ICC: Statute of the International Criminal Court, 1999 (not yet in force)

This Statute was adopted in Rome in June 1998 and will enter into force when 60 countries have ratified it. The Statute establishes a permanent International Criminal Court (ICC) that will be based in The Hague in the Netherlands. It will have jurisdiction over the crime of genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression. Individuals who are charged with committing these crimes may be brought before the ICC in certain limited circumstances. Women's lobby groups were very active in the process of negotiating the Statute, and continue to be involved in the formulation of the procedures and rules that the Court will adopt. As a result, the gendered dimensions of war crimes and crimes against humanity have been formally recognized in the Statute to a greater extent than ever before. For example, the enumeration of the laws and customs applicable in armed conflict, both international and internal, includes the offenses of rape, sexual slavery, enforced prostitution, forced pregnancy, enforced sterilization and other forms of sexual violence constituting a serious breach of the Geneva Conventions. Also, the ICC must apply the law without any adverse distinction founded on various grounds including gender.