The International Criminal Court

Wednesday, 1 November 2017 - 12:00 pm (CET/MEZ) Berlin | Author/Destination:
Category/Kategorie: General, House of the Month
Reading Time:  7 minutes

International Criminal Court building © OSeveno/cc-by-sa-4.0

International Criminal Court building © OSeveno/cc-by-sa-4.0

The International Criminal Court (ICC or ICCt) is an intergovernmental organization and international tribunal that sits in The Hague in the Netherlands. The ICC has the jurisdiction to prosecute individuals for the international crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes. The ICC is intended to complement existing national judicial systems and it may therefore only exercise its jurisdiction when certain conditions are met, such as when national courts are unwilling or unable to prosecute criminals or when the United Nations Security Council or individual states refer situations to the Court. The ICC began functioning on 1 July 2002, the date that the Rome Statute entered into force. The Rome Statute is a multilateral treaty which serves as the ICC’s foundational and governing document. States which become party to the Rome Statute, for example by ratifying it, become member states of the ICC. Currently, out of 193 UN member countries there are 124 states which are party to the Rome Statute and therefore members of the ICC. Israel, Russia, Sudan and the United States aren’t part of it.

The ICC has four principal organs: the Presidency, the Judicial Divisions, the Office of the Prosecutor, and the Registry. The President is the most senior judge chosen by his or her peers in the Judicial Division, which hears cases before the Court. The Office of the Prosecutor is headed by the Prosecutor who investigates crimes and initiates proceedings before the Judicial Division. The Registry is headed by the Registrar and is charged with managing all the administrative functions of the ICC, including the headquarters, detention unit, and public defense office.

International Criminal Court building © OSeveno/cc-by-sa-4.0 International Criminal Court Headquarters © Hypergio/cc-by-sa-4.0 International Criminal Court logo
<
>
International Criminal Court Headquarters © Hypergio/cc-by-sa-4.0
The official seat of the Court is in The Hague, but its proceedings may take place anywhere. The Court moved into its first permanent premises in The Hague, located at Oude Waalsdorperweg 10, on 14 December 2015. Part of The Hague’s International Zone, which also contains the Peace Palace, Europol, International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) and The Hague World Forum, the court facilities are situated on the site of the Alexanderkazerne, a former military barracks, adjacent to the dune landscape on the northern edge of the city. The ICC’s detention centre is a short distance away. The land and financing for the new construction were provided by the Netherlands. In addition, the host state organised and financed the architectural design competition which started at the end of 2008. Three architects were chosen by an international jury from a total of 171 applicants to enter into further negotiations. The Danish firm schmidt hammer lassen were ultimately selected to design the new premises since its design met all the ICC criteria, such as design quality, sustainability, functionality and costs. Demolition of the barracks started in November 2011 and was completed in August 2012. In October 2012 the tendering procedure for the General Contractor was completed and the combination Visser & Smit Bouw and Boele & van Eesteren (“Courtys”) was selected. The building has a compact footprint and consists of six connected building volumes with a garden motif. The tallest volume with a green facade, placed in the middle of the design, is the Court Tower that accommodates 3 courtrooms. The rest of the building’s volumes accommodate the offices of the different organs of the ICC. Until late 2015, the ICC was housed in interim premises in The Hague provided by the host state of the Netherlands. Formerly belonging to KPN, the provisional headquarters were located at Maanweg 174 in the east-central portion of the city. The building continues to serve as the seat of Eurojust. The ICC’s detention centre accommodates both those convicted by the court and serving sentences as well as those suspects detained pending the outcome of their trial. It comprises twelve cells on the premises of the Scheveningen branch of the Haaglanden Penal Institution, The Hague, close to the ICC’s new headquarters in the Alexanderkazerne. Suspects held by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia are held in the same prison and share some facilities, like the fitness room, but have no contact with suspects held by the ICC.

