Gayathri Anilkumar Menon

BBA LLB 2nd YEAR

Topic: The situation of International Criminal Law and the need for an
anti-corruption court
Topic: The situation of International Criminal Law and the need for an
anti-corruption court

Structure of the ICC

In 1998, 140 nations gathered in Rome and established an ICC and 120 nations voted in favor of
the Roman Statute - the constitution that governs the ICC and is made up of an assembly of
state parties. Governing body of ICC elects judges and prosecutors based on the system of
complementarity, where the ICC is the last resort. If a country that houses an alleged war
criminal decides to investigate and puts them on trial, the ICC will have no jurisdiction.
Whereas, if a member country commits a crime in another member country or its own, the court
has jurisdiction

If a citizen of a non-member country commits a crime in a non-member country, the court will
have no jurisdiction.

Problems of ICC

 The ICC faces a huge problem as the body has no means of enforcing its orders to the
governments. So the implementation depends on the governments.
 Complaints were lodged about the cases chosen and efficiency. Most of the times, larger
countries prefer to not be judged, like India, US, China, which is a problem as the ICC will
not be able to establish jurisdiction.
 Autocracy of nations and wanting to be independent poses an issue but is being reviewed by
the US Admin which puts self-interest above others.

The latest case- The Al Qaeda group is being prosecuted by the ICC in Mali, West Africa for
destroying shrines, monuments in the city of Timbuktu. The ICC is built of 18 Judges, 380
people in Hague, Netherlands.

Grand Corruption

Kleptocracy is known as the abuse of power for personal gains where leaders use their positions
to corrupt financial position of their countries that end up corrupting the nation’s finance
 - The former president of Angola, hid hundreds of dollars in different parts of Europe.
- Jakob Zuma, the former South African president was involved in Kleptocracy with the
Gupta brothers who are currently hiding in the UAE.
- In Sierra Leone, 1/3rd of the funds for Ebola was laundered and was later found in the
bank accounts of Health Officials.

In 2016, 40 nations met in London for an anti- corruption summit and presented a declaration
against corruption.

UNCAC 2003

The United Nations Convention against Corruption is the only legally binding anti-corruption
instrument. The Convention's approach and the compulsion of many of its provisions make it a
tool for developing a response to a problem and covers many forms of corruption, such as
bribery, trading in influence, abuse of functions, and various acts in the private sector. About 187
countries pledged under UNCAC to criminalize corruption, even against their own leaders.

Combatting corruption

Primarily to combat corruption, efficient policing, punitive action and accountability must be
placed on kleptocrats irrespective of their position in the country. Higher the efficiency of
policing, lower the crime rates. When the fear of getting caught is in the mind of a potential
criminal, it helps to deter the criminal activities. In order to hold such accountability and punitive
action, there is a need for an anti- corruption court.

Structure of the probable IAC

The International Anti-corruption Court would work on the basis of a system of

complementarity, which means if a person from a country commits corruption, IAC won’t have
jurisdiction unless that country does not take action. This court also becomes the court of last
resort.

The main advantage over the ICC is that the IAC can attract nations to become member countries
as any country could be the recipient of wrongful gains. Kleptocrats store stolen money in banks
abroad especially in financial capitals and so on. If a country is a member country and an
innocent recipient of such money, they can receive justice from this establishment.

Conclusion

I conclude that both the ICC and IAC would function under the system of complementarity to
fight various types of crimes and he problems faced by ICC also make it harder to implement
justice. Efficient policing and apt punitive action would enable deterrence of crimes being
committed on a wide scale. The various high profile cases suggest the importance of such
establishments and highlight the need for why more countries must be member countries of the
same in order to bring down the crime index of the world. The rise of an IAC will help
eradication of a deadly finance evil- corruption. Both the ICC and IAC would play pivotal roles.