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Int'l Criminal Court

@IntlCrimCourt

 

⚖️ Even in the most challenging times, the #ICC remains steadfast in its mission: to bring justice to the victims of the most serious crimes of concern to the international community. Learn more about the #ICCProcess ➡️https://icc-cpi.pulse.ly/d6u8taynjm

 

How the Court works

The crimes

The Court's founding treaty, called the Rome Statute, grants the ICC jurisdiction over four main crimes.

First, the crime of genocide is characterised by the specific intent to destroy in whole or in part a national, ethnic, racial or religious group by killing its members or by other means: causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; or forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.

Second, the ICC can prosecute crimes against humanity, which are serious violations committed as part of a large-scale attack against any civilian population. The 15 forms of crimes against humanity listed in the Rome Statute include offences such as murder, rape, imprisonment, enforced disappearances, enslavement – particularly of women and children, sexual slavery, torture, apartheid and deportation.

Third, war crimes which are grave breaches of the Geneva conventions in the context of armed conflict and include, for instance, the use of child soldiers; the killing or torture of persons such as civilians or prisoners of war; intentionally directing attacks against hospitals, historic monuments, or buildings dedicated to religion, education, art, science or charitable purposes.

Finally, the fourth crime falling within the ICC's jurisdiction is the crime of aggression. It is the use of armed force by a State against the sovereignty, integrity or independence of another State. The definition of this crime was adopted through amending the Rome Statute at the first Review Conference of the Statute in Kampala, Uganda, in 2010.

On 15 December 2017, the Assembly of States Parties adopted by consensus a resolution on the activation of the jurisdiction of the Court over the crime of aggression as of 17 July 2018.

See The Rome Statute and Elements of Crimes

https://www.icc-cpi.int/about/how-the-court-works

 

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Ten key facts about the legal process

Further to the Key Features listed above, here are some of the basics you may want to know:

• The ICC does not prosecute those under the age of 18 when a crime was committed.
• Before the Prosecutor can investigate, he must conduct a preliminary examination considering such matters as sufficient evidence, jurisdiction, gravity, complementarity, and the interests of justice.
• When investigating, the Prosecutor must collect and disclose both incriminating and exonerating evidence.
• The defendant is considered innocent until proven guilty. The burden of proof lies with the Prosecutor.
• During all stages of proceedings (Pre-Trial, Trial and Appeals), the defendant has the right to information in a language he or she fully understands, thus the ICC proceedings are conducted in multiple languages, with teams of interpreters and translators at work.
• Pre-Trial judges issue warrants of arrest and ensure there is enough evidence before a case can go to trial.
• Before a case is committed to trial (during the Pre-Trial phase), the defendant is referred to as a suspect. Once the case is committed to trial, since at that point the charges have been confirmed, the defendant is referred to as the accused.
• Trial judges hear the evidence from the Prosecutor, Defence, and the Victims’ lawyers, render a verdict, and if a person is found guilty, the sentence and decision on reparations.
• Appeals judges render decisions on appeals from the Prosecutor or Defence.
• If a case is closed without a verdict of guilt, it can be reopened if the Prosecutor presents new evidence.

Washington’s imposition of sanctions and travel restrictions on the ICC Prosecutor, judges, and deputy prosecutors due to their work on cases involving US and Israeli officials is a blatant interference in the independence of international justice

The International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague. 7 March 2025. (Bence Árpási via Alamy)

"The United States should stop its efforts to dismantle the Court and lift any financial sanctions and travel restrictions imposed on its judges, prosecutors, and associates. EU member states and other allies need to work together to implement legal, financial, and technical strategies that protect the Court and its personnel from sanctions and political influence, so it can continue to utilise the necessary services and resources to fulfil its responsibilities." 

Successive withdrawals, sanctions, and impunity for wanted individuals drive escalating campaign to undermine ICC 

Geneva — The coordinated actions to dismantle the International Criminal Court (ICC) and hinder its jurisdiction are deeply troubling and signal a dangerous path forward. This trend has become apparent with Venezuela and Chad announcing plans to withdraw from the Rome Statute. This occurs alongside clear US incitement efforts against the Court, including sanctions on its officials, and the European state parties’ lack of substantial action on arrest warrants for Israeli officials.

These actions risk undermining the international criminal justice system and depriving victims of international crimes of one of the few remaining accountability mechanisms, thereby entrenching impunity for perpetrators and providing political and legal cover for ongoing grave violations of international law.

Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor expresses deep concern over the Chadian government’s announcement that it has begun the process of withdrawing from the ICC. This comes shortly after Venezuela notified the United Nations of its withdrawal, following similar notifications from Niger, Mali, and Burkina Faso. These actions indicate a concerning trend of countries moving away from the Rome Statute, both within and outside Africa... READ MORE https://euromedmonitor.org/en/article/7086/Successive-withdrawals,-sanctions,-and-impunity-for-wanted-individuals-drive-escalating-campaign-to-undermine-ICC

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Why does the US want to ‘dismantle’ the international criminal court? Marco Rubio has offered nonsensical rationale in attacking the court. The Trump administration’s real goal is impunity

‘What worries Trump officials most is the prospect that territorial jurisdiction could be used to prosecute them.’ Photograph: Graeme Sloan/Pool/Graeme Sloan - Pool/CNP/Shutterstock

Kenneth Roth in The Guardian

Opinion   International criminal court 

Thu 16 Jul 2026 05.00 EDT

With the pointless war of choice in Iran going poorly, the Trump administration has declared a virtual war on the international criminal court (ICC). Secretary of state, Marco Rubio, vowed on Monday to “dismantle” the court as a supposed threat to US sovereignty. His rationale is laced with sophistry. The administration’s real goal is to secure impunity for war crimes, even those committed on the territory of ICC member states.

In a Wall Street Journal op-ed and a video posted on X, Rubio conjures up a dystopia in which local American officials such as police officers or border patrol agents “could be dragged before an international court, tried by judges from random countries across the globe, found guilty under international laws we neither consent to nor control, and then imprisoned thousands of miles from America”.

This is utter fiction. The ICC has no jurisdiction over crimes committed in the United States. Unless Donald Trump were to start deploying police officers or border patrol agents abroad, the ICC would have no capacity to charge or prosecute them.

Nor can the US government claim not to have consented to the laws applied by the court. They are drawn from treaties such as the genocide convention and the Geneva conventions and protocols that the US government has either ratified or incorporated into its military manuals. Is it really un-American to outlaw genocide? ... READ MORE  https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/jul/16/international-criminal-court-marco-rubio

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Trump’s sanctions against a UN human rights expert show free speech is dying: Francesca Albanese recommended ICC arrests and investigations over Gaza. Who will be the administration’s next target?

‘Trump’s retribution against Albanese should concern far more than those focused on Israel’s human rights record.’ Photograph: Fabrice Coffrini/AFP/Getty Images

Sandra L Babcock, Susan M Akram, Asli Bali, Thomas Becker and James Cavallaro

Tue 24 Mar 2026

We are North American university professors and human rights lawyers who teach, write, and speak about the human rights of people around the world, including Palestinians living in the occupied West Bank and Gaza. In a country that purports to value democracy and human rights, we never imagined that we could face civil penalties or imprisonment for our work. That sense of security has evaporated after the Trump administration issued a series of executive orders and memoranda that aim to stifle speech and demonize dissent – particularly when it comes to Israel’s crimes against Palestinians living in Gaza.

Let us be clear: the evidence that Israel has committed war crimes is overwhelming. Israel killed an estimated 20,000 children – including more than 1,000 babies – in two years of war. Israel used starvation and thirst as a war tactic, leading to widespread famine that indiscriminately targeted the civilian population. It kept civilians from accessing cancer treatment, neonatal and maternal care, and basic antibiotics and painkillers by blockading the delivery of medical equipment and medications. Israel destroyed Gaza’s entire healthcare system, including reproductive healthcare facilities and Gaza’s largest fertility clinic. Israel’s systematic attack on Gaza’s civilian population was accompanied by dehumanizing language by authorities at the highest levels of government comparing Palestinians to “‘human animals” and “children of darkness”.

In January 2024, the international court of justice ordered Israel to take “all measures within its power” to prevent acts of genocide. Israel ignored that order. Since then, leading international and Israeli human rights organizations and experts–including the International Association of Genocide Scholars, Amnesty International, B’Tselem, the UN commission of inquiry, and the authors of this essay – have concluded that Israel has committed genocide against the Palestinian people.

In May 2024 the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court sought arrest warrants for the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu; its defense minister, Yoav Gallant; and three leaders of Hamas.... READ MORE  https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/mar/24/trump-sanctions-un-human-rights-expert-free-speech

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Family of UN official sanctioned by US over Israel criticism sues White House: Lawsuit against the Trump administration says penalties against Francesca Albanese violate the first amendment

Francesca Albanese attends a press conference at the European headquarters of the UN in Geneva, Switzerland, on 15 September 2025. Photograph: Pierre Albouy/Reuters

 Associated Press at the United Nations Thu 26 Feb 2026 12.53 EST

The family of independent UN investigator Francesca Albanese has sued the Trump administration over US sanctions imposed on her last year for her criticism of Israel’s policies during the war with Hamas in Gaza, saying the penalties violate the first amendment.

