Introduction

This Guide arises out of, and is a response to, the creation of the world's first permanent International Criminal Court (ICC). The Statute of the ICC was adopted on 17 July 1998 by an overwhelming majority of the States attending the Rome Conference. The conference was specifically aimed at attracting States and non-governmental organisations so that they might debate and adopt a statute that would form the basis for such a court .1

The ICC and the Human Rights Inspiration

The general rule in international law is that States are able to exercise their domestic criminal law jurisdiction over criminal offences that affect their domestic concerns .2 As such, criminal jurisdiction is usually exercised over crimes that are committed within a State's territory (like murder, theft and rape). It may also sometimes be exercised over crimes that are plotted abroad (such as high treason) because they threaten the domestic order.

However, some offences affect not only the domestic legal order but also the international legal order. The classic example of such a crime is piracy, whose perpetrators were described as enemies of the human race. Today, certain crimes are agreed to be of such a serious nature that their perpetrators are also rightly considered enemies of humankind. The crimes that fall under the ICC's jurisdiction are drawn from this category and include genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.

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