Breaking the law
Breaking the law is bad enough when done by a person or group in general, but imagine the consequences when done on a much larger scale. International criminal law is a self-governing branch of law that applies to international crimes and the tribunals and courts created to bring justice where certain individuals have taken part in criminal activity on an international level. Some may wonder, “What constitutes breaking an international criminal law?” First, international criminal laws can be classified in two ways, by whether the “alleged crime” has been committed against an entire world community (international), or rather affecting the interests of more than one state (transnational). Some examples of an international crime would be genocide, war crimes, such that would threaten security and world order. Transnational crimes would be terrorism, drug trafficking, any type of trans border criminal activity. The biggest advocate in combating international crime has been the United Nations. They oversee and persecute those responsible for committing crimes of slavery, war crimes and crimes against humanity, terrorism, torture, apartheid, narcotic drugs, the taking of hostages, aircraft hijacking, and genocide. Some of these terms may seem broad in categorization, so let’s look into “war crimes” to gain a better understanding of what constitutes as one. As per the Geneva Conventions, war crimes are: “grave breaches” along with other serious violations of international humanitarian norms applicable in international and non-international armed conflict .
International criminal law imposes much more substantial penalties for those individuals or groups that work to act against it. In order to impose justice upon those who break these international criminal laws, a specialty court is necessary.
This is where the International Criminal Court (ICC) comes in. The ICC was born in 2002 after the Statute of the International Criminal Court , its founding treaty, came into force. The ICC is a permanent council that prosecutes individuals for crimes against humanity, war crimes, genocide, and crime of aggression that was committed on or after the date it was created. Although the official seat of the ICC is in the Netherlands, its proceedings can take place anywhere. Some examples of notorious cases that have been or are being investigated by the ICC in regards to breaking international criminal law are the situations in Uganda, Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, and the Central African Republic. In these cases, warrants were filed for arrests of those investigated. Some arrests have been made, other fugitives remain at large, while the rest have died or are believed to have died. While not every case has been open, these are very positive steps that were taken to force out those who’ve broken international criminal laws and hold them responsible for their actions. The system has come a long way in which to deal with these individuals and groups to better the world’s society. By enforcing international criminal law, it is less likely crimes will be committed against states and communities in the world, therefore making the world a better place to live.
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