The ICC Statute and Belgian Law

Abstract

The Act passed by the Belgian Parliament on 25 May 2000 ratified the Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC Statute), signed in Rome on 17 July 1998. In passing this enactment, Belgium recognized its obligations under international law to bring its domestic law into line with the provisions of the ICC Statute. This paper shall first attempt to set out the established principles of Belgian legislation in the field of international humanitarian law, as in force when the Statute was ratified. It shall then go on to address the question of the conformity (or non-conformity) of the offences provided for under Belgian law with those outlined in the ICC Statute, making particular reference to the subsequent statutory amendments introduced with the entry into force of the Act of 23 April 2003 (the 2003 Act).The various grounds for defences shall be examined in a similar manner. Attention will also be drawn to the provisions of the 2003 Act, by which the Belgian Parliament expressly tried to combine the principle of universal jurisdiction, which is enshrined in Belgian law, with the principle of complementarity provided for by the ICC Statute. Finally, the provisions of the Draft Bill on cooperation with the ICC, recently placed before the Belgian Parliament, will be examined.