The Importance of Evaluating Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court

 

The ambition to achieve justice in our world occurs when the legal measures of the ICC are right.  Establishing ICC should not only be based on main values which were mentioned in Rome Statute, but also to include all the relating issues to human rights.

 

The third paragraph of the material number twenty one of Rome Statute mentions that the court has to function according to the international law in all its activities. This is not only a commitment to the legislation, but it is also the way to prove the credibility of the ICC as an independent judicial body.

 

It is significant for the judges to follow up the work of the attorney general to make sure that the causes introduced to the ICC are based on true legal basis with adequate evidences. It is worth mentioning that the ICC rejected the first case on Kongo  in which the judges had a known attitude; to keep the source of evidences secret and not showing it to the public.

 

One of the most important guarantees to the function of the judges and attorney general of ICC is avoiding the political motives of the cases introduced to the court. When a case introduced depending on a request of the UN Security Council, we can raise a question: Is it politicized case? Such as the case of Darfur in Sudan and the case of the Sudanese president Omar Al-Bashir.

 

We can also raise questions on the violations committed by the Israeli army during the War on Gaza. The Palestinian Authority and many Civil Society organizations submitted a request to the ICC attorney general to investigate on the Israeli violations during the war; the Palestinian minister of Justice depended on the third paragraph of the material number twelve of Rome Statute to consider the case.

 

The ICC deals with controversial cases which might be accepted by one side and rejected by other sides. The principle of legal integrative is an important basis of Rome Statute, the material number 123 indicated that Rome Statute will be evaluated after seven years of its effectiveness through the invitation of the UN secretary-general to organize a conference for that, the first international conference was supposed to be held in Kampala, the capital of Uganda in 2010.

 

The ICC focuses on the cases of genocide and war crimes while international parties find it is necessary to add other cases such as cases of aggression, cases of terrorism and cases of prohibited weapons. Many international parties are looking forward to make the crimes of aggression include planning, preparation and execution by the armed forces which threat the land unity and political independence. It was expected that the conference will discuss issues such as military occupation, military bombing and siege. It was expected that the conference would encounter challenges relating to the issue of terrorism especially reaching an agreement on the definition of terrorism as well as other controversial issues such as the role of UN Security Council which was stated in the charter of the United Nations.

 

Finally, it is necessary to mention three issues; First, Rome Statute and ICC require more efforts to create reliable judicial institutions. Second, the great significance to the international credibility to be embodied in Rome Statute and ICC. Three, improving the relations between the countries and ICC which represents a big challenge as only 108 countries have approved Rome Statute and the ICC.