International Criminal Court (ICC)
- ICC is an intergovernmental organization and international tribunal having headquarters at The Hague, Netherlands.
- 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
- crime of aggression.
- The ICC became operational in 2002, after the Rome Statute was put to force.
- The Rome Statute is a multilateral treaty that serves as the court's charter and governing document.
- As of March 2022, 123 countries are the member states of ICC.
- ICC serves as the "court of last resort" and exercise its jurisdiction only when national courts are unwilling or unable to prosecute criminals.
- It lacks universal territorial jurisdiction and can investigate or prosecute crimes committed within member states or cases referred to the Court by the United Nations Security Council.