Image Source Apr 07, 2021 14:13 IST · 2 min read
US President Joe Biden lifted sanctions that Donald Trump had imposed on two top officials of the International Criminal Court (ICC).
The U.S. sanctions had targeted these officials for pressing ahead with investigations into the U.S. and its allies, notably Israel, for alleged war crimes.
International Criminal Court (ICC)
The International Criminal Court (ICC), created on 1 July 2002, is a The Hague, Netherlands based intergovernmental organization and international tribunal.It is Governed by an international treaty called 'The Rome Statute', there are 123 ICC member states - India is not a party to Rome Statute along with US and China.
The ICC is the first and only permanent international court with jurisdiction to prosecute individuals for the international crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression.
The ICC lacks universal territorial jurisdiction, and may only investigate and prosecute crimes committed within member states and crimes committed by nationals of member states, or crimes in situations referred to the Court by the United Nations Security Council (UNSC).
The ICC is different from the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the main difference is that ICJ settles arguments between countries, but the ICC punishes people.
International Court of Justice (ICJ)
The International Court of Justice (CIJ), headquartered at The Hague, Netherlands, is an international organization and the main judicial organ (World Court) or branch of the United Nations (UN).ICJ was established in 1945 by the United Nations charter and started working in April 1946.
All the 193 member states of the UN are automatically parties to the Court. Those nations that are not members of the UN may become parties to the Court?s statute with the help of the Article 93 procedure.
The two primary functions of ICJ are - to settle disputes submitted by parties according to international law and give advisory opinions on legal matters submitted by any of the UN bodies or specialised agencies.
It has 15 permanent judges elected by the UN General Assembly and the UN Security Council. A judge serves for a 9 year period and may be re elected. 5 judges (one-third of the Court) come up for election every three years.
The 15 judges of the Court are distributed as per the regions - 3 from Africa, 2 from Latin America and Caribbean, 3 from Asia, 5 from Western Europe and other states and 2 from Eastern Europe.
Out of six principal organs (General Assembly, Security Council, Economic and Social Council, Trusteeship Council, International Court of Justice and UN Secretariat) of the United Nations, it is the only one not located in New York (USA).