Countries and cases
- Cases
- Abdallah Banda Abakaer Nourain
- Abdel Raheem Muhammad Hussein
- Abdullah al-Senussi
- Ahmad Harun and Ali Kushayb
- Ahmad al-Faqi al-Mahdi
- Al-Tuhamy Mohamed Khaled
- Bahar Idriss Abu Garda
- Bosco Ntaganda
- Callixte Mbarushimana
- Dominic Ongwen
- Germain Katanga
- Jean-Pierre Bemba (Bemba I)
- Jean-Pierre Bemba (Bemba II)
- Joseph Kony et. al.
- Laurent Gbagbo and Charles Blé Goudé
- Mathieu Ngudjolo Chui
- Omar al-Bashir
- Saif al-Islam Gadaffi
- Sylvestre Mudacumura
- Thomas Lubanga Dyilo
- Uhuru Kenyatta
- William Ruto and Joshua Sang
- Al Hassan Ag Abdoul Aziz Ag Mohamed Ag Mahmoud
- Alfred YekatomAnd Patrice-Edouard Ngaïssona
- Mahmoud Mustafa Busayf Al-Werfalli
- Countries
- Africa
- Angola
- Benin
- Botswana
- Burkina Faso
- Burundi
- Cameroon
- Cape Verde
- Central African Republic (I and II)
- Chad
- Comoros
- Congo Brazzaville
- Côte d'Ivoire
- Darfur, Sudan
- Democratic Republic of Congo
- Djibouti
- Equatorial Guinea
- Eritrea
- Ethiopia
- Gabon
- Gambia
- Ghana
- Guinea
- Guinea-Bissau
- Kenya
- Lesotho
- Liberia
- Madagascar
- Malawi
- Mali
- Mauritania
- Mauritius
- Mozambique
- Namibia
- Niger
- Nigeria
- Rwanda
- Sao Tome and Principe
- Senegal
- Seychelles
- Sierra Leone
- Somalia
- South Africa
- South Sudan
- Swaziland
- Tanzania
- Togo
- Uganda
- Zambia
- Zimbabwe
- Americas
- Antigua and Barbuda
- Argentina
- Barbados
- Belize
- Bolivia
- Brazil
- Canada
- Chile
- Colombia
- Costa Rica
- Cuba
- Dominica
- Dominican Republic
- Ecuador
- El Salvador
- Grenada
- Guatemala
- Guyana
- Haiti
- Honduras
- Jamaica
- Mexico
- Nicaragua
- Panama
- Paraguay
- Peru
- Saint Kitts and Nevis
- St. Lucia
- St. Vincent and the Grenadines
- Suriname
- The Bahamas
- Trinidad and Tobago
- United States
- Uruguay
- Venezuela
- Asia-Pacific
- Afghanistan
- Australia
- Bangladesh
- Bhutan
- Brunei
- Cambodia
- China
- Fiji
- India
- Indonesia
- Japan
- Kiribati
- Laos People's Democratic Republic
- Malaysia
- Micronesia
- Mongolia
- MyanmarNon-State Party
- Nepal
- New Zealand
- North Korea
- Pakistan
- Palau
- Republic of Korea
- Republic of Maldives
- Samoa
- Singapore
- Solomon Islands
- Sri Lanka
- Thailand
- The Philippines
- Timor-Leste
- Tonga
- Turkmenistan
- Tuvalu
- Vanuatu
- Vietnam
- Europe
- Albania
- Andorra
- Armenia
- Austria
- Azerbaijan
- Belarus
- Belgium
- Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Bulgaria
- Croatia
- Cyprus
- Czech Republic
- Denmark
- Estonia
- Finland
- France
- Georgia
- Germany
- Greece
- Hungary
- Iceland
- Ireland
- Italy
- Kazakhstan
- Kyrgyzstan
- Latvia
- Liechtenstein
- Lithuania
- Luxembourg
- Macedonia
- Malta
- Moldova
- Monaco
- Montenegro
- Norway
- Poland
- Portugal
- Romania
- Russia
- San Marino
- Serbia
- Slovakia
- Slovenia
- Spain
- Sweden
- Switzerland
- Tajikistan
- The Holy See / Vatican City
- The Netherlands
- Turkey
- Ukraine
- United Kingdom
- Uzbekistan
- MENA
- Africa
The UN Security Council
The UN Security Council has the power to refer situations that represent a threat to international peace and security to the ICC prosecutor for investigation and possibly prosecution, irrespective of if they are members of the Court.
The Council also has the power to defer ICC investigations for one year at a time if it believes it is in the interest of international peace and security. To date, the Security Council has referred Darfur (Sudan) in 2005 and Libya in 2011 to the Court.
Failure to back up referrals
The UN Security Council has consistently failed to provide the requisite cooperation or financial support to ensure effective ICC investigations and prosecutions arising from its referrals.
Provisions that undermine impartial justice
Certain provisions in UN Security Council referrals have undermined the ICC’s ability to serve impartial justice, such the explicit exclusion of nationals of non ICC-member states from the Court’s jurisdiction.
Misuse of the veto – uneven access to justice
The ICC cannot investigate when the UN Security Council fails to refer suspected atrocity crimes situations to the ICC prosecutor for investigation. This is an increasingly pressing issue given well-documented mass human rights violations in many places around the world where the ICC does not have jurisdiction.
The five permanent members of the Security Council—China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States—can each veto any resolution that comes before them. A power often used to protect their interests, along with those of their allies
In May 2014, despite the support of over 60 UN member states and hundreds of civil society groups, Russia and China vetoed a resolution to refer widespread atrocities in Syria to the ICC—the first time a referral resolution had failed.
This political selectivity towards accountability on the part of Security Council members results in uneven access to justice for victims of grave crimes worldwide, and undermines the credibility of both the Council and ICC.
Two separate initiatives aim to restrain the use of the veto when dealing with situations of genocide, war crimes, or crimes against humanity.
(Note: The Coalition as a whole does not take positions on the referral of specific situations to the Court.)
5 recommendations for the Permanent 5
Refrain from using the veto when dealing with mass atrocities
- Back up ICC referrals with cooperation, such as arresting suspects
- Encourage funding of ICC referrals through the UN system
- Stop excluding nationals of non ICC-member states from the Court’s jurisdiction in referrals
- Engage in constructive dialogue with the Court