The investigation continued as Kenyatta won the presidency in 2013, with fellow ICC suspect William Ruto as his running mate. U.S. policymakers originally supported the concept of an international criminal court, and the Bill Clinton administration participated in negotiations over the Rome Statute. It should be noted beforehand that there is some literature on the contribution of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to the development of human rights,2 and a greater amount of literature on specific judgements or advisory opinions delivered by the court.3 Even a quick glance at the case law of the court reveals the variety of issues with clear implications for the development of international human rights law rules and principles that it has dealt with. In 2005, the Bush administration allowed the Security Council to refer the Darfur case, and it later offered to assist the court’s investigation, which legal experts saw as a softening of the U.S. stance. But, as it is above all a c… President George W. Bush withdrew the U.S. signature in 2002. Criticisms generally come from two directions. While, on the one hand, the work of the court has exerted a considerable influence upon the development of the international law of human rights, on the other hand, the development of this branch of law itself has also exerted a considerable influence on the jurisprudence and the caseload of the court. crimes of aggression, or the use or threat of armed force by a state against the territorial integrity, sovereignty, or political independence of another state, or violations of the UN Charter. Indeed, the end of the Cold War marked the beginning of a new phase in the activity of the ICJ when developing countries had shown an increased willingness to have their disputes settled by the court. The U.S. State Department's Clean Network program, created in response to China's expanding capabilities in cyberspace, recalls the the warning George Kennan gave about the Soviet Union in his famous "long telegram" in 1946. Some of the issues considered by the ILC are diplomatic protection, nationality including statelessness, formulation of the Nuremberg Principles, international criminal jurisdiction, the definition of aggression (as included in the draft code of crimes against the peace and security of mankind), and state responsibility. ICJ, UN Charter, powers, functions, non-judicial organs, Security Council, General Assembly. But two of the first advisory opinions, although concerned mainly with treaty interpretation, allowed the court to propagate the concept of internationalization of human rights,19 and of the civilizing purpose of such human rights treaties.20 Furthermore, in this first phase the court helped to clarify a very important principle of human rights law, namely the right of peoples to self-determination.21 This right was to be embedded in Article 1 of both the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR)22 and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR)23 adopted in 1966. A distinguishing characteristic of the first phase of the development of the international law of human rights is the process of standard setting. The president and two vice presidents of the court are elected from among the judges; they, along with the registry, handle the administration of the court. It has been unable to gain the support of major powers, including the United States, China, and Russia. Its broad geographic reach and continuous operation distinguish it from temporary international tribunals, such as that in Rwanda. Fires in California and Oregon have been more devastating than ever before, but climate change means the worst is yet to come. by David P. Fidler The European Union is also a staunch supporter of the court; it adopted a binding policy [PDF] in support of the ICC in 2011. Bashir avoided arrest by traveling abroad only with assurances from friendly foreign leaders that they would not turn him over. An individual user may print out a PDF of a single chapter of a monograph in OSO for personal use. However, any increased role of the court with regard to the interpretation and development of international human rights rules and principles necessitates also a change in state behaviour, a change in substantive and procedural international law, and, last but not least, a substantial increase of the capacities of the court. The Guardian looks at potential alternatives to the ICC, including an African human rights court. The Trump administration has taken a harder line against the court, objecting to an ICC probe into possible war crimes by U.S. personnel in Afghanistan. DOI:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199653218.003.0010, 2 The International Court of Justice as an ‘Agent’ of Legal Development?^*, 3 The Role of the International Court of Justice in the Development of the Contemporary Law of Treaties, 4 The International Court of Justice and State Succession to Treaties: Avoiding Principled Answers to Questions of Principle, 5 The International Court of Justice and the Law of State Responsibility, 6 Diplomatic Protection and the International Court of Justice, 8 The International Court of Justice and the Law of Territory, 9 The Development of the Law of the Sea by the International Court of Justice, 10 The Role of the International Court of Justice in the Development of the Institutional Law of the United Nations, 11 The International Court of Justice and the Use of Force, 12 The International Court of Justice and the Law of Armed Conflicts. ICC’s probe into atrocities in Afghanistan. The question of the possibility of individuals being subjects of international law has come before the predecessor of the ICJ, the Permanent Court of International Justice (PCIJ), and has been answered in the positive. For our purposes, the international law of human rights is understood as being that part of international law comprising numerous international instruments and to a significant extent also reflected in customary international law norms. There has also been debate about the qualifications of judges. Obviously, that mutual interaction takes place in a political, socio-economic, and legal environment, which has formed and continues to form and shape our society. Even advocates of the court have admitted that it has shortcomings. Thus, the findings of the court cannot be properly assessed, or even understood if taken out of the context of the development of our society and the laws in force at that given time. Sign up for a morning roundup of news and analysis from around the world. In 2011, the Barack Obama administration voted in favor of the Security Council referral for a Libya investigation. It also helped deliver several fugitives to The Hague and offered to pay millions of dollars as rewards for information on individuals accused of atrocities. Here’s how officials can prepare. It eventually named Kenyatta and five other major political figures as suspects of crimes against humanity. In 2016, Moscow said it was pulling its signature from the treaty, after the court classified its 2014 annexation of Crimea as an occupation. But, as it is above all a court of international law, it has in recent years become also a court concerned with human rights, as human rights law has finally found its proper place within international law. Until comparatively recently the Court was a ‘Court of sovereign States’. Any arrest warrant or summons must be approved by the judiciary, based on information provided by the prosecutor. As CFR’s Michelle Gavin points out, African countries make up the largest bloc of ICC members. In the following years, such efforts gained support, especially in Europe and Africa. The Role of the International Court of Justice as the Principal Judicial Organ of the United Nations is a thought-provoking and valuable addition to the existing literature on the ICJ. National and international human rights promotion and protection represent, respectively, the horizontal and the vertical strands where the attainment of commonly agreed human rights standards takes place.