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How was the International Criminal Court created by the Rome Statute?

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Adolf Eichmann listening to an Israeli court's verdict — War crime Former Nazi official Adolf Eichmann listening as an Israeli court declares him guilty on all counts at his war crimes trial in Jerusalem, 1961.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) was established through the Rome Statute, a treaty adopted in July 1998 at a United Nations diplomatic conference in Rome. The effort to create a permanent tribunal gained urgency following atrocities in the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda, which had necessitated the creation of temporary international criminal tribunals.12

The Rome Statute was signed by nearly 140 countries and officially came into force on July 1, 2002, after being ratified by the required 60 nations. This treaty serves as the legal foundation for the ICC, authorizing it to act as a permanent court of last resort to investigate and prosecute individuals for war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide, and acts of criminal aggression. The court recognizes the primacy of national jurisdictions, intervening only when domestic courts are unwilling or unable to prosecute.123