A Summary of the Case Law of the International Criminal Court

Early decisions by the Pre-Trial Chambers of the International Criminal Court are creating a foundation for interpretation of the Rome Statute. Although these decisions are not yet final and may be subject to appeal, they provide interesting insights into how the International Criminal Court will operate. As the first court rulings on many novel issues of international criminal law, including victim participation, they show how the court is applying the Rome Statute in practice. To aid in understanding the court’s early jurisprudence, Human Rights Watch has created a short summary of a few key decisions in the past year. This summary is not exhaustive. Rather, it focuses on a small number of decisions Human Rights Watch believes might be of interest to those following the workings of the court. This summary is designed to provide readers a sense of the important developments in the court to date and does not contain analysis of or commentary on the decisions themselves. The full text of the decisions may be found on the website of the court at http://www.icc-cpi.int.