The Rome Statute

Basic Legal Texts

The Official Journal

The Official Journal of the ICC was created pursuant to regulation 7 of the Regulations of the Court and contains the following texts and amendments there to:

1. The Rome Statute;
2. The Rules of Procedure and Evidence;
3. The Elements of Crimes;
4. The Regulations of the Court;
5. The Regulations of the Office of the Prosecutor;
6. The Regulations of the Registry;
7. The Code of Professional Conduct for counsel;
8. The Code of Judicial Ethics;
9. Staff rules of the International Criminal Court;
10. The Staff Regulations;
11. The Financial Regulations and Rules;
12. The Agreement on the Privileges and Immunities of the International Criminal Court;
13. Agreement between the International Criminal Court and the United Nations;
14. The Headquarters Agreement with the Host State;
15. Any other material as decided by the Presidency in consultation with the Prosecutor and/or the Registrar.

ROME STATUTE OF THE INTERNATIONAL COURT

http://www.icc-cpi.int/NR/rdonlyres/ADD16852-AEE9-4757-ABE7-9CDC7CF02886/283503/RomeStatutEng1.pdf

Article 8

2

War crimes

1. The Court shall have jurisdiction in respect of war crimes in particular when

committed as part of a plan or policy or as part of a large-scale commission of such

crimes.

2. For the purpose of this Statute, "war crimes" means:

(a) Grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, namely, any of

the following acts against persons or property protected under the provisions

of the relevant Geneva Convention:

(i) Wilful killing;

(ii) Torture or inhuman treatment, including biological experiments;

(iii) Wilfully causing great suffering, or serious injury to body or health;

(iv) Extensive destruction and appropriation of property, not justified by

military necessity and carried out unlawfully and wantonly;

(v) Compelling a prisoner of war or other protected person to serve in the

forces of a hostile Power;

(vi) Wilfully depriving a prisoner of war or other protected person of the

rights of fair and regular trial;

(vii) Unlawful deportation or transfer or unlawful confinement;

(viii) Taking of hostages.

(b) Other serious violations of the laws and customs applicable in international

armed conflict, within the established framework of international law,

namely, any of the following acts:

(i) Intentionally directing attacks against the civilian population as such

or against individual civilians not taking direct part in hostilities;

(ii) Intentionally directing attacks against civilian objects, that is, objects

which are not military objectives;

(iii) Intentionally directing attacks against personnel, installations,

material, units or vehicles involved in a humanitarian assistance or

peacekeeping mission in accordance with the Charter of the United

Nations, as long as they are entitled to the protection given to civilians

or civilian objects under the international law of armed conflict;

2 Paragraphs 2 (e) (xiii) to 2 (e) (xv) were amended by resolution RC/Res.5 of 11 June 2010 (adding

paragraphs 2 (e) (xiii) to 2 (e) (xv)).Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court

6

(iv) Intentionally launching an attack in the knowledge that such attack

will cause incidental loss of life or injury to civilians or damage to

civilian objects or widespread, long-term and severe damage to the

natural environment which would be clearly excessive in relation to

the concrete and direct overall military advantage anticipated;

(v) Attacking or bombarding, by whatever means, towns, villages,

dwellings or buildings which are undefended and which are not

military objectives;

(vi) Killing or wounding a combatant who, having laid down his arms or

having no longer means of defence, has surrendered at discretion;

(vii) Making improper use of a flag of truce, of the flag or of the military

insignia and uniform of the enemy or of the United Nations, as well

as of the distinctive emblems of the Geneva Conventions, resulting in

death or serious personal injury;

(viii) The transfer, directly or indirectly, by the Occupying Power of parts

of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies, or the

deportation or transfer of all or parts of the population of the occupied

territory within or outside this territory;

(ix) Intentionally directing attacks against buildings dedicated to religion,

education, art, science or charitable purposes, historic monuments,

hospitals and places where the sick and wounded are collected,

provided they are not military objectives;

