Established in 2002 pursuant to the multilateral Rome Statute, the ICC is considered by its proponents to be a major step toward justice,[2] and an innovation in international law and human rights.

[9] In 1948 the United Nations General Assembly first recognized the need for a permanent international court to deal with atrocities of the kind prosecuted after World War II.

[13] In June 1989, the Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, A. N. R. Robinson, revived the idea of a permanent international criminal court by proposing the creation of tribunal to address the illegal drug trade.

[19][20] From 1996 to 1998, six sessions of the Preparatory Committee were held at the United Nations headquarters in New York City, during which NGOs provided input and attended meetings under the umbrella organisation of the Coalition for the International Criminal Court (CICC).

[22] Israel's opposition to the treaty stemmed from the inclusion in the list of war crimes "the action of transferring population into occupied territory",[23] a provision added during the Rome Conference at the insistence of Arab countries with the specific intention of targeting Israeli citizens.

[41][42][43] The ICC held its first hearing in 2006, concerning war crimes charges against Thomas Lubanga Dyilo, a Congolese warlord accused of recruiting child soldiers; his subsequent conviction in 2012 was the first in the court's history.

[78]: article 36  They must be "persons of high moral character, impartiality and integrity who possess the qualifications required in their respective States for appointment to the highest judicial offices".

Participation in the Court's proceedings will in most cases take place through a legal representative and will be conducted "in a manner which is not prejudicial or inconsistent with the rights of the accused and a fair and impartial trial".

[182] The Office of the Prosecutor carried out and closed preliminary investigations in Bolivia; Colombia; Congo II; Gabon; Guinea; Honduras; Iraq/the United Kingdom; registered vessels of Comoros, Greece, and Cambodia; and South Korea.

NGOs closely monitor the organization's declarations and actions, ensuring that the work that is being executed on behalf of the ICC is fulfilling its objectives and responsibilities to civil society.

[308] Many work closely with states, such as the International Criminal Law Network, founded and predominantly funded by the Hague municipality and the Dutch Ministries of Defense and Foreign Affairs.

The Registry Public Information Office personnel and Victims Participation and Reparations Section officials hold seminars for local leaders, professionals and the media to spread the word about the Court.

[4] Another analysis suggests that African states are motivated by concerns over Africa's place in world order: the problem is the sovereign inequality displayed by the ICC prosecutor's focus.

Back in 2018, when the Israeli government wanted to demolish the West Bank village of Khan al Ahmar, Bensouda herself explicitly warned Israel that doing so could be considered a ‘war crime’.

In particular, Yossi Cohen, director of Mossad at the time, allegedly threatened ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda and her family in an attempt to dissuade her from opening war crime inquiries against Israel.

[351] South Africa, which failed in its obligation to arrest visiting Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir in June 2015, invited Vladimir Putin to the 15th BRICS Summit in Durban.

The act gives the President the power to use "all means necessary and appropriate to bring about the release of any U.S. or allied personnel being detained or imprisoned by, on behalf of, or at the request of the International Criminal Court".

[366] On 11 June 2020, the United States announced sanctions on officials and employees, as well as their families, involved in investigating alleged crimes against humanity committed by U.S. armed forces in Afghanistan.

The Department of Justice has received substantial credible information that raises serious concerns about a long history of financial corruption and malfeasance at the highest levels of the office of the prosecutor", Attorney General William Barr stated.

"[370] On 30 September 2020, prominent United States human rights lawyers announced that they would sue Trump and his Administration—including Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin, attorney general William Barr, and OFAC director Andrea Gacki, and the departments they head—on the grounds that Trump's Executive Order 13928 order had gagged them, violating their right to free speech and impeding their work in trying to obtain justice on behalf of victims of war crimes.

One of the plaintiffs, Diane Marie Amann, stated that, as a result of sanctions against the chief prosecutor at the ICC, she herself risked having her family assets seized if she continued to work for children who are bought and sold by traffickers, killed, tortured, sexually abused and forced to become child soldiers.

[371] On 4 January 2021, U.S. District Judge Katherine Polk Failla in New York City issued a preliminary injunction against the Trump administration from imposing criminal or civil penalties against ICC personnel and those who support the court's work, including the plaintiffs.

[379] On 9 January 2025, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Illegitimate Court Counteraction Act by 243-140 to sanction the ICC in protest at its arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant issued in November 2024.

[382][383] On February 6, 2025, U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order imposing economic and travel sanctions on individuals involved in International Criminal Court (ICC) investigations targeting U.S. citizens and allies, notably Israel.

This move mirrors a similar stance taken during Trump's first term, when sanctions were applied to ICC officials over investigations into alleged war crimes by U.S. forces in Afghanistan.

The ASPA authorizes the President of the United States to use "all means necessary and appropriate to bring about the release of any U.S. or allied personnel being detained or imprisoned by, on behalf of, or at the request of the International Criminal Court".

[388] Human Rights Watch (HRW) reported that the ICC's prosecutor team takes no account of the roles played by the government in the conflict of Uganda, Rwanda or Congo.

[390][391] It is also argued that there is little evidence that international criminal prosecution practically fosters peace: "the ICC has been used as a means of intervention in ongoing conflicts with the expectation that the indictments, arrests, and trials of elite perpetrators have deterrence and preventive effects for atrocity crimes.

His paper essentially argues that the Αl‐Senussi case arguably is the first instance of the complementarity principle's actual implementation eleven whole years after the ratification of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.

[403] Despite its lack of jurisdiction, the ICC announced in 2016 that it would prioritize criminal cases linked to land grabbing, illegal resource extraction, or environmental degradation caused by corporate activity.