In a lawsuit filed Wednesday in the US district court in Washington, Albanese’s husband and minor child outlined the serious impact those sanctions have had on the family’s life and work, including the ability to access their home in the nation’s capital.

“Francesca’s expression of her views about the facts as she has found them in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and about the work of the ICC is core First Amendment activity,” the lawsuit says, referring to the international criminal court. That tribunal has issued arrest warrants against Israeli officials, including the country’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, over allegations of war crimes.

“At its heart, this case concerns whether Defendants can sanction a person – ruining their life and the lives of their loved ones, including their citizen daughter – because Defendants disagree with   their recommendations or fear their persuasiveness,” according to the filing... READ MORE  https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/feb/26/francesca-albanese-un-lawsuit-trump-sanctions

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The United States has imposed sanctions against three Palestinian human rights groups that asked the international criminal court to investigate Israel over allegations of genocide in Gaza, according to a notice posted to the US treasury department’s website on Thursday.

Palestinians move toward central Gaza as intensified Israeli attacks force them to flee, in the Gaza Strip on Thursday. Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images

The three groups – the Gaza-based Palestinian Centre for Human Rights and Al Mezan Center for Human Rights, and the Ramallah-based Al-Haq – were listed under what the treasury department said were international criminal court-related designations.

The groups asked the ICC in November 2023 to investigate Israeli air strikes on densely populated civilian areas of Gaza, the siege of the territory and displacement of the population.

A year later, the ICC issued arrest warrants for Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defence chief, Yoav Gallant, as well as a Hamas leader, Ibrahim al-Masri, for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Donald Trump’s administration has imposed sanctions against ICC judges as well as its chief prosecutor over the Israeli arrest warrants and a past decision to open a case into alleged war crimes by US troops in Afghanistan.

The ICC, which was established in 2002, has jurisdiction over war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide in its 125 member countries. Some nations, including the US, China, Russia and Israel, do not recognise its authority.

The US sanctions against the Palestinian groups come days after the world’s biggest academic association of genocide scholars passed a resolution saying the legal criteria had been met to establish Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.

Israel called... READ MORE https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/sep/04/us-sanctions-palestinian-human-rights

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Israel destroyed 400 [Palestinian] homes in Gaza’s Zeitoun neighborhood, east of Gaza City, over the past six days through aerial bombardment and the use of booby-trapped robots...

Smoke rises and Palestinians flee the site after Israeli army conduct attacks over al-Zeitoun neighborhood of Gaza City, Gaza on August 06, 2025. [Khames Alrefi – Anadolu Agency]

August 16, 2025

The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor on Saturday said that Israeli forces have destroyed some 400 homes in the Zeitoun neighborhood, east of Gaza City, over the past six days through aerial bombardment and the use of booby-trapped robots, Anadolu reports.

In a statement, the rights group said Israeli forces have been “leveling Zeitoun to the ground” since Aug. 11 as part of a large-scale military assault aimed at imposing full control over Gaza City and forcibly displacing its residents.

The monitor noted that “more than 90,000 Palestinians have fled the neighborhood under intense shelling.”

It added that Israeli forces have “deployed quadcopter drones to encircle residential blocks and force residents to evacuate at gunpoint, while advancing with ground units under heavy fire cover.”

The group stressed that the destruction of “nearly half of the homes in the Zeitoun neighborhood was not justified by any military necessity, as no armed clashes had been reported in the area recently.”

It said the “systematic use of robotic explosives and aerial strikes after residents were evacuated indicated the aim of the operation is not to achieve a legitimate military objective but rather the destruction of civilian life and forced displacement.”

The rights group said that the assault on Zeitoun, Gaza City’s largest neighborhood, falls within a “broader Israeli policy of genocide aimed at erasing Palestinian urban centers through mass destruction of homes, infrastructure, and essential services.”

READ: Nearly 61,900 Palestinians killed in Gaza since October 2023, as Israeli attacks persist

It urged the international community, including the UN and legal institutions, to “act urgently to stop the attacks, protect civilians, and hold Israeli leaders accountable.”

The group also called for the enforcement of International Criminal Court arrest warrants issued against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.

The latest Israeli military campaign began on Aug. 11, following a government-approved plan to gradually reoccupy Gaza, starting with Gaza City.

Witnesses reported widespread home demolitions using robotic devices, artillery fire, indiscriminate shooting, and forced displacement.

Israel has killed nearly 61,900 Palestinians in Gaza since October 2023. The military campaign has devastated the enclave and brought it to the verge of famine.

Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.

Middle East Monitor

@MiddleEastMnt

 https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20250816-israel-destroyed-400-homes-in-gazas-zeitoun-neighborhood-euro-med-monitor/ 

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