Key facts

Headquarters: The Hague

Members: 110 countries

Mandate: “to put an end to impunity for the perpetrators of” war crimes, genocide, and crimes against humanity, “and thus to contribute to the prevention of such crimes” (ICC Preamble).

Key structure: an “assembly of states parties” to oversee the treaty; plus, a criminal court of eighteen judges with jurisdiction over the most serious crimes of international concern, supported by a prosecutor's office and a staff branch known as the “registry.”

Key obligations: the Court may have jurisdiction over a crime if it occurred on the territory of a state party or was committed by a citizen of a state party, and if the domestic courts prove themselves unwilling or unable to genuinely carry out an investigation or prosecution.

Enforcement: the Court can impose prison sentences on those found guilty. It has no police or military capability and relies on national governments to capture and deliver to it suspects.

Key legal clauses of the Statute of the ICC:

Articles 5–9 defining the crimes relevant for the Court.

Article 12 on jurisdiction by territory or citizenship.

Article 13 on the three paths by which the Court may take up a case.

Articles 17 and 20 on “complementarity,” the genuineness test, and relations to domestic courts.

Article 27 declaring that senior government officials have no special rights or immunities at the Court.

Article 28 on the responsibility of commanders for conduct of their subordinates.

Article 33 limiting the defense of “just following orders”

Article 55 on the rights of accused persons.