PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL LAW

PSDA ASSIGNMENT SUBMISSION 1

YOUTUBE VIDEO REVIEW

NAME JEE

ROLL NO. 5467

COURSE LLB HONS

SECTION B
● YouTube Video Review: https://youtu.be/zGzDOo7PDRU
The video starts with describing the reason for setting up the International
Criminal Court and how it came into being. It was during the Rome diplomatic
conference wherein 160 countries designed the world‘s first permanent
International Criminal Court through a treaty. This Rome Statute was ratified
by 60 countries, and came into being on 1st July, 2002. The court is located in
Hague, Netherlands.

This Rome statute was to be binding on all the states who accepted the
jurisdiction of the court, and it tried anyone above the age of 18 years for
heinous and grave crimes like genocide, war crimes and crimes against
humanity. The video discusses the principle of complementarity, which means
that the court wanted to complement the criminal justice to system already
existing in all the states, and not replacing it.

Video goes on to explain the four organs of the International Criminal Court.

1) The Presidency

It is mainly responsible for supervising punishment imposed on the person

found guilty by the court. It composed of one president and two vice presidents,
who represent the core to the outside world, helping in organising the work of
the judges.

2) The Chambers

The chambers are the court rooms of the judges, who work together in small
groups. The video mentions three kinds of chambers, that are:

 The Pre- Trial

 Trial Chambers

 The Appeals Chamber: The number of judges in each chamber, and the
duration for which each judge assumes his/her position is also mentioned.
These judges are persons of high moral character, are impartial and have
integrity. It is refreshing to note that there is a fair representation of men
and woman and equitable distribution of geography.
 These Judges are responsible to ensure that everyone is treated fairly, and
the victims and witnesses are protected.

3) The Registry

This is considered the biggest organ of the international criminal Court, with its
functions being administrative and operational in nature. They provide support
to the judiciary and to the office of the prosecutor. The aim is to ultimately
conduct fair and effective expeditious public proceedings.

The Registry is headed by the Registrar, who is the principal administrative

officer.

Some of its functions include-

 Consoling victims, and looking after their security.

 Serving the court

 Developing an effective mechanism to assist witnesses, the victims and

the defence. -Responsible for field operations in support of investigations.

 Outreach activities with the affected communities.

4)TheOffice of the Prosecutor

This office is an independent organ, and is responsible for investigating into

crime, and for the prosecution within its jurisdiction. It follows a procedure
which is a combination of two different kind of systems, that is, common law
and civil law.
The initiation of investigation takes place through the assent of the pre-trial
chamber. The witnesses are interviewed and documents are collected to enable
the office to decide the way in which the crimes were committed, and also
simultaneously identify The people responsible for these crimes.

More information regarding the functioning of the Court

I understood that the International Criminal Court relies on the different states
to give permission to issue warrants. There is a public hearing to decide whether
there is sufficient evidence to believe that the concerned person has committed
the crime, which is based on the evidence provided by the prosecutor and the
defence. if there are no substantial grounds and evidence, The suspects are
protected from facing charges.

The people that come here are considered innocent until proven guilty, so they
are not put in the jail but awaiting trial, so they stay in detention centres which
follows the highest international standards. These detention centres have various
facilities for the people.

There is the provision of victims requesting various kinds of reparations,

including compensation or rehabilitation.

For the first time in the history of international criminal justice, victims have the
right to participate in proceedings and request the petitions, this means that they
not only testify as witnesses but may also present the views and concerns at all
stages of the proceedings.

The video also mentions the assembly of state parties in brief.

● The Video
Review:https://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/insidestory/2020/06/
targeting-international-criminal-cou rt-200612182358100.html
The video basically aims to understand the reason for the USA taking such a
strong stance against the international criminal Court, and if they are legally
authorised to reject the jurisdiction of the court. The court wants to investigate
the American soldiers present in Afghanistan, to know whether they have
committed war crimes there.

America had previously signed the document, however George W Bush in 2002
decided to ensign the statute, so the USA is claiming that they have sovereign
rights to investigate their own personnel.

The result of such a strong stance from America, resulted in outrage from
human rights groups who believe that they would not be able to function well if
there are such sanctions by the government. They declare it as contempt of
international law.

This obstruction that America has created by refusing to cooperate with the
international criminal Court, makes some people believe that this will empower
dictatorships to act in the same way with regard to human rights.
Another problem that is present in this debate is that Afghanistan did not invite
the court to investigate into the matters, they did not even ratify the Rome
Statute. There also seems to be a treaty between Afghanistan and the USA that
gives America the exclusive jurisdiction on USA’s military personnel in their
country.

The Rome Statute particularly states that prior agreements should not cease to
exist just because of ratification of this treaty, thus it becomes difficult to
investigate into the matter.

The current American President Donald Trump authorising sanctions against all
the Court’s officials as well as their family involved in the investigations has
further complicated the matter. For this very decision, America has been
criticised by various nations.

They have also accused the international criminal Court of being corrupt, which
is a very serious allegation, and it is possible that they won’t back down on this
stance. One of the guest speakers in this video explains that although this may
seem controversial, it is not the first time that there have been alleged corruption
charges on someone from the court.

It is the need of the hour that America and the international criminal Court try to
come to a solution through different legal means mentioned in the statute, which
has actually come into being through strong American inputs.