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

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Crimes prosecuted by the Court
The International Criminal Court has jurisdiction over four categories of
crimes: genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and aggression.
In both the preamble to the Statute and in Article 5, these are variously
described as ‘the most serious crimes of concern to the international community
as a whole’. Elsewhere, the Statute describes them as ‘unimaginable
atrocities that deeply shock the conscience of humanity’ (preamble), ‘international
crimes’ (preamble), and ‘the most serious crimes of international
concern’ (Article 1). 1
The concept of ‘international crimes’ has been around for centuries. They
were generally considered to be offences whose repression compelled some
international dimension. Piracy, for example, was committed on the high
seas. This feature of the crime necessitated special jurisdictional rules as well
as cooperation between States. Similar requirements obtained with respect
to the slave trade, trafficking in women and children, trafficking in narcotic
drugs, hijacking, terrorism and money-laundering. It was indeed this sort of
crime that inspired Trinidad and Tobago, in 1989, to reactivate the issue of
an international criminal court within the General Assembly of the United
Nations. 2 Crimes of this type are already addressed in a rather sophisticated
scheme of international treaties, and for this reason the drafters of the Rome
Statute referred to them as ‘treaty crimes’.
The crimes over which the International Criminal Court has jurisdiction
are ‘international’ not so much because international cooperation is needed
for their repression, although this is also true, but because their heinous
nature elevates them to a level where they are of ‘concern’ to the international
community. These crimes are somewhat more recent in origin than many
of the so-called ‘treaty crimes’, in that their recognition and subsequent
1 For an extensive review of the crimes punishable by the Court, see Machteld Boot, Genocide, Crimes
Against Humanity, War Crimes: Nullum Crimen Sine Lege and the Subject Matter Jurisdiction of
the International Criminal Court, Antwerp: Intersentia, 2002.
2 GA Res. 44/89.
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