Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court

The Rome Statute is the treaty that created the International Criminal Court, a permanent tribunal to prosecute individuals for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes, and, later, the crime of aggression. It was adopted at a United Nations diplomatic conference in Rome after decades of discussion that followed the Nuremberg and Tokyo trials and the ad hoc tribunals for Yugoslavia and Rwanda. The treaty entered into force in 2002 once enough states had ratified it, and the court sits in The Hague. The court can act mainly when national courts are unable or unwilling to prosecute. Several major powers, including the United States, China, Russia and India, have stayed outside it, which remains one of its central limitations.

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