The organization of the court : the international campaign in support of an ICC [William A. Schabas]

Abstract

The creation of an International Criminal Court, long a distant dream of human rights activists and criminal law scholars, now finally seems inexorable. Although there have been occasional and isolated murmurings of difficulty, there is now virtually no doubt that a major diplomatic conference will take place in Rome in June, 1998, and that it will conclude with the adoption of an international treaty, the statute of the permanent international criminal court. There are a few more hurdles: the October meeting of the Sixth Committee of the General Assembly will provide a chance to take the pulse of Member States; and there are still a few remaining sessions of the Preparatory Committee, at which some outstanding issues will be debated. It is, of course, naive to expect that the PrepCom sessions will resolve some of the truly fundamental issues that divide States, of which the most important currently seems to be the "trigger mechanism". Understandably, States are nervous about how cases may be brought before the Court. After resisting the whole concept for more than forty years, how can there be any surprise that many States - particularly the major powers - will want to make sure they retain a degree of control over the Court's docket, mainly so as to make sure that their names do not appear on it. [excerpt]