The Birth of the International Criminal Court: The 1998 Rome Conference

Canadian Yearbook of International Law

Volumn 36, Issue , 1999, Pages 3-39

  Kirsch, Philippe ^a   Holmes, John T ^a  

^a Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade ^*  (Canada)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

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EID: 85008442843     PISSN: 00690058     EISSN: 19250169     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1017/S0069005800006871     Document Type: Conference Paper

References (35)

1. The official title of the Conference was the United Nations Diplomatic Conference of Plenipotentiaries on the Establishment of an International Criminal Court, Rome, Italy, June 15 to July 17, 1998.
2. The United States requested a vote in the Conference Plenary but specified that it did not request a recorded vote. Therefore, there is no official record of how states voted.
3. The Work of the International Law Commission 29-30 (5th ed., UN, 1996).
4. A definition of aggression was developed by the General Assembly in 1974: seeUNDocA/RES/33i4(XXIX).
5. UNDoc.A/C.6/44/L.i8 (1989).
6. UNGA Resolution 44/39 (Dec. 4, 1989).
7. UNGA Resolution 47/33 (Nov. 25, 1992).
8. Official Records of the General Assembly, 49th Sess., Supp. No. 10 (A/49/io).
9. UNGA Resolution 49/53 (Dec. 9, 1994).
10. UNGA Resolution 50/46 (Dec. 11, 1995).
11. Report of the International Law Commission on its Forty-Sixth Session, Draft Statute for an International Criminal Court, May 2 to July 22, 1994 (G.A., 49th Sess., Supp. No. 10 (A/4Q/io), 1994.
12. UN Doc. A/Conf. i83/2/Add.i (finalized Apr. 14, 1998).
13. the Report of the Preparatory Committee on the Establishment of an International Criminal Court, Vol. i (Proceedings of the Preparatory Committee during Mar.-Apr. and Aug. 1996), G.A., 5ist Sess., Supp. No. 22 (A/51/22) at 20 [hereinafter Report of the Preparatory Committee].
14. Report of the Preparatory Committee, supranote 19. UNDoc.A/Conf.i83/INF/3 (June 5, 1998).
15. Section G of the "Strategic Objectives and Actions: Women in Power and Decision-making," Platform for Action and the Beijing Declaration, Fourth World Conference on Women, Beijing, China (Sept. 4-15, 1995).
16. see Darryl Robinson, "Defining 'Crimes Against Humanity' at the Rome Conference," (1999) 93 A.J.I.L. 43.
17. Art. 18 of the ICC statute, "Preliminary Rulings Regarding Admissibility." 41 "Filibustering Tactics Stall Negotiations," Terra Viva, supra note 22, July i, 1998.
18. UN Doc. A/CONE i83/C.i/L.53 (July 6, 1998).
19. Bureau proposal, A/Conf. 183/0. i/L.59, Art. 5 quater, B(o) (vi).
20. Bureau proposal, A/Conf. 183/0. i/L.5g, Art. 5 bis and Art. 5 ter.
21. Report of the Preparatory Committee, supra note 19.
22. Bureau proposal, A/Conf.i83/C.i/L.5g, Art. xx.
23. The proposal by India discussed under text heading "The Final Package," infra. In the Bureau proposal, the role of the Security Council provision no longer contained options pertaining to aggression, because they were subject to the negotiations on the definition of that crime.
24. Bureau proposal, A/Conf.i83/0.1/L.5Q, Art. 12, Option 2.
25. Bureau proposal, A/Conf. 183/0. i/L.5Q, Art. 7 bis. 59 Bureau discussion paper, A/Conf.i 83/0.1/L.53, Art. 7, Options 2, 3.
26. Bureau proposal, A/Conf. 183/0.1/L.59, Art. 7, Options 1,2, and 3.
27. Under the July 15, 1998, Headline of "High Noon,".
28. Rules 34 and 52 of the Conference Rules of Procedure. UN Doc. A/CONEi83/Add.2 (Apr. 14, 1998) 66
29. "NAM Won't Budge on Aggression, Nukes" Terra Viva, July 15, 1998
30. Rule 30 of the Rules of Procedure of the Conference required, as a general rule, that proposals be circulated not later than the day preceding the meeting at which it was considered: UN Doc. A/CONF. i83/2/Add.2.
31. In UN Doc. A/Conf.i83/C.i/L.72, India submitted a number of revisions to the ICC statute, to limit the role of the Security Council and introduce "nuclear weapons" as a prohibited weapon, without success. In addition, the United States attempted to include revisions to restrict the ICG's jurisdiction under A/Conf.i83/C.i/L.go, which were also rejected overwhelmingly by the Committee of the Whole.
32. quot;A Court Is Born: Applause, Jubilation as US and Indian Amendments are Rejected," Terra Viva, supranote 22,July 18, 1998.
33. quot;Alliances Cut Through North-South Divide," Terra Viva, supranote 22, June 22, 1998-79.
34. International Criminal Court: Some Questions and Answers, 2 (UN Department of Public Information), available at www.un.org/icc.
35. Resolution F in the Annex to the Conference Final Act, UN Doc. A/CONF. 183/io, provides a non-exhaustive list of instruments to be developed by the Preparatory Commission to facilitate the establishment and operation of the Court.