March 29, 2024
  • A meeting of Foreign Ministers from the BRICS countries in South Africa recently was overshadowed by questions about whether Russian President Vladimir Putin would be arrested if he attended a summit of the five-nation bloc in August in Johannesburg.
  • South Africa is thinking about legal options if Russian President, the subject of a war crimes arrest warrant issued by the ICC, did attend the summit.
    • The ICC accused Mr. Putin in March of the war crime of forcibly deporting children from Russian-occupied territory in Ukraine. Moscow denies the allegations.
  • South Africa being an ICC membe, would theoretically be required to arrest Russian President if he attended.
    • States Parties to the Rome Statute have a legal obligation to cooperate.

ABOUT ICC

  • It is an international court which 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.
  • HQ- Hague, Netherlands.
  • It has 6 official languages: English, French, Arabic, Chinese, Russian and Spanish.
    • Out if this English and French are working languages.
  • It was established by the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court in 1998.
  • It has jurisdiction only over crimes committed after July 1, 2002, when the Rome Statute entered into force.
  • The Court does not have its own police force.
    • It relies on State cooperation, for arrest and surrender of suspects.
  • There are 123 countries party to the Rome Statute.
  • India, China, Iraq, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Turkey were never part of Rome statute.
  • Countries that signed but did not ratify the treaty include Egypt, Iran, Israel, Russia, the United States, etc.
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