The International Criminal Court: a backgrounder The
International Criminal Court (ICC), was established as the first
permanent independent international criminal court with
jurisdiction over persons for the most serious crimes of concern
to the international community. This jurisdiction, however, will
be complementary to national criminal jurisdiction. The ICC was
created by the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court
which was adopted on July 17, 1998 and came into force on July
1, 2002. Currently there are 110 countries that are State
Parties to the Rome Statute. The ICC is intended to prosecute
the following crimes: (a) The crime of genocide; (b) Crimes
against humanity; (c) War crimes; (d) The crime of aggression.
The ICC is a permanent, independent criminal court and not a
part of the United Nations system. The ICC is located in Hague,
Netherlands and unlike the ad hoc international criminal
tribunals such as ICTY and ICTR, the ICC is intended to be a
continuing permanent criminal tribunal.