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Rule or Ruse of Law in the International Criminal Court?
(Australian Outlook-Australian Institute of International Affairs) Prof. Gregory Rose and Maurice Hirsch - The ICC was established in 2002 to prosecute the most heinous international crimes where there is no national court that can do so. With convictions in only four cases in 18 years, it is doubtful that potential offenders are deterred. Its convictions have all been for crimes in Africa where national courts were unable to prosecute. In actual practice, the ICC brand is tarnished: it is political in essence, defective in execution, and undermining the very tenets of law it was set up to protect. Most UN Security Council permanent members and the emerging global powers declined to sign the Rome Statute establishing the ICC. Israel also never joined the court. Gregory Rose is a professor of law at the University of Wollongong in Australia. Lt.-Col. (res.) Maurice Hirsch, Head of Legal Strategies for Palestinian Media Watch, served in the IDF Military Advocate General Corps.