The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court: The Politics of Criminalization Process

• In Event: International Perspectives on Sentencing

Abstract

The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) was established through a treaty adopted in Rome on July 17, 1998, and entered into force on July 1, 2002, when its Statute was ratified. According to Articles 5, 6, 7 and 8 of the Rome Statute, the Court has jurisdiction over the most serious crimes of profound concern to the international community namely genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and the crimes of aggression. The international community intended among other things to use the Rome Statute to bring to justice those accused of the most outrageous crimes against human rights and humanitarian law; to hold individuals and groups personally responsible for planning, ordering or committing gross crimes under international law; to complement prosecutions in national courts; and acting when states were unwilling or unable to effectively discharge their principle of domestic jurisdiction. Be that as it may with the good intentions and aspirations of the Court, some serious and complex issues and challenges exist. Therefore, this paper, strives to explore some of the issues and challenges that exist with the politics of criminalization of some heads of states around the world by the Court.

Authors

• Obi Ebbe, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga

• Charles Ubah, Georgia College & State University