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Volume I, s.3 Jurisdiction, 18 Issues of Admissibility and Jurisdiction, Ch.18.1 Complementarity: National Courts versus the ICC

John T. Holmes

From: The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court

Edited By: Professor Antonio Cassese, Professor Paola Gaeta, Mr John R.W.D. Jones

From: Oxford Public International Law (http://opil.ouplaw.com). (c) Oxford University Press, 2023. All Rights Reserved.date: 31 May 2023

The creation of the International Criminal Court is an achievement of historic import. Ironically, however, the provisions of the Rome Statute itself contemplate an institution that may never be employed. The Preamble to the Rome Statute recalls that it is the duty of all States to exercise jurisdiction over those responsible for international crimes.1 The Preamble and Article 1 of the Statute then provide that the ICC ‘shall be complementary to national jurisdictions’.2 Thus, if States fulfil their obligations under international law by exercising effective...
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