A Laboratory for Global Justice

Summary

In July 2002, after hasty renovations to an old Dutch telecom building on the margins of The Hague, the International Criminal Court (ICC) opened its doors to the world. Created by treaty in 1998, the ICC was a bold response to the hopes of many nations for a more compelling way to enforce the fundamental rights of humanity. A permanent international court would soon begin to prosecute suspects accused of mounting attacks on innocent populations – even if those accused were government officials, including heads of state. Amid investigations into more than a half-dozen global trouble spots, the ICC launched its first courtroom trials by charging a handful of men from the Democratic Republic of Congo. The following chapters tell the story of these pioneering trials, which dominated the ICC’s first decade of operation.