Next week, the ICC Assembly of States Parties will convene for its 4th Session in The Hague and will resume for elections at the UN Headquarters in New York in January 2006.
[1] The Assembly is comprised of representatives from each country that has ratified the
Rome Statute.
[2] It serves as the ICC legislative and management body with specific responsibility for approving and overseeing the ICC budget, the election of Judges and chief Prosecutors, and internal regulatory policies. Within the Assembly, the members elect a Bureau consisting of a President, two Vice Presidents, and 18 members, each serving a three-year term. In cases where the Assembly and Bureau are not able to reach mutual consensus about a particular matter of Court business, the membership decides through a one state-one vote process.
[3]The docket for this year’s session includes the report of the 4th Session of the Committee on Budget and Finance, performance and activity reports on the activities of the Court during this period of transition from the start-up phase to the judicial phase, reports on the Trust Fund for Victims and from the Special Working Group on the Crime of Aggression, the election of six trial judges and six representatives to the Budget Committee, and other matters relating to various administrative policies and practices.
[4]HighlightsThe issuance of the first arrest warrants in the matters referred by Uganda certainly will be noted as a significant event for this year. We recently discussed this case
here. Other potential topics of discussion include the status of the ICC relationship with the UN and the status of ratification (or alternatively, acceptance of the Court’s jurisdiction by nation states). We will watch the Session next week and continue to post updates as events unfold.
History of the Assembly SessionsHighlights of the 3rd Assembly Session in The Hague, September 2004, included adoption of the draft Relationship Agreement between the ICC and the United Nations (in force as of October 4, 2004
[5]) and establishment of a permanent liaison office for the ICC at the UN New York Headquarters.
[6]In its 2nd Session, September 2003, the Assembly established the Permanent Secretariat of the ICC, thus taking a significant step toward independence from the UN.
[7] For the first two years of its existence, the UN Secretariat had provided all of the administrative and oversight functions for the Court.
The 1st Session of the Assembly was devoted to adoption of the Court’s Rules of Procedure and Evidence, Elements of Crimes, and Headquarters Agreement with the Netherlands, and other important founding acts.
[8]
[1] ICC Press Release, Nov. 18, 2005.
[2] A current list of member states is available here. Mexico became the newest State Party by ratification on October 28, 2005.
[3] A general overview of the ICC Assembly is available from the ICC website here.
[4] The provisional agendas and reports to the Assembly are available from the ICC website here.
[5] See ICC Press Release, Oct. 4, 2004 here.
[6] The official record of the 3rd Session is available from the ICC website here.
[7] The official record of the 2nd Session is available from the ICC website here, as well as from the UN website here.
[8] The official record of the 1st Session is available from the UN website here.
