The International Criminal Court (ICC) has its seat in The Hague in the Netherlands. It judges cases of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.
The ICC began its operations in 2002 and is a complement to the International Court of Justice in The Hague (ICJ). The ICJ judges in interstate disputes and the ICC judges individuals who have committed war crimes or crimes against humanity or been complicit in genocide.
The court is activated when an internationally appointed prosecutor gets a suspect extradited from a country where the crime was committed, from the country of which the person concerned is a citizen, or from a third country if there is consent from either of the two first-mentioned states.
When the ICC came into being, it was seen as a milestone in the quest for an international legal system. But over the years, the court has increasingly come to be criticized, among other things for being politicized. There has also been criticism that a preponderance of its work has been directed at Africa.
The United States has repeatedly opposed the court’s work. In 2020, US sanctions were directed at ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda when she wanted to investigate possible war crimes during the US war in Afghanistan.
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