Why is the international criminal court important
Why is the International Criminal Court under attack? - BBC News
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the International Criminal Court also
known as the ICC was set up in 2002 to
bring to justice perpetrators of
genocide war crimes crimes against
humanity and the crime of aggression but
the effectiveness and legitimacy of the
court has been widely questioned the US
has been especially vocal in its
opposition as far as America is
concerned the ICC has no jurisdiction no
legitimacy and no authority so is the
ICC up to the task of bringing justice
the ICC has 123 members but many
countries including the US Russia and
China are not part of the court and do
not accept its jurisdiction the US has
threatened tough action against the ICC
if it attempts to prosecute Americans
for alleged war crimes in Afghanistan
the u.s. also judged to a possible
investigation of Israeli actions in
occupied Palestinian territory it argues
the court undermines national
sovereignty the court has also been
criticized for unfairly targeting
African countries of the 26 cases
brought before the court so far all have
dealt with crimes committed in Africa to
date the court has reached verdicts in
six cases resulting in eight convictions
and two acquittals
the court says it is examining many
alleged crimes outside Africa in
September 2018 it announced a probe into
the treatment of the row hinge of
Muslims playing ethnic violence in
Myanmar but Myanmar is not a member of
the ICC and does not accept its
jurisdiction the court has found a way
around this it is determined that
elements of the alleged crimes against
the Rohingya took place in Bangladesh
which is part of the ICC the court is
now opening a preliminary examination
but even so it's not certain that
perpetrators can be brought to trial
since the ICC does not have its own
police or enforcement body it would rely
on Myanmar to extradite suspects this
demonstrates just how difficult it is
for the court to carry out its work
especially without the support of some
of the world's most powerful nations
such as the United States the ICC says
it will continue to do its work
undeterred
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