International Criminal Court (ICC)

 ICC is an intergovernmental organization and international tribunal that sits in The Hague in the Netherlands.

ICC has the jurisdiction to prosecute individuals for the international crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity, crime of aggression and war crimes.

 ICC is the world’s first permanent international criminal court.

 ICC is intended to complement existing national judicial systems and it may therefore only exercise its jurisdiction when certain conditions are met.

 States which become party to the Rome Statute becomes member of ICC, thus totaling 124 members.

 However, Burundi has given formal notice that it will withdraw from the Rome Statute.

 The co-operation of the non-party states with the ICC is of voluntary nature.

 But when a case is referred to the ICC by the UN Security Council all UN member states are obliged to co-operate, since its decisions are binding for all of them.

 India is not a signatory to the Rome Statute.

Difference between ICJ and ICC

 International Criminal Court set up under the Rome Statute. It was established as an independent international organization in 2002 and is not governed by the UN.

 All the member states of UN automatically become members of ICJ whereas nations must individually become members to ICC by signing Rome Statute.

 The International Court of Justice has no jurisdiction to try individuals accused of war crimes or crimes against humanity. The ICC tries individual people for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and crimes of aggression, according to the Rome Statute.

 ICJ is not a criminal court; it does not have a prosecutor able to initiate proceedings and settles disputes between member states, with their consent, on issues of sovereignty, trade, natural resources, treaty violations, treaty interpretation, and etc.