THE HAGUE 11 March 2008 International Criminal Court turns five. About to try first case, and eying Dafur

On 11 Mar 2003 Queen Beatrice of the Netherlands presided over the inauguration of the International Criminal Court, which was established on 1 Jul 2002 after the required minimum of 60 countries ratified the so-called Rome Statute. The world's first permanent international criminal court, it was set up to try the most serious crimes of international concern—genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. Five years on, it is preparing to try its first cases, all related to African conflicts.

There are three suspected perpetrators of war crimes from the Democratic Republic of the Congo: Thomas Lubanga Dyilo, Germain Katanga and Mathieu Ngudjolo Chui. Dyilo faces charges relating to conscripting, enlisting, and engaging children under the age of 15 in hostilities. In ICC custody, Dyilo is the founder of the Union of Congolese Patriots and the alleged commander of its military wing, the Patriotic Forces for the Liberation of the Congo.

There are four Ugandan defendants and there could be as many as 51 suspected perpetrators of war crimes in the Darfur region of Sudan.

The Sudan case has also suffered a potential setback: the Red Cross, which has first-hand information about incidents likely to make up the ICC case has said it won't testify for fear of harming its signature neutrality.

Five years after the required 60 countries ratified the treaty, another 44 countries have ratified it. A notable exception is the United States. An early blow to the new court was the withdrawal form the Charter of the United States and Washington's negotiations for bilateral deals that would exempt Americans from ICC prosecution. UPDATED Feb/08

RELATED READING:

ICC web
http://www.icc-cpi.int/home.html

ICC timeline (Canada Gov.)
http://www.international.gc.ca/foreign_policy/icc/timeline-en.asp

International Criminal Court to name Darfur war crimes suspects next week (UN 22 Feb 2007)
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=21654&Cr=sudan&Cr1=

Red Cross leader: We can't testify on war crimes (AP/Concord Monitor 24 Feb 2007)
http://www.concordmonitor.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070224/REPOSITORY/702240366/1013/48HOURS