International Criminal Courts

A major step to close one of the important gaps in the enforcement system of international criminal law was taken on 17 July 1998 with the adoption of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (Statute) at a diplomatic conference in Rome. The vote was 120 in favor to 7 against (including the United States, China, Iraq, and Israel), with twenty-one abstentions. The Statute provides for the establishment of a permanent international criminal court with jurisdiction over genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression. As of January 2001, 139 states, including the United States and Israel, had signed the Statute and 27 of them had ratified it. It is expected to receive the sixty ratifications required under Article 126 for it to enter into force in 2001 or 2002.