An Introduction To The International Criminal Court - Institute for ...

8
Structure and administration of the Court
The seat of the Court is The Hague, 1 but it may sit elsewhere if it considers
this desirable. The Netherlands was the only State to offer its services,
despite rumours that circulated before and during the Diplomatic Conference
about Rome, Lyon and Nuremberg as possible candidates. 2 The Hague
is already the seat of the International Court of Justice as well as of the International
Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia and other international
judicial organisations. Its candidacy must have seemed so unbeatable
to possible competitors that they declined even to throw their hats into the
ring. As part of the preparatory process for coming into force of the Rome
Statute, a ‘headquarters agreement’ was negotiated with the Netherlands. 3
The Netherlands has provided a large office building in The Hague, formerly
used by the Dutch postal service, as temporary premises for the Court. A
site for the permanent headquarters of the Court has been identified in
Scheveningen, a suburb of The Hague on the North Sea coast. An architectural
competition is being organised by the government of the Netherlands,
and the government has said it expects the permanent home for the Court
to be ready by about 2007.
The International Criminal Court is a new and independent international
organisation. The Court is formally distinct from the United Nations. Nevertheless,
the United Nations has played a seminal role in its creation, and
continues to fund the process of establishment of the Court. Its Security
Council has the right to refer cases to the Court. The precise relationship
between the two organisations is to be defined in an agreement that must
also be finalised before the Rome Statute comes into force. 4
1 Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, UN Doc. A/CONF.183/9 (hereinafter ‘Rome
Statute’), Art. 3.
2 Frank Jarasch, ‘Establishment, Organization and Financing of the International Criminal Court
(Parts I, IV, XI–XIII)’, (1998) 6 European Journal of Crime, Criminal Law and Criminal Justice 9
at 18–19.
3 Rome Statute, Art. 3(2). 4 Ibid., Art. 2.
176