(x) Subjecting persons who are in the power of an adverse party to

physical mutilation or to medical or scientific experiments of any kind

which are neither justified by the medical, dental or hospital treatment

of the person concerned nor carried out in his or her interest, and

which cause death to or seriously endanger the health of such person

or persons;

(xi) Killing or wounding treacherously individuals belonging to the hostile

nation or army;

(xii) Declaring that no quarter will be given;

(xiii) Destroying or seizing the enemy's property unless such destruction or

seizure be imperatively demanded by the necessities of war;

(xiv) Declaring abolished, suspended or inadmissible in a court of law the

rights and actions of the nationals of the hostile party;

(xv) Compelling the nationals of the hostile party to take part in the

operations of war directed against their own country, even if they were

in the belligerent's service before the commencement of the war;

(xvi) Pillaging a town or place, even when taken by assault;

(xvii) Employing poison or poisoned weapons;

(xviii) Employing asphyxiating, poisonous or other gases, and all analogous

liquids, materials or devices;

(xix) Employing bullets which expand or flatten easily in the human body,

such as bullets with a hard envelope which does not entirely cover the

core or is pierced with incisions; Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court

7

(xx) Employing weapons, projectiles and material and methods of warfare

which are of a nature to cause superfluous injury or unnecessary

suffering or which are inherently indiscriminate in violation of the

international law of armed conflict, provided that such weapons,

projectiles and material and methods of warfare are the subject of

a comprehensive prohibition and are included in an annex to this

Statute, by an amendment in accordance with the relevant provisions

set forth in articles 121 and 123;

(xxi) Committing outrages upon personal dignity, in particular humiliating

and degrading treatment;

(xxii) Committing rape, sexual slavery, enforced prostitution, forced

pregnancy, as defined in article 7, paragraph 2 (f), enforced sterilization,

or any other form of sexual violence also constituting a grave breach of

the Geneva Conventions;

(xxiii) Utilizing the presence of a civilian or other protected person to

render certain points, areas or military forces immune from military

operations;

(xxiv) Intentionally directing attacks against buildings, material, medical

units and transport, and personnel using the distinctive emblems of

the Geneva Conventions in conformity with international law;

(xxv) Intentionally using starvation of civilians as a method of warfare by

depriving them of objects indispensable to their survival, including

wilfully impeding relief supplies as provided for under the Geneva

Conventions;

(xxvi) Conscripting or enlisting children under the age of fifteen years into

the national armed forces or using them to participate actively in

hostilities.

(c) In the case of an armed conflict not of an international character, serious

violations of article 3 common to the four Geneva Conventions of 12 August

1949, namely, any of the following acts committed against persons taking no

active part in the hostilities, including members of armed forces who have

laid down their arms and those placed hors de combat by sickness, wounds,

detention or any other cause:

(i) Violence to life and person, in particular murder of all kinds, mutilation,

cruel treatment and torture;

(ii) Committing outrages upon personal dignity, in particular humiliating

and degrading treatment;

(iii) Taking of hostages;

(iv) The passing of sentences and the carrying out of executions without

previous judgement pronounced by a regularly constituted court,

affording all judicial guarantees which are generally recognized as

indispensable.

(d) Paragraph 2 (c) applies to armed conflicts not of an international character

and thus does not apply to situations of internal disturbances and tensions,

such as riots, isolated and sporadic acts of violence or other acts of a similar

nature. Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court

8

(e) Other serious violations of the laws and customs applicable in armed

conflicts not of an international character, within the established framework

of international law, namely, any of the following acts:

(i) Intentionally directing attacks against the civilian population as such

or against individual civilians not taking direct part in hostilities;

(ii) Intentionally directing attacks against buildings, material, medical

units and transport, and personnel using the distinctive emblems of

the Geneva Conventions in conformity with international law;

(iii) Intentionally directing attacks against personnel, installations,

material, units or vehicles involved in a humanitarian assistance or

peacekeeping mission in accordance with the Charter of the United

Nations, as long as they are entitled to the protection given to civilians

or civilian objects under the international law of armed conflict;

