Mobilizing Legislators as Champions for
Human Rights, Democracy, and a Sustainable World
Bahamas signed the Rome Statute on 29 December 2000. The decision to ratify lies with the Cabinet, though the Attorney General’s office provides significant input in the decision.
Co-organized by Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Justice and the Parliament of Argentina in cooperation with PGA & the ICC, Buenos Aires, Argentina
In February 2016, PGA President, Dip. Minou Tavarez Mirabal (Dominican Republic) addressed the Committee on Juridical and Political Affairs of the Organization of American States (OAS) at its regular high-level session on the International Criminal Court.
Hosted by the Permanent Mission of Ireland to the United Nations, and organized by PGA, a set of informal consultations with MPs on the key issue of Cooperation with the ICC took place in New York on December 6, 2010, opening day of the 9th ASP.
It is imperative that the Rome Statute be ratified universally for the successful functioning of the Court. Parliamentarians should ensure that the ICC is truly universal.
Created by the Rome Statute, the International Criminal Court (ICC) is the first permanent and independent international court capable of investigating and bringing to justice individuals who commit the most serious violations of international criminal law, international humanitarian law, and human rights.
The Rome Statute defines the crimes under the Court’s jurisdiction and provides the general principles and procedures for the operation of the Court. It also outlines the cooperation obligations of its State Parties. It is imperative that the Rome Statute be ratified universally for the successful functioning of the Court. Parliamentarians should ensure that the ICC is truly universal.
The ICC is the first and only permanent independent court with the mandate to investigate and prosecute individuals responsible for committing international crimes, namely genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression. Its 18 judges from around the world, elected for a nine-year term, play a key role in ensuring this expectation is lived up to through their primary mandate to render authoritative and high-quality jurisprudence and guarantee fair trials.
Therefore, the quality of the judges has fundamental importance to the performance, efficiency, and effectiveness of the ICC, which is at the heart of the long-term success of the ICC and the Rome Statute system as a whole. In this handbook, PGA sets forth specific criteria and recommendations for Parliamentarians to encourage their governments to improve national nomination procedures for ICC judicial candidates and adopt good practices and requirements to ensure these processes are fair, transparent, and merit-based. The goal of robust nomination procedures is to ensure that only candidate judges or jurists of the highest caliber make it on the ballot.
It is our honor and privilege to present to you the Third Edition of the Handbook on the Ratification and Implementation of the Kampala Amendments on the Crime of Aggression to the Rome Statute of the ICC.
It is the product of our collaborative effort aimed at assisting States in ratifying the amendments adopted by consensus in Kampala and helping criminalize the most serious forms of the illegal use of force.
