EDITORS' NOTE

On July 1st, 2002, the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) entered into force and the first permanent mechanism of international criminal justice, with jurisdiction over the most serious crimes of international concern, became operational.

This second volume of “Essays on the Rome Statute of the ICC” has been conceived by the editors taking into account the reality of the treaty’s entry into force. Contributors have been asked to confront themselves with the ICC as a “living institution”, that will soon produce its own jurisprudence, preceded by investigative and prosecutorial action, as well as unprecedented diplomatic practices. In particular, it is anticipated that the Court’s jurisprudence will have a significant impact on the development of international criminal law, as well as on other areas of international and comparative law.

A section devoted to issues of international law within the framework of the Rome Statute opens the volume. The Assembly of States Parties plays an essential role in ensuring the effective functioning of the Court’s judicial organs of the Court. It is therefore important to reflect and comment on the international status of the ICC as a whole, to analyse the relationship of the Court with other international organisations, in particular the United Nations, and to investigate on the interplay between the Assembly of States Parties and the Court’s judicial organs.

The second and widest part of the volume covers substantive and procedural topics of international criminal law, with particular reference to the general principles of criminal law as disciplined in Part III of the Rome Statute and the right to a fair trial. An overview on ICC procedural law is also included, with the aim of providing the reader with a comprehensive view of the stages of the proceedings before the Court.

The third section is dedicated to some crucial issues contained in the “Elements of Crimes” of the ICC, on the basis of the text elaborated by the United Nations Preparatory Commission for the ICC in 1999-2000, which was adopted by consensus at the first meeting of the Assembly of States Parties in September 2002.

The responsibility of the doctrine vis-à-vis lawyers, prosecutors, judges, Court’s officials as well as concerned officials of States and International Organisations is to comment on the Rome Statute and its secondary legal instruments with the ultimate goal of contributing to their interpretation, in line with object and purpose of the Statute, which is “to put an end to impunity for the perpetrators of [genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes] and thus to contribute to the prevention of such crimes” . The intention of the editors was to fulfil this goal. Only the opinion of the reader and, above all, the practice of the ICC will possibly demonstrate whether the intention of the editors has been successfully accomplished.


F. L. & W. A. S.

Dublin/Rome, May 2002/December 2003.



POST SCRIPTUM


On behalf of the editors, I apologise with the readers and the contributors of this volume for its delayed publication. The editing process and, above all, the partial lack of financial means necessary for the realisation of the volume caused the delay. Nevertheless, it is hoped that the contents of each contribution are up-to-date and that the volume represents a useful tool for the interpreters and commentators of the Rome Statute and its secondary legal instruments.


F.L.

Rome, December 2003