(iv) Intentionally directing attacks against buildings dedicated to religion,

education, art, science or charitable purposes, historic monuments,

hospitals and places where the sick and wounded are collected,

provided they are not military objectives;

(v) Pillaging a town or place, even when taken by assault;

(vi) Committing rape, sexual slavery, enforced prostitution, forced

pregnancy, as defined in article 7, paragraph 2 (f), enforced sterilization,

and any other form of sexual violence also constituting a serious

violation of article 3 common to the four Geneva Conventions;

(vii) Conscripting or enlisting children under the age of fifteen years

into armed forces or groups or using them to participate actively in

hostilities;

(viii) Ordering the displacement of the civilian population for reasons

related to the conflict, unless the security of the civilians involved or

imperative military reasons so demand;

(ix) Killing or wounding treacherously a combatant adversary;

(x) Declaring that no quarter will be given;

(xi) Subjecting persons who are in the power of another party to the

conflict to physical mutilation or to medical or scientific experiments of

any kind which are neither justified by the medical, dental or hospital

treatment of the person concerned nor carried out in his or her interest,

and which cause death to or seriously endanger the health of such

person or persons;

(xii) Destroying or seizing the property of an adversary unless such

destruction or seizure be imperatively demanded by the necessities of

the conflict;

(xiii) Employing poison or poisoned weapons;

(xiv) Employing asphyxiating, poisonous or other gases, and all analogous

liquids, materials or devices;

(xv) Employing bullets which expand or flatten easily in the human body,

such as bullets with a hard envelope which does not entirely cover the

core or is pierced with incisions.Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court

9

(f) Paragraph 2 (e) applies to armed conflicts not of an international character

and thus does not apply to situations of internal disturbances and tensions,

such as riots, isolated and sporadic acts of violence or other acts of a similar

nature. It applies to armed conflicts that take place in the territory of a State

when there is protracted armed conflict between governmental authorities

and organized armed groups or between such groups.

3. Nothing in paragraph 2 (c) and (e) shall affect the responsibility of a Government

to maintain or re-establish law and order in the State or to defend the unity and

territorial integrity of the State, by all legitimate means.

Article 8 bis

3

Crime of aggression

1. For the purpose of this Statute, “crime of aggression” means the planning, preparation,

initiation or execution, by a person in a position effectively to exercise control over or

to direct the political or military action of a State, of an act of aggression which, by

its character, gravity and scale, constitutes a manifest violation of the Charter of the

United Nations.

2. For the purpose of paragraph 1, “act of aggression” means the use of armed force by a

State against the sovereignty, territorial integrity or political independence of another

State, or in any other manner inconsistent with the Charter of the United Nations.

Any of the following acts, regardless of a declaration of war, shall, in accordance

with United Nations General Assembly resolution 3314 (XXIX) of 14 December 1974,

qualify as an act of aggression:

(a) The invasion or attack by the armed forces of a State of the territory of another

State, or any military occupation, however temporary, resulting from such

invasion or attack, or any annexation by the use of force of the territory of

another State or part thereof;

(b) Bombardment by the armed forces of a State against the territory of another

State or the use of any weapons by a State against the territory of another

State;

(c) The blockade of the ports or coasts of a State by the armed forces of another

State;

(d) An attack by the armed forces of a State on the land, sea or air forces, or

marine and air fleets of another State;

(e) The use of armed forces of one State which are within the territory of another

State with the agreement of the receiving State, in contravention of the

conditions provided for in the agreement or any extension of their presence

in such territory beyond the termination of the agreement;

(f) The action of a State in allowing its territory, which it has placed at the

disposal of another State, to be used by that other State for perpetrating an

act of aggression against a third State;

(g) The sending by or on behalf of a State of armed bands, groups, irregulars or

mercenaries, which carry out acts of armed force against another State of such

gravity as to amount to the acts listed above, or its substantial involvement

therein.

3 Inserted by resolution RC/Res.6 of 11 June 2010