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Introduction

On July 17, 1998, government officials and delegates

from nongovernmental organizations from around the world

will conclude a five-week conference in Rome aimed at final-

izing a treaty establishing the International Criminal

Court.  According to the ICC draft statute completed at the

United Nations earlier this year, the proposed court will be

empowered to prosecute persons charged with "the most seri-

ous crimes of concern to the international community,"

including war crimes, crimes against humanity, and  geno-

cide.1  But with 116 articles and 200 wording options to be

debated by more than 100 countries and organizations, the

Rome conference will likely sew together a legal monstros-

ity.

Serious discussion about creating a permanent interna-

tional criminal court began following the creation of the

Nuremberg and Tokyo tribunals after World War II.  In tandem

with the drafting of the Convention on the Prevention and

Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (1948) and the various

Geneva Conventions (1949), the United Nations General Assem-

bly asked the International Law Commission--the body in

charge of codifying international law--to examine the possi-

bility of creating a permanent international criminal court.

By the early 1950s the International Law Commission had

produced two draft statutes, but the project was shelved

when it became apparent that the political climate of the

Cold War made such a court impracticable.

In 1989 the UN delegation from Trinidad and Tobago re-

vived the idea of establishing an international criminal

court, proposing the creation of a world judicial body

capable of dealing with crimes related to international drug

trafficking.  While the International Law Commission resumed

work drafting an ICC statute, the UN established temporary

international criminal tribunals to adjudicate cases of war

crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide committed

during the recent conflicts in the former Yugoslavia and

Rwanda.

The International Law Commission submitted an ICC draft

statute to the UN General Assembly in 1994, recommending

that an international conference be convened to finalize a

treaty.  Two years later, the UN General Assembly convened

the Preparatory Committee on the Establishment of an Inter-

national Criminal Court, which allowed UN member states and