It’s time to ‘catch up with the news’ to explain the background of the news and related terms. Recently, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin. Russia is being held accountable for illegally relocating children from occupied areas of Ukraine during the war with Ukraine. However, Russia dismissed the ICC’s action and instead initiated criminal proceedings against ICC prosecutors and judges. Catch up on the news This time, let’s take a look at the International Criminal Court (ICC).
“Purpose of Establishment of ICC”
In the international community, voices have been constantly raised that those who commit war crimes such as genocide, gang rape, torture, and crimes against humanity committed during war or civil war must be punished.
In particular, it was pointed out that when the country to which the individual belongs does not have the will, power or willingness to punish them, they should be tried according to international law in a court recognized by the international community.
In addition, the need for a permanent court for this has always been raised.
However, these voices did not receive much attention during the Cold War, when the confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union unfolded.
Then, in the 1990s, genocide occurred in Bosnia and Rwanda. The International Criminal Court was set up to deal with these issues.
But these courts were temporary courts. In doing so, the need for a permanent and independent international tribunal is once again raised.
Eventually, at the United Nations Plenipotentiary Conference held in Rome in July 1998, a treaty called the Rome Statute on the ICC was adopted. It came into effect on July 1, 2002, with 120 signatories and more than 60 ratifications. According to the treaty, on March 11 of the following year, the International Criminal Court was established in The Hague, Netherlands.
“ICC Parties”
A total of 123 States have signed the Treaty of Rome.
About 40 countries, including China, India, Iraq, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Indonesia, have never signed a treaty at all. More than 30 countries, including Israel, Syria and Sudan, have signed the treaty, but their parliaments have not yet ratified it, making it virtually a non-participation.
The United States signed the treaty in 2000 during the Bill Clinton administration. But in 2002, the George W. Bush administration withdrew it. Russia also signed a treaty in 2000. Russia also withdrew its signature in 2016 and withdrew from the ICC.
If you look at the treaty parties by region, African countries have the most with 33 countries. This also shows the need and interest of African countries, where relatively many human rights crimes occur. On the other hand, it is pointed out that many trials of the ICC are biased towards the African region. 19 countries in Asia Pacific, 18 countries in Eastern Europe, 28 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, and 25 countries in Western Europe and elsewhere.
“Composition of ICC”
The ICC is made up of four pillars: the Judiciary, the Director, the Prosecution and the Secretariat.
First, the judiciary is composed of 18 judges. Only those who are qualified as judges of the highest courts of each country, who have practical experience in criminal trials, and those who have practical experience in international law are eligible to be candidates, and are elected by secret ballot at the Assembly of States Parties. The term of office for ICC judges is 9 years and cannot be reappointed.
The head of the tribunal, who makes up the jury, is elected by a vote of the judges. May be re-elected once for a three-year term. Korea has also produced a small intestine. Song Sang-hyun, former director of ICC, was elected as the second director in 2009 and served until 2015.
The current president of the Tribunal is Major General Piotr Hofmanski, a native of Poland.
The Prosecutor’s Office has independent powers. The Prosecution Division’s role is to collect specific information about the crimes referred to the Court, investigate and prosecute them to the Court. It is currently headed by Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan from England.
Elected through a vote by the General Assembly of States Parties, the term of office is nine years and cannot be reappointed.
The Secretariat is responsible for the non-judicial aspects of the Court’s administration and operation.
The Secretary General may be re-elected once for a term of 5 years. The current ICC Executive Director is Peter Lewis, a British national.
“The Role and Performance of ICC”
The biggest significance of the ICC is that it is the world’s first and only permanent international criminal court.
The creation of the International Criminal Court institutionalized a judicial system through which the international community could hold individuals guilty of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.
It is often confused with the International Court of Justice (ICJ). While the International Court of Justice (ICJ) is primarily a body for handling disputes between states and does not address individual criminal liability, the ICC can adjudicate a wide range of criminal offenses committed by individuals or states.
However, jurisdiction can only be exercised for criminal offenses after July 1, 2002, when the Rome Statute came into force.
