ICC arrest warrant against Putin

• Recently, the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for war crimes for President Vladimir Putin and a second Russian official for the alleged war crime of unlawfully deporting and transferring children from occupied areas of Ukraine to the Russian Federation.
• The court says Putin bears individual criminal responsibility for the abduction and deportation of Ukrainian children since Russia’s full-scale invasion began in February 2022.

About International Criminal Court (ICC)

• It is headquartered in The Hague, Netherlands.
• It was established under a 1998 treaty called the “Rome Statute”.
• It “investigates and, where warranted, tries individuals charged with the gravest crimes of concern to the international community: genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and the crime of aggression.”
• The ICC can also practice its jurisdiction over cases referred by the UN Security Council to it.
• Members: 123 countries are party to the Rome Statute, including Britain, Japan, Afghanistan, and Germany.
  • USA, India and China are not.
• ICC prosecutes individuals(whereas ICJ tries deals with countries and inter-state disputes)
• ICC’s jurisdiction is limited to offences occurring after it came into effect on July 1, 2002.
• Additionally, the offences should be committed either in a country that ratified the agreement or by a national of a ratifying country.