The ICC is financed by contributions from the states parties. The amount payable by each state party is determined using the same method as the United Nations: each state’s contribution is based on the country’s capacity to pay, which reflects factors such as a national income and population. The maximum amount a single country can pay in any year is limited to 22% of the Court’s budget; Japan paid this amount in 2008. The Court spent €80.5 million in 2007. The Assembly of States Parties approved a budget of €90.4 million for 2008, €101.2 million for 2009, and €141.6 million for 2017. As of April 2017, the ICC’s staff consisted of 800 persons from approximately 100 states.

Read more on International Criminal Court and Wikipedia International Criminal Court. Learn more about the use of photos. To inform you about latest news most of the city, town or tourism websites offer a newsletter service and/or operate Facebook pages/Twitter accounts. In addition more and more destinations, tourist organizations and cultural institutions offer Apps for your Smart Phone or Tablet, to provide you with a mobile tourist guide (Smart Traveler App by U.S. Department of State - Weather report by weather.com - Global Passport Power Rank - Travel Risk Map - Democracy Index - GDP according to IMF, UN, and World Bank - Global Competitiveness Report - Corruption Perceptions Index - Press Freedom Index - World Justice Project - Rule of Law Index - UN Human Development Index - Global Peace Index - Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Index). If you have a suggestion, critique, review or comment to this blog entry, we are looking forward to receive your e-mail at comment@wingsch.net. Please name the headline of the blog post to which your e-mail refers to in the subject line.




Recommended posts:

Share this post: (Please note data protection regulations before using buttons)

Palazzo dei Normanni in Palermo

Palazzo dei Normanni in Palermo

[caption id="attachment_236837" align="aligncenter" width="590"] Renaissance wing © Bjs[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]The Palazzo dei Normanni (Norman Palace) is also called Royal Palace of Palermo. It was the seat of the Kings of Sicily with the Hauteville dynasty and served afterwards as the main seat of power for the subsequent rulers of Sicily. Since 1946 it has been the seat of the Sicilian Regional Assembly. The building is the oldest royal residence in Europe; and was the private residence of the rulers of the Kingdom of Si...

[ read more ]

Theme Week Armenia - Vanadzor

Theme Week Armenia - Vanadzor

[caption id="attachment_239101" align="aligncenter" width="590"] Gugark Hotel © Armineaghayan/cc-by-sa-4.0[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]Vanadzor is an urban municipal community and the third largest city in Armenia, serving as the capital of Lori Province in the northern part of the country. It is located about 128 kilometres (80 miles) north of the capital Yerevan. As of the 2011 census, the city had a population of 86,199, down from 148,876 reported at the 1979 official census. Currently, the town has a population of approximate...

[ read more ]

Theme Week Normandy - The seaside resort Étretat

Theme Week Normandy - The seaside resort Étretat

[caption id="attachment_152728" align="aligncenter" width="590"] © M. Pfeiffer/cc-by-3.0[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]Étretat is a commune in the Seine-Maritime department in the Haute-Normandie region. It is a tourist and farming town situated about 32 km (20 mi) northeast of Le Havre. It's located on the coast of the Pays de Caux area. Étretat is best known for its cliffs, including three natural arches and the pointed "needle". These cliffs and the associated resort beach attracted artists including Eugène Boudin, Gustave Co...

[ read more ]

Lido Isle in Newport Beach

Lido Isle in Newport Beach

[caption id="attachment_217940" align="aligncenter" width="590"] © D Ramey Logan/cc-by-sa-4.0[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]Lido Isle is a man-made island located in the harbor of Newport Beach, California. Surrounded by the city, Lido Isle was incorporated as part of Newport Beach in 1906. At that time it was part sandbar and part mudflat. There are no commercial facilities on the island other than a small snack bar open in the summer, and its only link to the city is a small bridge. The man-made island is solely residential with ...

