdiction over these crimes. To start, it will give a short introduction to who the ICC is and their jurisdiction over the elements of crimes listed in the Rome Statute of the ICC. Under each element of crime will be a critical explanation of when the court got jurisdiction and when the court started exercising its jurisdiction as well as (if any) problems faced concerning having jurisdiction.
Who is the ICC?
After the creation of the Nuremberg and Tokyo tribunals, proposals had risen in the Geneva Convention of 1948 for the creation of a permanent court that will deal with international crimes at an international level but its creation was not accepted or received by the cold war era. Shortly after the terrorist attack on the United States in 2001, the Rome conference 1998 accepted the Rome Statute that will guide the ICC alongside some treaties and in July 2002 the ICC came into force. Under the Rome Statute which is the (governing book that guide the court), the ICC is known as a permanent judicial body created by a treaty and known to help nations punish crimes that are committed against their territorial integrity and are of great concern to the international world such as genocide, crimes a...

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...sdiction-of-the-international-crime-of-aggression/, [Accessed 02nd April, 2014]
• Davis C et al, 2011, The Crime of Aggression and the International Criminal Court, National Legal Eagle, Vol. 1, 1 (4), Available at: http://www.iccnow.org/documents/agression.pdf, [Accessed 02nd April, 2014]
• Liechtenstein and the Global Institute for the Prevention of Aggression, 2014 , Definition of crime of aggression, http://crimeofaggression.info/role-of-the-icc/definition-of-the-crime-of-aggression/, [Accessed 02nd April, 2014]

JOURNALS
• Scharf M, 2012, Universal Jurisdiction and the crime of aggression, 53, 3 (2), Harvard International Law Journal, Available at: [Accessed 02nd April, 2014]
• Hwang P, 1998, Fordham International Law Journal, 22 (2), Art 5, Available at: http://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1594&context=ilj, [Accessed 02nd April, 2014]

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