What does ‘complementarity’ mean?
The ICC is complementary to national criminal jurisdictions, meaning that States have the primary competence and authority to investigate and prosecute international crimes. According to the principle of complementarity, the ICC may only exercise jurisdiction when national legal systems fail to do so, when it is demonstrated that they are unwilling or unable to genuinely carry out proceedings.
The principle of complementarity is implemented by the ICC through Articles 17 and 53 of the Rome Statute, which deal with the conditions for a specific case to be admissible at the ICC. Given that complementarity is assessed on a case-by-case basis, the fact that the ICC is exercising jurisdiction in a given situation must not prevent the territorial or other competent States to investigate and prosecute other atrocities potentially under the jurisdiction of the ICC. The ICC and States must together ensure that all atrocities in each situation are addressed.
Why is Complementarity Important?
Promoting national procedures contributes to:
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Respecting the primary jurisdiction of States to end impunity for the most serious crimes of concern to humanity as a whole.
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Ensuring higher efficiency and effectiveness in the investigation and prosecution of international crimes, given that:
- There are limits to the number of proceedings the ICC alone can conduct
- National justice proceedings have certain advantages over international ones, such as:
- Being closer to the victims and affected communities thus enabling their participation of in the proceedings
- Being closer to the crimes scenes thus facilitating evidence gathering
- Counting with police and law enforcement bodies which execute arrest warrants in a less complex way
- Being more time and cost-effective
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Strengthening a culture of the rule of law and legality within States parties which lays the foundations for peaceful and sustainable societies.