WCRO Reports on Early Issues Before the International Criminal Court

In 2007 the WCRO launched a new initiative, the ICC Legal Analysis and Education Project, aimed at producing public, impartial, legal analyses of critical issues raised by the Court’s early decisions. This project has benefited from the insights of an Advisory Committee comprised of the following experts in international law:

Siri Frigaard, Chief Public Prosecutor for the Norwegian National Authority for Prosecution of Organized and Other Serious Crimes;
Justice Richard Goldstone, former Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and Rwanda (ICTR);
Diane Orentlicher, WCL Professor;
Judge Patricia Wald, former Judge of the ICTY;
and, until his election as a judge to the Trial Chamber of the ICC in December 2007, Daniel Nsereko, University of Botswana Professor of International Law and former Uganda Government Delegate to the Assembly of States Parties to the Statute of the International Criminal Court.

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Report 1 - December 2007 - Victim Participation Before the International Criminal Court

This report seeks to clarify the objectives and concerns underlying the design of the ICC victim participation scheme, evaluate the Court’s early jurisprudence on the issue, and suggest potential areas of reform that might allow the Court to better achieve the promise of the Rome Statute to afford victims a meaningful role in proceedings without offending the rights of the accused or significantly delaying the proceedings.

Full Report (PDF)

Report 2 - January 2008 - Interlocutory Appellate Review of Early Decisions by the International Criminal Court

In the context of early investigations and cases, the Pre-Trial Chambers (PTCs) of the ICC have issued decisions on a variety of seminal issues that are likely to impact the structure and operations of the world’s first permanent international criminal court. In this report, we highlight certain aspects of the PTCs’ approach to discretionary interlocutory appeals that appear to be unduly restrictive and recommend a more generous approach that would allow greater appellate review of certain critical issues before final judgment is rendered. Early review of these issues might not only save the Court time by avoiding confusion and resolving unnecessarily time-consuming procedures in the near term, but also help ensure the long-term credibility and integrity of the Court.

Full Report (PDF)

Report 3 - March 2008 - The Gravity Threshold of the International Criminal Court

Article 17(1)(d) of the Rome Statute provides that the International Criminal Court (ICC) shall determine that a case is inadmissible where the case is not of sufficient gravity to justify further action by the Court. This so-called "gravity threshold" has played a critical role in guiding the ICC Prosecutor’s selection of investigations to initiate and crimes to prosecute, not only because of the need to satisfy admissibility requirements, but also as a matter of policy. This aim of this report is therefore to review the underlying purpose of the threshold as understood by the drafters of the Rome Statute, analyze the application of gravity considerations in practice during the initial years of the Court’s operations, and offer recommendations aimed at clarifying both the objectives of the threshold and the factors relevant to its satisfaction.

Full Report (PDF)