Summary
The Jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court (ICC)
The ICC's Subject-Matter Jurisdiction. The ICC is authorized to prosecute and try individuals for 4 crimes deemed to be the most serious crimes of concern to the international community as a whole.
Genocide
The committing of certain acts with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, including killing members of the group; deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; and forcibly transferring children of the group.
Crimes Against Humanity
The committing of certain acts as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian population, with knowledge of the attack, including murder, enslavement, forcible transfer of population, torture, rape, enforced disappearance, and other inhumane acts of a similar character intentionally causing great suffering.
War Crimes
Serious violations of the laws and customs applicable in armed conflicts, including the willful killing of civilians and other noncombatants; intentionally directing attacks against the civilian population or civil objects; rape; and intentionally using starvation of civilians as a method of warfare, such as by depriving them of relief supplies.
Crime of Aggression
The planning, preparation, initiation, or execution by a person able to exercise control over the political or military action of a State, of the use of armed force against the sovereignty, territorial integrity or political independence of another State, or in any other manner inconsistent with the Charter of the United Nations.
3 Ways to Trigger an ICC Investigation
1 State Party
A state party to the Rome Statute refers to the Prosecutor a situation in which one or more crimes appear to have been committed.
2 ICC Prosecutor
The ICC Prosecutor initiates an investigation propio motu—i.e., on the Prosecutor's own initiative—on the basis of information received regarding allegations of the commission of Rome Statute crimes.
The reach of the ICC's jurisdiction depends on the crime alleged:
Genocide, Crimes Against Humanity & War Crimes
The ICC has jurisdiction if:
The crime was allegedly committed by a national of or on the territory of a state party to the Rome Statute.
The crime was allegedly committed by a national of or on the territory of a non-state party that has accepted the ICC's jurisdiction.
Crime of Aggression
The ICC has jurisdiction if the alleged crime was committed by a national of or on the territory of a state party AND that party has not opted out of the ICC's jurisdiction over the crime of aggression.*
*The Rome Statute prohibits the ICC from exercising jurisdiction over alleged crimes of aggression committed by the national of or on the territory of a non-party state.
3 Security Council
The Security Council refers a situationto the ICC Prosecutor pursuant to the Council's authority under Chapter VII of the U.N. Charter to take measures in response to what the Council determines is a threat to the peace, breach of the peace, or act of aggression.
Jurisdiction
The ICC has jurisdiction over all four Rome Statute crimes, including the crime of aggression, regardless of where the alleged crime occurred or the nationality of the alleged offender, pursuant to the terms of a Security Council referral.
An Example of ICC Jurisdiction in Practice
ICC Prosecutor's Investigation of Rome Statute Crimes Allegedly Committed in Ukrainian Territory
Jurisdiction
The ICC has jurisdiction to investigate genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes committed by the nationals of either party to the Russia-Ukraine conflict on Ukrainian territory because: several state parties to the Rome Statute referred the Ukraine situation to the ICC Prosecutor, and Ukraine has accepted the ICC's jurisdiction for that purpose.
No Jurisdiction
The ICC has no jurisdiction over the alleged commission of the crime of aggression by Russian nationals against Ukraine because:
Russia is neither a party to the Rome Statute nor has accepted the ICC's jurisdiction, and the Security Council has not referred the situation to the ICC Prosecutor. (Russia's veto power as a permanent Council member effectively precludesthat jurisdictional avenue.)
Information as of July 15, 2024. Prepared by Karen Sokol, Legislative Attorney; Mari Lee, Visual Information Specialist; and Cassandra Higgins, Geospatial Information Systems Analyst. Map source: U.S. Department of State and ESRI.
For more information, see CRS Report R48004, The International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court: A Primer, by Karen Sokol (2024), www.crs.gov/Reports/R48004, and Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, www.icc-cpi.int/sites/default/files/Publications/Rome-Statute.pdf.