The International Criminal Court confirmed that it is investigating potential crimes against journalists since the outbreak of war between Israel and Hamas militants in Gaza, where dozens of reporters have been killed.
Key Points
- Media advocacy group Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said in November that it had filed a complaint with the Hague-based ICC alleging war crimes over the deaths of journalists trying to cover the conflict
- At least 79 journalists and media professionals, the vast majority Palestinian, have been killed since the war began three months ago
- After the latest deaths, the United Nations’s rights office said that it was “very concerned by (the) high death toll of media workers in Gaza.”
- The Gaza war broke out after Hamas gunmen launched their October 7 attack that resulted in about 1,140 deaths in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.
- Israel has responded with relentless bombardment and a ground invasion of Gaza that have killed at least 23,210 people, mostly women and children, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry.
What is the International Criminal Court?
- The International Criminal Court (ICC) was established in 2002
- It is governed by the Rome Statute
- It is the first permanent, treaty-based, international criminal court.
- The ICC is an independent international organisation, and is not part of the United Nations system. Its seat is at The Hague, a city in the Netherlands.
- Although the Court’s expenses are funded primarily by States Parties to the Rome Statute, it also receives voluntary contributions from governments, international organisations, individuals, corporations and other entities.
- English, French, Arabic, Chinese, Russian and Spanish are the 6 official languages of ICC.
Jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court
- The court has jurisdiction over four categories of crimes under international law:
- genocide, or the intent to destroy in whole or in part a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group;
- war crimes, or grave breaches of the laws of war, which include the Geneva Conventions’ prohibitions on torture, the use of child soldiers, and attacks on civilian targets, such as hospitals or schools;
- crimes against humanity, or violations committed as part of large-scale attacks against civilian populations, including murder, rape, imprisonment, slavery, and torture; and
- crimes of aggression, or the use or threat of armed force by a state against the territorial integrity, sovereignty, or political independence of another state, or violations of the UN Charter.
International Criminal Court Membership
- There are 123 countries party to the Rome Statute.
- Some forty countries never signed the treaty, including China, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Iraq, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey.
- Several dozen others signed the statute, but their legislatures never ratified it. These include Egypt, Iran, Israel, Russia, Sudan, Syria, and the United States.
- Kiribati recently became the latest country to ratify Rome Statute in November 2019.
- Although the U.S. was part of the founding movement to build the ICC to try cases of genocide and war crime, especially after the courts in Rwanda failed, it decided not to ratify the Statute in 2002.
- Countries like Russia, China and India, however, were never in favour of the Rome Statute or the ICC, and never signed on.
Composition and Voting Power of the International Criminal Court
- The Court’s management oversight and legislative body, the Assembly of States Parties, consists of one representative from each state party.
- Each state party has one vote and “every effort” has to be made to reach decisions by consensus. If consensus cannot be reached, decisions are made by vote.
- The Assembly is presided over by a president and two vice-presidents, who are elected by the members to three-year terms.
To Download Monthly Current Affairs PDF Click here
Click here to get a free demo
Everything About CLAT 2026
