Germany's Participation in Establishing the ICC

Chancellor Schröder and UN Sec. General Kofi Annan in New York in October 2001.

Germany had an active role in the establishment of the ICC. During the Rome conference, Germany was part of a group called the "like-minded states," which favored a strong ICC (independent prosecutor, universal jurisdiction) as opposed to a court with a purely symbolic character.

Many German proposals and conceptual ideas found their way into the Statute. The war crimes, for example, were defined and worked out during two informal meetings of experts in Bonn in June and October 1997. The strong position of the independent prosecutor was a German-Argentinean proposal, which was adopted into the statute. Germany also brought the continental-European rules of due process of criminal trial into the Statute. The ICC has one of the most extensive lists of due process guarantees ever written. The treaty contains a detailed list of rights enjoyed by any accused person that is as comprehensive as the US Bill of Rights, including the presumption of innocence; the right to counsel, to present evidence and to confront witnesses; the right to remain silent; the right to be present at trial; the right to have charges proved beyond a reasonable doubt and protection against double jeopardy.

Moreover, Germany has worked on incorporating unusually high obligations for states to cooperate with the Court into the Statute. State cooperation is the mechanism by which the Court will enforce its decisions, orders and requests; thus, it is crucial for the Court's effectiveness. The decisions, orders and requests of international judicial bodies can only be enforced by others, namely national authorities. According to Article 86 of the Statute, states are obliged to provide the Court with cooperation in all matters. Requests for surrender of persons to the Court, for example, have to be executed in accordance with national law, but the Statute also obliges states to ensure that procedures are available under their national law for all forms of cooperation.

Germany ratified the Rome Statute on December 11, 2000 and continues to support the process of speedy establishment of the ICC. The German legislative bodies, the Bundestag and the Bundesrat, passed the law of cooperation of German authorities with the ICC and the Code of Crimes Against International Criminal Law (Völkerstrafgesetzbuch) on May 31, and June 21, 2002, respectively.

Through the principle of international criminal law, perpetrators will no longer find safe haven throughout the globe, Federal Minister of Justice Herta Däubler-Gmelin emphasized at a press conference on January 16, 2002. "An ICC has been the vision of democratic politicians for 100 years," the Minister of Justice stated.

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