Starting with the trial of Thomas Lubanga, the leader of an armed group in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, in March 2012, the ICC indicted former President Laurent Gbagbo of Ivory Coast, Ugandan rebel leader Joseph Coney, and former Sudan President Omar al-Bashir. . Most recently, he issued a warrant for the arrest of Russian President Vladimir Putin, garnering great attention from the international community.
“Limits and Controversy of ICC”
The ICC issued arrest warrants for President Putin and members of the Presidential Commission on Children’s Rights, accusing Russia of illegally deporting civilians, including Ukrainian children, to Russia during the war in Ukraine.
The problem, however, is that Russia is not currently a party to the ICC Treaty.
There is a limit to the fact that it is practically difficult to arrest and detain President Putin because the jurisdiction of the ICC does not extend.
However, if President Putin travels to a country that is party to the ICC treaty, that country is obliged under the treaty to arrest him and hand him over to the tribunal.
In other words, President Putin’s travel abroad is restricted, and diplomatic isolation is likely to deepen.
Khan said Putin could not escape arrest in two-thirds of the world, with 123 countries party to the treaty.
However, as can be seen in this case, voices pointing out the limitations of the ICC have been steadily raised because non-ICC parties do not have jurisdiction.
It is pointed out that the ICC is nothing more than a paper tiger because it has no police authority and no coercive power.
The fact that major countries influential in the international community, such as the United States, China, Russia, India, and Israel, are refusing to participate or ratify is also adding to its limitations.
The United States is sticking to the opposite policy, saying that the ICC may be politically abused. In particular, the Donald Trump administration imposed sanctions on the ICC for violating the sovereignty of the United States when the ICC launched an investigation into the alleged war crimes committed by the US military during the Afghan war. It is an analysis that the Joe Biden administration is in a relatively favorable position to the ICC, but that joining the ICC is being treated as out of the question.
Jerome Powell, Chairman of the Federal Reserve System
This is the ‘People in the News’ time, which introduces the hottest people in the latest news. Today’s main character is Jerome Powell, chairman of the Federal Reserve System and the Federal Reserve, who is called the world’s economic president, having a strong influence on the US economy as well as the world economy.
Chairman Jerome Powell was born in 1953 and is 70 years old this year. He was born in Washington, DC, the capital of the United States, the son of a lawyer.
Chairman Powell majored in political science at Princeton University, one of the prestigious private Ivy League universities in the United States, and came out of Georgetown Law School and Law School.
Unlike most central bank governors who have majored in economics, Chairman Powell comes from a somewhat unusual background in that he has no economics degree at all.
Chairman Powell moved to New York after graduating from Georgetown Law School and walked the path of a lawyer, including a clerk of the 2nd Federal Court of Appeals and a lawyer at a law firm.
However, after entering a famous investment bank in New York, he changed his direction to the financial world. This will lead you to the Federal Treasury.
And in 1992, in the George HW Bush administration, at the young age of 39, he was appointed as Deputy Secretary of the Treasury. But less than a year later, when he was replaced by the Bill Clinton administration, he returned to New York’s financial world.
And in 2012, he was nominated by former President Barack Obama to join the Fed. Since Powell is a Republican, it is unusual for him to be nominated by the Democratic government. At that time, when two directors of the Fed came out, President Obama nominated one each from the Democratic Party and the Republican Party.
Former President Donald Trump, who entered the Obama administration, nominated Powell as the successor to Janet Yellen in 2017. He was confirmed by the Senate the following year to become the Fed’s chairman.
Current President Joe Biden decided to reappoint Chairman Powell in November 2021. It is evaluated that he made the most stable choice as President Biden while the anxiety caused by the novel coronavirus pandemic has not subsided.
Chairman Powell has been steadily pushing for interest rate hikes to catch the high inflation phenomenon that has skyrocketed in the aftermath of the corona crisis. Following the monetary policy of the US Federal Reserve, the world economy is now at an important inflection point.
Catch up on the news Today, we looked at the International Criminal Court. As a person in the news, we learned about the chairman of the US Federal Reserve, Jerome Powell.