Vol. 5 No. 4 (2021)
Articles

The Road towards Establishment of Permanent International Criminal Court

Published 2021-12-23

Abstract

It is generally agreed that International law is based on the consent of states. In other words, states, and the Intergovernmental organizations are the main units of International law, which thus governs the communication between the states as legitimate actors. However, in rare instances, a natural person may become a subject of International Law. In other words, International Law directs rules that apply to real persons as well. International Criminal Law is a body of law that generates rules that govern certain acts committed by real persons. With the exception of these rules, a real person’s acts are generally governed by national laws.

Initial attempts to create a permanent International Criminal Court (ICC) in the 1990s were made by the International Law Commission (ILC). But, the ILC’s concrete efforts and consecutive proposals were weakened by the UN General Assembly, which  rather than calling for a multilateral diplomatic conference, decided to establish an ad hoc committee that would be charged with studying the issue further. This was especially shocking and disappointing for a select group of NGOs that had been following the deliberations concerning creating an ICC. This Research paper discusses the road towards establishment of International Criminal Court.