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

structure and administration of the court 187
200 persons in its first full year of operation. A twelve-member Committee
on Budget and Finance has been established to review relevant technical
issues. 45
Settlement of disputes
The Rome Statute is an international treaty subject to many general legal
rules developed by custom over the centuries and partially codified in the
1969 Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties. 46 A multilateral treaty is,
in effect, a form of contract between the States that adhere to it. Disputes
may arise between two or more States as to the interpretation or application
of the Statute. Such cases are to be submitted to the Assembly of States
Parties, which may attempt to settle the case or propose alternative means
of settlement, including referring the case to the International Court of
Justice. 47 However, such a procedure can only work with States that have
also accepted the jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice, or that
agree to its jurisdiction in a specific case.
Reservations
It is not at all uncommon for States to formulate reservations or interpretative
declarations at the time they sign or ratify international treaties. In
the absence of any special rules in the treaty itself, such reservations are permissible
provided they do not violate the ‘object and purpose’ of the treaty.
Complex questions have arisen in recent years with respect to the legality
of reservations to certain treaties, and the legal consequences of invalid
reservations. 48 All of this is avoided by Article 120, which states simply: ‘No
reservations may be made to this Statute.’ 49 But the provision has not prevented
some States from making interpretative declarations at the time of
ratification. To the extent such declarations do not seek to limit the State’s
obligations under the Statute, they would seem to be permissible. In practice,
45 ‘Establishment of the Committee on Budget and Finance’, ICC-ASP/1/Res.4.
46 Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties (1979) 1155 UNTS 331.
47 Rome Statute, Art. 119.
48 The matter is currently being studied by the International Law Commission, under the direction
of rapporteur Alain Pellet: ‘Report of the International Law Commission on the Work of its
Fiftieth Session, 20 April–12 June 1998, 27 July–14 August 1998’, UN Doc. A/53/10 and Corr.1.
49 See Tuiloma Neroni Slade and Roger S. Clark, ‘Preamble and Final Clauses’, in Lee, The International
Criminal Court, pp. 421–50 at pp. 431–2.