The International Criminal Court (ICC), based in The Hague in The Netherlands is the world's sole permanent court with the power to prosecute individuals for international crimes. These crimes include genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and crimes of aggression.
Typically, cases will advance to the ICC once they have cycled through local and national courts with no prosecution of crimes.
As of September 2021, 123 countries are signed on the Rome Statute, the binding legal treaty that enacted the creation of the court and serves as its legal guide. Israel signed on to the Statute on December 31, 2000, but its signature was never approved or accepted.
The Judicial Division is the body of lawmakers that hears cases, headed by the president. Cases are brought to the Judicial Division by the Prosecutor.
On March 3, 2021, then-ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda announced the opening of a full war crimes probe against Israel and Hamas, focusing on the Gaza wars in 2014 and 2018, as well as the launching of rockets by Hamas against Israeli civilians and the settlement enterprise.
Pena’s visit is centered on Paraguay’s moving its embassy to Jerusalem.
Legal systems must protect, not persecute, and in doing so, they will fulfill the promises made after the darkest days of the 20th century.
Center-right leaders push for global action on antisemitism, justice for Israel, and regional stability
The US State Department-backed research identified 314 Ukrainian children taken to Russia in the early months of the war in Ukraine.
How Palestinian manipulation and ICC bias led to arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant.
Tomoko Akane did not name the US and Russia, but she heavily implied that the countries' actions against the ICC were affecting the court's impartiality.
How Iran’s rulers use terror and deceit to spread instability across the Middle East.
If the ICC wants to prove its moral clarity, it must rescind its arrest warrants against Netanyahu and Gallant.
There is finally more powerful counterpressure to get public decisions on the cases to show that the Israeli legal system takes its probes of its own soldiers seriously.
It is a stark reminder of the challenges democracies face in countering evolving global threats.
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