Five Things to Know about the International Criminal Court

Illustrative: Police escort a group of supporters of former Ivory Coast president Laurent Gbagbo outside the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands, Thursday, Feb. 6, 2020. (AP/Peter Dejong)
Illustrative: Police escort a group of supporters of former Ivory Coast president Laurent Gbagbo outside the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands, Thursday, Feb. 6, 2020. (AP/Peter Dejong)
TT

Five Things to Know about the International Criminal Court

Illustrative: Police escort a group of supporters of former Ivory Coast president Laurent Gbagbo outside the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands, Thursday, Feb. 6, 2020. (AP/Peter Dejong)
Illustrative: Police escort a group of supporters of former Ivory Coast president Laurent Gbagbo outside the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands, Thursday, Feb. 6, 2020. (AP/Peter Dejong)

The International Criminal Court, which celebrates its 20th anniversary on July 1, is the world's only permanent tribunal to investigate and try alleged cases of genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and aggression where member states are unable or unwilling to do so.

Here are five things to know about the court based in the Dutch city of The Hague, which is investigating alleged war crimes in Ukraine, AFP reported.

- US, Russia, Israel opted out -
A total of 123 countries have ratified the court's founding Rome Statute, meaning they recognize its jurisdiction, but there are some conspicuous absences, notably the United States, Russia and Israel.

Both the United States and Russia have signed the Rome treaty but never ratified it. Moscow in 2016 withdrew its signature over an ICC report calling its annexation of the Crimean peninsula an occupation.

Israel opposed the court from the outset, fearing that its leaders and/or military could be targeted in politically motivated cases.

Other notable non-members include China, India and Myanmar.

The ICC can pursue nationals of non-member states for crimes committed on the soil of a member country or, as in the case of Ukraine, a non-member that recognizes its jurisdiction.

The UN Security Council can also call on the court to investigate potentially serious international crimes, as for instance in Libya and Sudan.

- Five convictions in two decades -
Between 2012 and 2021, the ICC successfully convicted five men of war crimes and crimes against humanity, all Africans.

Three of the five were former militia leaders from the war-torn Democratic Republic of Congo, with Bosco Ntaganda, a rebel leader nicknamed "Terminator" receiving the longest jail sentence the court has issued of 30 years for mass murder, rape and abduction.

The court also sent Dominic Ongwen, a commander of Uganda's notorious Lord's Resistance Army militia to jail as well as Malian extremist Ahmad al Faqi al Mahdi, who was convicted of destroying a mosque and mausoleums in the ancient Malian city of Timbuktu.

Former Ivory Coast president Laurent Gbagbo was the first former head of state to be tried by the ICC in 2016 but he was acquitted of crimes against humanity.

Some convictions were overturned on appeal, notably that of former Congolese vice-president Jean-Pierre Bemba, who was convicted of crimes committed by rebels under his command in Central African Republic but later cleared of responsibility.

- Failures and fugitives -
The court suffered a major setback in 2014 when its highest profile case -- over Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta's involvement in the inter-ethnic violence that broke out after disputed 2007 elections -- collapsed.

Kenyatta reluctantly appeared before the court, the first sitting head of state to do so, but the prosecutor was forced to drop the case amid allegations of witness intimidation and bribery.

Former Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir is also still being wanted by the ICC for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in the western Sudanese province of Darfur. But three years after he was deposed Sudan has yet to hand him over.

The son of former Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi, Seif al-Islam Kadhafi, has been wanted by the court on war crimes charges for over a decade.

- Dispute with Trump -
The ICC infuriated US president Donald Trump's administration in March 2020 by authorizing an investigation into alleged war crimes by US forces serving in Afghanistan.

Washington imposed sanctions on the ICC's prosecutor in protest but his successor Joe Biden later lifted them.

The investigation, which also included violence by the Taliban and ISIS group, was later suspended at the Afghan government's request but relaunched after the Taliban takeover.

Since it resumed however, it has focused on violence by the Taliban and IS to the exclusion of alleged US atrocities.

