After a 5 week conference in Rome, Italy, on 17 July, 1998, diplomats signed a the Rome Statute, a treaty establishing the International Criminal Court (ICC), the day annually celebrated as World Day for International Justice. The statute entered into force on July 1, 2002. [1]
As of March 2019, 122 states including Australia were part of the statue, the USA, Ukraine, Russia and Israel are but 4 countries that have not signed the treaty. [2]
In brief the statute establishes the courts functions, jurisdictions and structure. The court investigates crimes where states are unable or unwilling to do so themselves.
Four core international crimes:
- Genocide
- Crimes against humanity
- War crimes
- Crimes of aggression
In Article 8 the ICC defines “biological experiments” under war crimes.