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ISSUE
RELATED ORGANIZATIONS
Attorneys
Without Borders:
Attorneys without Borders hold
that the right to equitable justice is one of the fundamental
human rights. Unilateral or secret proceedings, powerless
or even nonexistent lawyers, lack of trial, arbitrary
detention. This link is a database of members
Coalition
for an International Criminal Court:
This site is the primary NGO provider of online information
about the future International Criminal Court.
The European
Journal of International Law:
A journal that provides a forum for the exploration
of the conceptual and theoretical dimensions of international
law as well as for up-to-date analysis of topical issues.
The
International Criminal Court:
The Lawyers’ Committee for Human Rights site
on the ICC.
The Internation Court of Justice:
Website of the the principal judicial organ of the United
Nations.
International
Law Commission:
This UN-related site features reports from the International
Law Commission
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The fundamental principles of human rights are based on the idea that
all people, regardless of nationality, gender, ethnicity, or political
affiliation are privileged to the same standards of treatment and obligated
to the same responsibilities as human beings. It follows, then, that the
very concept of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights relies on the
existence of a universally accepted code of law and a multi-national body
that is able to enforce said codes.
In 1945, The International Court of Justice, based at The Hague, in the
Netherlands, was established as a world court under the Charter of the
United Nations. It decides in accordance with international law disputes
of a legal nature submitted to it by States and is intended to be the
principal judicial organ of the United Nations.
On 21 November 1947, the General Assembly adopted resolution 174 (II),
establishing the International Law Commission and approving its Statute.
The Statute of the International Law Commission provides that the "Commission
shall have for its object the promotion of the progressive development
of international law and its codification."
In 1998, by a vote of 120 in favor and seven against, delegates to the
Rome Diplomatic Conference adopted a Statute to create a permanent, independent,
effective, and fair court--International Criminal Court (ICC), which will
have jurisdiction over crimes committed by individuals. The court will
be formally established after 60 countries have ratified the Rome Statute
of the International Criminal Court. The ICC shall be "complementary"
to national courts, meaning that it will defer to a national criminal
justice system, unless that system is genuinely unable or unwilling to
investigate and prosecute crimes that would otherwise be within the ICC's
jurisdiction.
Sources: The United Nations, The ICC
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