The Jurisdiction Of The International Criminal Court

This book embarks on a comprehensive exploration of the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court (ICC) and elucidates the three foundational aspects of its jurisdiction as laid out in the Rome Statute: the preconditions for exercising jurisdiction (Article 12 ICCRSt), its substantive competence regarding core crimes (Articles 5-8bis ICCRSt), and the principle of complementarity (Article 17§1(a) ICCRSt).

The book provides a holistic examination of the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court (ICC). The main focus is placed on the three pillars which form the ICC’s foundation pursuant to the Rome Statute:

This book provides an analysis of whether the International Criminal Court can be regarded as an International Criminal World Court, capable of exercising its jurisdiction upon every individual despite the fact that not every State is a Party to the Rome Statute. The analysis is based on a twin-pillar system, which consists of a judicial and an enforcement pillar. The judicial pillar is based on the most disputed articles of the Rome Statute; its goal is to determine the potential scope of the Court’s strength through the application of its jurisdiction regime. The enforcement pillar provides an analysis of the cooperation and judicial assistance mechanism pursuant to the Rome Statute’s provisions and its practical implementation through States’ practices. The results of the analysis, and the lack of an effective enforcement mechanism, demonstrate that the ICC cannot in fact be considered a criminal world court. In conclusion, possible solutions are presented in order to improve the enforcement pillar of the Court so that the tremendous strength of the ICC’s judicial pillar, and with it, the exercise of worldwide jurisdiction, can be effectively implemented.