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This guide provides an overview of the International Criminal Court (ICC), detailing its legal foundations under the Rome Statute, its jurisdictional limits, its institutional structure, and its early investigations in Africa and elsewhere.

• The International Criminal Court (ICC) is a permanent institution based in The Hague with jurisdiction over individuals accused of genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes. It operates on the principle of complementarity, meaning it only intervenes when national courts are "unwilling or unable to conduct a genuine investigation or prosecution".
• The ICC can acquire jurisdiction through three primary triggers: a referral from a State Party, a referral from the UN Security Council, or the Prosecutor initiating an investigation "proprio motu" based on credible information. The UN Security Council can refer situations even if they involve non-States Parties, as seen in the case of Darfur, Sudan.
• The Court's jurisdiction is limited temporally to crimes committed after the Rome Statute entered into force on 1 July 2002. For states joining later, jurisdiction applies to crimes committed after the date they became a party, unless a special declaration of acceptance is made.
• The ICC is composed of several organs: the Presidency, the Appeals, Trial, and Pre-trial Divisions, the Office of the Prosecutor, and the Registry. The Office of the Prosecutor is an independent organ that focuses its strategy on "those who bear the greatest responsibility" to maximize deterrence and resource efficiency.
• Early investigations include State Party referrals from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (focusing on the Ituri region), Uganda (focusing on northern Uganda and the Lord’s Resistance Army), and the Central African Republic (noted for a high number of sexual violence crimes).
• The ICC lacks its own enforcement mechanism and relies on cooperation from States Parties and other international actors for the arrest and surrender of suspects, the collection of evidence, and the freezing of assets.

APA

Institute for Security Studies (n.d.). Layout 1. https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/AGCHAP4.PDF

Chicago

Institute for Security Studies. Layout 1. n.d. https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/AGCHAP4.PDF.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Institute for Security Studies |title=Layout 1 |url=https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/AGCHAP4.PDF |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{instituteforsecuritystudiesndlayout, author = {{Institute for Security Studies}}, title = {{Layout 1}}, institution = {Institute for Security Studies}, url = {https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/AGCHAP4.PDF}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }