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When can the International Criminal Court prosecute crimes committed in a country?

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Railway tracks lead to the brick entrance building and guard tower of Auschwitz Birkenau concentration camp near Oswiecim, Poland. — Genocide Freight train tracks leading to Auschwitz-Birkenau, Nazi Germany's largest concentration camp, near Oświęcim, Poland.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) is authorized to prosecute individuals for genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity under specific jurisdictional conditions established by the Rome Statute:

Territorial or Personal Jurisdiction: The ICC may prosecute crimes committed within the territory of a state that has ratified the Rome Statute, or crimes committed by a national of such a state.1
Security Council Authorization: Prosecution may proceed beyond these standard jurisdictional limits if explicitly authorized by the United Nations Security Council.1
Principle of Complementarity: The ICC acts as a court of last resort. It can only initiate a case after determining that domestic legal systems are either unable or unwilling to genuinely prosecute the crimes themselves.1

It is a fundamental principle of international justice that those who commit the most heinous crimes, such as genocide, must be held accountable. The ICC serves as a critical mechanism to ensure that such atrocities do not go unpunished when national systems fail to act.12