International Criminal Courts

Article 112 provides for the establishment of an Assembly of States Parties. Its responsibilities will include adopting recommendations of the Preparatory Commission, providing management oversight of the Court, selecting the judges and the Prosecutor, deciding the budget and determining what action to take when states fail to cooperate with the court. The court is to be funded, as provided in the budget, from assessed contributions of states parties, funds provided by the UN (Article 114), and voluntary contributions (Article 115). Article 119 provides that the Court will settle any dispute concerning its judicial functions, and any other dispute between states parties concerning the interpretation or application of the Statute not settled within three months will be settled by the Assembly of States Parties or, if it so decides, by the International Court of Justice. No reservations may be made to the Statute (Article 120).

Under Article 121, no amendments are possible for seven years after entry into force. Amendments must first be adopted by the Assembly of States Parties or a Review Conference (the first of which must be held under Article 123 within seven years) by consensus or by a twothirds majority. Except as provided in Article 121 (5), amendments enter into force for all states parties one year after acceptance by seven-eighths of the states parties; states parties that have not accepted the amendment may withdraw from the Statute immediately by giving notice within one year after the amendment enters into force. In contrast, under Article 121 (5), amendments to Articles 5 to 8 (concerning definitions of crime) enter into force for those parties which have accepted them one year after their acceptance. However, if a state party has not accepted an amendment to Articles 5 to 8, then the court may not exercise its jurisdiction regarding a crime covered by that amendment when committed by that state's nationals or on its territory. Certain amendments of an institutional nature can be adopted by the Assembly of States Parties by a two-thirds majority, which will bind all states parties (Article 122). A transitional provision, Article 124, provides that a state party may, when becoming a party to the Statute, declare that, for a period of seven years after entry into force for that state, it does not accept the jurisdiction of the Court with respect to war crimes that are alleged to have been committed by its nationals or on its territory. Only one state, France, which proposed this article, has done so. Article 127 permits states parties to withdraw, effective one year after the notice, but they remain bound by obligations prior to the date of withdrawal.