Historical Introduction

Subject(s):

Elements of crimes — International criminal law, conduct of proceedings — Evidence

This chapter presents a historical introduction to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. International criminal justice first became an issue of consequence at the Paris Peace Conference of 1919. Between the wars, both intergovernmental and professional bodies developed sophisticated proposals for an international criminal court. These efforts, however, stalled with the advent of the Second World War and Cold War, regained traction in the 1990s, and culminated with the adoption of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court on July 17, 1998. The Statute entered into force on July 1, 2002. Within a year, the Court was fully operational. In June 2005, its first arrest warrants were issued and, in January 2009, its first trial began.