Introduction

The International Criminal Court (ICC) may or may not be ultimately judged a success. But the Rome Statute of 17 July 1998, establishing the Court, is already a success in two ways. First, it has come into force with substantial backing from many countries and despite the unhappy and extravagant opposition of the United States. Secondly, it is a significant step away from the culture of impunity which until the 1990s accompanied the elaboration of many international criminal law instruments. Such success has many parents, and there will be many to claim parentage of the Rome Statute for an International Criminal Court, to claim responsibility for its conception, for its drafting, for this or that provision.

In my own case I had nothing to do with the diplomatic process of drafting the Statute in the period from 1995. My role was more removed. To put it metaphorically, I had something to do with the grandparent of the Rome Statute – the Draft Statute of 1994 produced by the United Nations International Law Commission (ILC). In 1994, I chaired the ILC working group that produced the Draft Statute. That Draft Statute got the diplomatic ball rolling again, after it had stopped in the early 1950s at the outset of the Cold War. It formed the initial text for consideration by the Preparatory Commission. It is true that the Draft Statute of 1994 was no more than a point of departure.