For an effective international law : from the preparatory committee to the diplomatic conference for the establishment of an international criminal court : the commitment of the international community [Giovanni Conso]

Abstract

Once the first inevitable difficulties had been overcome, it was hoped that the International Court of the Hague would achieve results without much difficulties. On the contrary, few cases were concluded, in spite of the efforts made by the institution. One gets the impression that something is wrong, putting a halt to the good intentions and neutralizing most of the good formulas that had been devised. True committed support by the international community is lacking, because of the eternal contradictions and jealousies of the individual States, the divergent perspectives which are always so hard to reconcile. It is not only a question of the Court not being preconstituted, which limits its charisma and reduces its juridical power, nor is it the fault of the disadvantages created by an immense number of episodes and subjects that have to be followed (this circumstance in itself should rather lead to an even higher number of concrete inquiries). The issue implies other profiles that are both intrinsic to the case and successive to it. The destiny of the whole institution itself is at risk, the hopes placed in it, the prospects for its future . Everything is actually linked to this elementary but problematic axiom with two sides: in order to function, a judicial organ must be in a position to examine the cases that are within its competence and to pass the judgements which bring them to a conclusion. [excerpt]