On April 11, ten governments ratified the statute of the International Criminal Court, bringing the total number of ratifications to 66, well above the 60 needed to launch the court. With this milestone, the treaty will take effect July 1, and the court should be up and running within a year.
This is an historic moment for the cause of human rights and international justice. The ICC will be the first standing court of its kind, a permanent international criminal tribunal with potentially global reach to try individuals responsible for the most serious human rights crimes: genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity such as systematic torture, enforced disappearance, or rape. The ICC was created because national court systems--from Guatemala to Sierra Leone to Iraq--have failed to provide justice to the victims of egregious crimes. The Court will take cases when national systems do not work.
Human Rights Watch has played a central role in pushing the court onto the international agenda, helping negotiate the treaty, promoting ratification, and defending the court against its detractors, particularly the United States. We will continue to monitor the establishment of the court, including the selection of judges and prosecutors, to ensure that the Court fulfills its high expectations.