[ read more ]

Grand Bazaar in Tehran

Grand Bazaar in Tehran

[caption id="attachment_163291" align="aligncenter" width="590"] © Antoine Taveneaux/cc-by-sa-4.0[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]The Grand Bazaar (Persian: Bāzār e Bozorg) is an old historical market in Tehran, the capital of Iran. Located at the Arg Square in Southern Tehran, it is split into several corridors over 10 km in length, each specializing in different types of goods, and has several entrances, with the main being the entrance of Sabze Meydan. In addition to shops, the Grand Bazaar of Tehran has contained banks, mosques...

[ read more ]

Musée des Confluences in Lyon

Musée des Confluences in Lyon

[caption id="attachment_185203" align="aligncenter" width="590"] © Tibidibtibo/cc-by-sa-3.0[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]The Musée des Confluences is a science centre and anthropology museum which opened on 20 December 2014 in the 2nd arrondissement of Lyon, (Rhône department). It is located at the southern tip of the Presqu'île at the confluence of the Rhône and the Saône, adjacent to Autoroute A7, and comprises part of a larger redevelopment project of the Confluence quarter of Lyon. The deconstructivist architectural desig...

[ read more ]

Künzelsau in Baden-Württemberg

Künzelsau in Baden-Württemberg

[caption id="attachment_227774" align="aligncenter" width="590"] Schloss Stetten © Carsten Steger/cc-by-sa-4.0[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]Künzelsau is a town in Baden-Württemberg, in south central Germany. It is the capital of the Hohenlohe district. It is located on the river Kocher, 19 km (12 mi) north of Schwäbisch Hall, and 37 km (23 mi) northeast of Heilbronn. The city of Künzelsau is located, at elevation 210–43 m (689–1,427 ft), along the Kocher River, a right tributary of the Neckar River, some 40 km east (25 mi)...

[ read more ]

Theme Week North Korea - Sinuiju

Theme Week North Korea - Sinuiju

[caption id="attachment_218623" align="aligncenter" width="590"] Aerial view of Downtown Sinuiju with Sino-North Korean Friendship Bridge as seen from Dandong in China© Baycrest/cc-by-sa-2.5[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]Sinŭiju (known before 1925 in English as Yeng Byen City) is a city in North Korea which faces Dandong, China across the international border of the Yalu River. It is the capital of North P'yŏngan province. Part of the city is included in the Sinŭiju Special Administrative Region, which was established in 2002 to...

[ read more ]

Theme Week Belarus

Theme Week Belarus

[caption id="attachment_228620" align="aligncenter" width="590"] Victory Square in Minsk © Mikkalai[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Covering an area of 207,600 square kilometres (80,200 sq mi) and with a population of 9.3 million, Belarus is the 13th-largest and the 20th-most populous country in Europe. The count...

[ read more ]

Hell’s Kitchen in Manhattan

Hell’s Kitchen in Manhattan

[caption id="attachment_209860" align="aligncenter" width="590"] Vintner Wine Market © flickr.com - Jazz Guy/cc-by-2.0[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]Hell's Kitchen, sometimes known as Clinton (named for Governor George Clinton), is a neighborhood on the West Side of Manhattan in New York City, west of Midtown Manhattan. It is traditionally considered to be bordered by 34th Street to the south, 59th Street to the north, Eighth Avenue to the east, and the Hudson River to the west. Until the 1970s, Hell's Kitchen was a bastion of poor...

[ read more ]

Return to TopReturn to Top
Mirabell Palace and Gardens © Steveurkel/cc-by-sa-3.0
Mirabell Palace and Gardens in Salzburg

Mirabell Palace is a historical building in the city of Salzburg. The palace with its gardens is a listed cultural...

© Hégésippe Cormier/cc-by-sa-3.0
The Gulf States: Bon appétit!

The Persian Gulf is a mediterranean sea in Western Asia. The body of water is an extension of the Indian...

Jumeirah Beach Hotel © flickr.com - ADTeasdale/cc-by-2.0
Jumeirah Beach Hotel in Dubai

Jumeirah Beach Hotel is a hotel in the coastal residential area Jumeirah of Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The hotel, which...

Schließen