Short Essay on International Criminal Court – Following the unprecedented atrocities and massacre committed during World War II, U.N. General Assembly led to realize the need for a permanent international court to deal with all such cases.
It came to realize only in a conference in Rome convened by U.N. General Assembly, where Rome statute of the International Criminal Court was adopted on 17th July, 1988. The Court came into being on 1st July, 2002.
The official seat of the Court is in The Hague, Netherlands, but its proceedings may take place anywhere. The Court has jurisdiction over the most serious crimes of concern to the international community as a whole viz. the crime of genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and the crime of aggression.
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Unlike the International Court of Justice, the International Criminal Court functions independently from the United Nations. ICC consists of 18 judges organized into three division—pre-trial division, trial division and appeals division to carry out the judicial functions of the court.
They serve 1 year term. All judges must be nationals of States parties to the Rome statute and no two judges may be nationals of the same State.