International Criminal Court Act 2001
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The International Criminal Court Act 2001 (c. 17) is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The Act incorporates into English law and Northern Ireland law the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.[1]
The principal aims of the Act are:[2]
- to incorporate into domestic law the offences contained in the Rome Statute (genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity);[3]
- to fulfill the United Kingdom's obligations under the Statute, particularly in relation to the arrest and surrender of persons wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) and the provision of assistance with respect to ICC investigations; and
- to create a legal framework so that persons convicted by the ICC can serve prison sentences in the United Kingdom.
In 2006, three British military personnel were charged with inhumane treatment, a war crime, under the Act.[4] Two of the three soldiers were cleared but the third, Corporal Donald Payne, became the first British person to be convicted of a war crime under this Act, when he admitted to inhumanly treating Baha Mousa.[5] The first prosecution for crimes against humanity under the Act occurred in 2026 when a former member of the Syrian Air Force Intelligence Directorate was charged with murder and conduct ancillary to murder.[6]
The corresponding Act of the Scottish Parliament is the International Criminal Court (Scotland) Act 2001 (asp 13).
- Commencement Orders
- The International Criminal Court Act 2001 (Commencement) Order 2001 (S.I. 2001/2161) (C.69) HTML PDF
- The International Criminal Court Act 2001 (Commencement) (Amendment) Order 2001] (S.I. 2001/2304) (C.77) HTML PDF
Section 77A
| International Tribunals (Sierra Leone) Act 2007[d] | |||||||||
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| Long title | An Act to confer power to make provision in relation to the Special Court for Sierra Leone corresponding to that made in relation to the International Criminal Court by sections 42 to 48 of the International Criminal Court Act 2001. | ||||||||
| Citation | 2007 c. 7 | ||||||||
| Introduced by | Kim Howells MP, Minister for the Middle East (Commons) Baroness Royall of Blaisdon (Lords) | ||||||||
| Territorial extent | England and Wales[e] | ||||||||
| Dates | |||||||||
| Royal assent | 18 June 2007 | ||||||||
| Commencement | 18 June 2007[f] | ||||||||
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Status: Current legislation
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| Text of statute as originally enacted | |||||||||
| Revised text of statute as amended | |||||||||
| Text of the International Criminal Court Act 2001 as in force today (including any amendments) within the United Kingdom, from legislation.gov.uk. | |||||||||
This section was inserted by section 1 (The Special Court for Sierra Leone) of the act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom called the International Tribunals (Sierra Leone) Act 2007 (c. 7).[7][8] The International Tribunals (Sierra Leone) (Application of Provisions) Order 2007 (SI 2007/2140) was made under this section.[9][10]
This act and the order made under it authorised the detention of Charles Taylor[11] in the UK,[12] but their application is not confined to him.[13]
See also
Notes
- ^ Section 84.
- ^ Section 79.
- ^ Section 82. The International Criminal Court Act 2001 (Commencement) Order 2001 as amended by the International Criminal Court Act 2001 (Commencement) (Amendment) Order 2001.
- ^ Section 2(2).
- ^ Section 2(1).
- ^ Section 4(b) of the Interpretation Act 1978.
References
- ^ International Committee of the Red Cross (2001): International Humanitarian Law: National Implementation. Accessed 4 July 2007.
- ^ Foreign and Commonwealth Office: International Criminal Court Act 2001: Explanatory Notes Archived 2007-09-27 at the Wayback Machine. Accessed 4 July 2007.
- ^ Note that the Act does not include the crime of aggression. Although the Rome Statute lists the crime of aggression as a crime under the jurisdiction of the Court, Article 5 of the Rome Statute stipulates that the ICC will not exercise its jurisdiction over the crime of aggression until agreement has been reached on a definition of that crime and the conditions under which jurisdiction will be exercised. Any amendment to the crimes within the jurisdiction of the ICC, if accepted by the UK, would need to be given effect by a further Act of Parliament. See Foreign and Commonwealth Office: International Criminal Court Act 2001: Explanatory Notes Archived 2007-09-27 at the Wayback Machine, para. 10. Accessed 4 July 2007.
- ^ British soldier admits war crime. BBC News, 19 September 2006. Accessed 4 July 2007.
- ^ UK soldier jailed over Iraq abuse. BBC News, 30 April 2007. Accessed 4 July 2007.
- ^ "Syrian charged with crimes against humanity in UK first". Sky News. 9 March 2026.
- ^ Current Law Statutes Annotated 2007. Volume 1. Chapter 7. p 7-1 et seq.
- ^ Halsbury's Statutes of England and Wales. Fourth Edition. 2007 Reissue. Volume 10. Page 1254.
- ^ Statutory Instruments 2007. 2008. Part II. Section. 2. p 7381.
- ^ Sarah Williams, Internationalised Criminal Tribunals: Selected Jurisdictional Issues, Bloomsbury, 2012, p 374.
- ^ Halsbury's Laws of England. Fifth Edition. LexisNexis. 2010. Volume 61. Footnote 15 to paragraph 436 at page 334.
- ^ Why will Charles Taylor be jailed in Britain?. BBC News. 26 April 2012.
- ^ Oppenheim's International Law: United Nations, volume 2, paragraph 31.103.
External links
- Text of the International Criminal Court Act 2001 as in force today (including any amendments) within the United Kingdom, from legislation.gov.uk.
- Text of the International Criminal Court Act 2001 as originally enacted or made within the United Kingdom, from legislation.gov.uk.
- Wikisource logo The full text of International Criminal Court Act 2001 at Wikisource