It is the first and only permanent international court with jurisdiction to prosecute individuals for the international crimes of genocide , crimes against humanity , war crimes , and the crime of aggression.
Established in pursuant to the multilateral Rome Statute , the ICC is considered by its proponents to be a major step toward justice, [ 2 ] and an innovation in international law and human rights. The Court has faced a number of criticisms. Some governments have refused to recognize the court's assertion of jurisdiction, with other civil groups also accusing the court of bias, Eurocentrism and racism. The establishment of an international tribunal to judge political leaders accused of international crimes was first proposed during the Paris Peace Conference in following the First World War by the Commission of Responsibilities.
Following the Second World War , the allied powers established two ad hoc tribunals to prosecute Axis leaders accused of war crimes. Benjamin B. Ferencz , an investigator of Nazi war crimes after World War II and the Chief Prosecutor for the United States Army at the Einsatzgruppen trial , became a vocal advocate of the establishment of international rule of law and of an international criminal court.
Robinson , revived the idea of a permanent international criminal court by proposing the creation of tribunal to address the illegal drug trade. While work began on the draft, the UN Security Council established two ad hoc tribunals in the early s: The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia , created in in response to large-scale atrocities committed by armed forces during the Yugoslav Wars , and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda , created in following the Rwandan genocide.
The creation of these tribunals further highlighted to many the need for a permanent international criminal court. In , the ILC presented its final draft statute for the International Criminal Court to the General Assembly and recommended that a conference be convened to negotiate a treaty that would serve as the Court's statute. To consider major substantive issues in the draft statute, the General Assembly established the Ad Hoc Committee on the Establishment of an International Criminal Court, which met twice in In January , the Bureau and coordinators of the Preparatory Committee convened for an Inter-Sessional meeting in Zutphen in the Netherlands to technically consolidate and restructure the draft articles into a draft.
