International Courts in the Modern History

Many international courts were established since the ending of World War II including military courts such as Tokyo and Nuremberg Courts in 1945, special courts that were established on the basis of resolutions of the United Nations such as International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda in 1994, and special courts which were established on the basis agreements between the United Nations and concerned countries such as the Special Court for Sierra Leone in 2002 and Special Court for Lebanon in 2007. All these court are temporary and for specific issues.

We hoped that the International Criminal Court to be permanent and solve the interesting issues of the world legally on the basis of the international law without the need to have special resolutions from the United Nations or agreements between some countries and the United Nations.  International community was looking forward to have such a court on the basis of international values and the force of law.

The international efforts were governed by three objectives; first, to prevent most of the crimes that cause suffering to the international community. Second, to strengthen the force of law. Third, to achieve global justice.

At the first level, establishing international legal system which can punish the criminals on the basis of the international humanitarian law and Geneva Convention has been a concern for the international community. At the second level, the international community has been working hard to reach peaceful solutions to conflicts depending on the force of law since the ending of World War II. For this the International Court of Justice and International Tribunal for the Law of Sea and World Trade Organization were established. The three previous mentioned bodies base on objective criteria especially the international law and international resolutions. At the third level, the international community hoped that

International Criminal Court would be a significant guide with respect to international humanitarian law. It is necessary to evaluate and revise Rome Statute for ICC to achieve global justice.

All the international efforts, in which most of the countries participated through conferences and meetings, led to the announcement of Rome Statute in 1998 in order to protect the human rights. The debate nowadays is on the best ways to achieve these legislations and the how the legal bodies act with respect to such issues.

It is important to ask Why were the ICC established? While the officials of such international courts answer that they want to make difference between the above mentioned international courts and what the international courts of twenty first century should be. ICC is a permanent legal body which makes it different from the above mentioned courts.

It is worth mentioning that international efforts which participated in Rome Statute were inspired by the urgent need to law enforcement through the national justice or the international law when it is not possible to go to national courts. This reassures that the force of law is guaranteed and justice takes place. Countries at the national level are authorized to investigate and sent the accused people to trials.

There is a global agreement on the importance of organizing a conference for revising and evaluating Rome Statute. For this, the importance of dialogue between countries and nations including governments, civil society and people to find an evaluation to develop Rome Statute to serve the human rights and guarantee a real justice away from duality, selective and politicization.