What the International Criminal Court Is

In one line

The International Criminal Court is a permanent treaty based court with international legal personality, seated at The Hague, which tries individuals for the most serious crimes of international concern and is complementary to national criminal jurisdictions.

Article 1, read word by word

An International Criminal Court is hereby established. It shall be a permanent institution and shall have the power to exercise its jurisdiction over persons for the most serious crimes of international concern, as referred to in this Statute, and shall be complementary to national criminal jurisdictions. The jurisdiction and functioning of the Court shall be governed by the provisions of this Statute.

Every phrase in that article decides something, and an answer built on it cannot go wrong.

"Hereby established." The Court is created by the Statute itself, not by a resolution of the United Nations. It is a treaty body, and its existence depends on the treaty.

"Permanent." This is the whole point of it. The tribunals that preceded it were created for a particular war or a particular country and dissolved when their work was done. A permanent court needs no new political decision to come into existence when an atrocity occurs.

"Jurisdiction over persons." The Court tries individuals, not states. That single word separates it from the International Court of Justice, which decides disputes between states.

"The most serious crimes of international concern." Its subject matter is limited to the crimes the Statute names, which are set out in the chapters below.

"As referred to in this Statute." The Court has no inherent jurisdiction over anything. If the Statute does not confer it, the Court does not have it.

"Complementary to national criminal jurisdictions." The Court is a second court, not a first one. A state that genuinely investigates and prosecutes keeps the case. Complementarity has its own chapter, and it is the answer to half the objections made to the Court.

"Governed by the provisions of this Statute." The Statute is the constitution of the Court, and a question about the Court's powers is always a question about an article of it.

The other three opening articles

Article 2, the relationship with the United Nations. The Court shall be brought into relationship with the United Nations through an agreement to be approved by the Assembly of States Parties and thereafter concluded by the President of the Court on its behalf.

The word to notice is relationship. The Court is not a United Nations organ and is not created by the Charter. It has a negotiated relationship with the United Nations, which is a different thing, and the difference is why the Security Council's powers over the Court exist only where the Statute itself gives them.