Latest in Rome Statute
Uighur activist groups filed an ICC complaint against Chinese officials. What’s in the complaint, and how could the ICC exercise its jurisdiction considering China isn’t signed to the Rome Statute?
This week, El Salvador became the 124th member of the International Criminal Court (ICC). As it joined the court, the Salvadoran government also became the 28th country to ratify the Rome Statute amendments regarding the crime of aggression. With two additional ratifications, the world will clear the first important hurdle on the path to the international criminalization of aggression.
Earlier this week, the the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Fatou Bensouda, sought to open an investigation of possible crimes in Georgia. Her focus is the August 2008 fighting that took place there between Russian forces, the Georgian government, and Georgian separatists. Several aspects of the prosecutor's move deserve attention.
The idea of European prosecutors investigating military activity in other parts of the world scares the pants off of many US and Israeli policymakers. But right now, anyway, one person who should be watching European universal jurisdiction cases particularly closely is Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
It’s summertime in Raqqa, but rather than learning arts and crafts or singing campfire songs, children at the Farouq Academy for Cubs—an indoctrination and training center run by the Islamic State—are busy practicing beheadings.