At a ceremony at United Nations headquarters April 11, the required instruments of ratification for the entry into force of the Rome Statute to establish the International Criminal Court were formally lodged by 10 nations. The deposited ratifications of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ireland, Jordan, Mongolia, Niger, Romania, and Slovakia brought the total number of ratifying countries to 66, well above the required 60 needed for the ICC to assume universal jurisdiction.
While the court may prosecute all of its self-defined crimes that occur after July 1, cases will not be heard until after the ICC mechanisms are established. In addition to “war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide” the court will also try the as-of-yet undefined “crime of aggression.” As set out in the Statute, crimes against humanity include “forced pregnancy.”
In April, LifeSite spoke with Dr. Richard G. Wilkins, professor of Law at Brigham Young University, about the ICC. Professor Wilkins, managing director of The World Family Policy Centre, is a leading authority on the ICC, and regularly acts as legal counsel for pro-family NGOs (non-governmental organizations) at the United Nations.