- Pivot to Ukraine -
Russia's invasion of Ukraine has vaulted the former Soviet state to the top of the agenda of a court often accused of unfairly focusing on Africa. Four days after the war started ICC prosecutor Karim Khan announced an investigation into possible war crimes.

Ukraine is not an ICC member either but it has accepted the court's jurisdiction.

A 42-strong team of ICC investigators visited Ukraine in May to gather evidence and Khan visited the Kyiv suburb of Bucha, where dozens of civilians were found murdered after the withdrawal of Russian troops.



'Save Us': Gazans Want Trump to End War with Israel

"God willing the war on the Gaza Strip will end and the situation will change," Trump told AFP.
"God willing the war on the Gaza Strip will end and the situation will change," Trump told AFP.
TT

'Save Us': Gazans Want Trump to End War with Israel

"God willing the war on the Gaza Strip will end and the situation will change," Trump told AFP.
"God willing the war on the Gaza Strip will end and the situation will change," Trump told AFP.

Palestinians in Gaza on Wednesday want Donald Trump, who won the US election, to end the war between Israel and Hamas that has devastated their territory.

The conflict sparked by Hamas's October 7 attack has taken an appalling human toll in the Gaza Strip, displacing most of its residents, causing widespread hunger and death, and leaving hospitals struggling to cope.

"We were displaced, killed... there's nothing left for us, we want peace," Mamdouh al-Jadba, who was displaced to Gaza City from Jabalia, told AFP.

"I hope Trump finds a solution, we need someone strong like Trump to end the war and save us, enough, God, this is enough," said the 60-year-old.

"I was displaced three times, my house was destroyed, my children are homeless in the south... There's nothing left, Gaza is finished."

Umm Ahmed Harb, from the Al-Shaaf area east of Gaza City, was also counting on Trump to "stand by our side" and end the territory's suffering.

"God willing the war will end, not for our sake but for the sake of our young children who are innocent, they were martyred and are dying of hunger," she told AFP.

"We cannot buy anything with the high prices (of food). We are here in fear, terror and death."

For Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, where violence has also surged since October last year, Trump's victory was reason to fear for the future.

"Trump is firm in some decisions, but these decisions could serve Israel's interests politically more than they serve the Palestinian cause," said Samir Abu Jundi, a 60-year-old in the city of Ramallah.

Another man who identified himself only by his nickname, Abu Mohammed, said he also saw no reason to believe Trump's victory would be in favor of the Palestinians, saying "nothing will change except more decline".

He said all US presidents "are in favor of the State of Israel", the Palestinian from east Jerusalem told AFP.

The United States is Israel's main political and military backer and despite pressure from President Joe Biden's administration for a ceasefire, the support has not wavered.

Imad Fakhida, a school principal in the main West Bank city of Ramallah, said "Trump's return to power... will lead us to hell and there will be a greater and more difficult escalation."

"He is known for his complete and greatest support for Israel," he added.

- 'We expect peace' -

During his first term in office, Trump moved the US embassy to Jerusalem, recognized Israeli sovereignty over the occupied Golan Heights and helped normalize ties between Israel and several Arab states under the so-called Abraham Accords.

The Accords were condemned as "treason" by Palestinian leaders who feared they undercut their aspirations for a homeland, and led to disgruntlement in Hamas.

The war erupted on October 7, 2023 after Hamas militants attacked Israel, resulting in 1,206 deaths, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.

Israel's retaliatory campaign has killed 43,391 people in Gaza, a majority of them civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory's health ministry the United Nations considers reliable.

During his campaign for a return to the White House, Trump said Gaza, which is located on the eastern Mediterranean, could be "better than Monaco".

He also said he would have responded the same way as Israel did following the October 7 attack, while urging the US ally to "get the job done" because it was "losing a lot of support".

More broadly he has promised to bring an end to raging international crises, even saying he could "stop wars with a telephone call".

In Gaza, such statements gave reason for hope.

"We expect peace to come and the war to end with Trump because in his election campaign he said that he wants peace and calls for stopping the wars on Gaza and the Middle East," said Ibrahim Alian, 33, from Gaza City.

Like many of the territory's residents, Alian has been displaced several times by the fighting. He said he also lost his father to the war.

"God willing the war on the Gaza Strip