Implications of the Principle of Complementary Jurisdiction in the Statute of International Criminal Court - Coursework Example

Crimes such as crimes of aggression can not yet be exercised by the International Criminal Court currently. The court was formed on July 1st,2002, and The Hague, Netherlands is its official seat. However, the court’s proceedings may happen anywhere considered appropriate. This is according to Article 3 of the Rome Statutes. According to this year’s report, so far 111 states have become the court members and again 38 more countries have not yet approved the Rome Statute but have signed in.

Surprisingly, states vital to the courts such as China, the United States, and Russia are yet to join the court. If an assumed crime happens within the state party territory, then the ICC will exercise jurisdiction. In addition, the court will take action if the United Nations Security Council refers a case to the ICC. The court carries out its jurisdiction in crimes that the national courts are not in a position or are unable to prosecute some crimes. Individual states have the responsibility over the investigation as well as the punishment of crimes. Five situations for investigation have been opened so far. These situations are in Darfur, Kenya, Northern Uganda, the Central African Republic, and the Socratic Republic of Congo. Fourteen people have been indicted by the court of which seven are fugitives, two are already dead, one appears voluntarily in court and the rest are in custody. The first trial for ICC was of Thoman Lubanga from Congo and commenced on January 26th,2009. On 24 November of the same year, a subsequent trial against Germain and Mathieu, Congolese leaders followed.

According to the Rome Statute, article 5 the court is granted jurisdiction over crimes considered as most serious by the international community. These crimes are those related to genocide, war, aggression, and those against humanity. The court’s jurisdiction was to apply to the aggression crime after the adoption of a provision defining and setting the crime condition as stated in articles 121 as well as 123.

The crime of genocide is defined in Article 6 and according to this article, genocide refers to an act committed to ruining a national racial part or whole perspective. Such actions include murdering members of a particular group or even affecting mental damage to members of that group. Affecting the situations of life assumed to bring physical destruction to the group is also a genocide act. Enforcing measures presumed to hinder birth in that group or even transferring children of that group elsewhere by force is part of the definition.