Faced with increasing expectations and demands on the new International Criminal Court, the process of preparing its budget for 2005 presented significant challenges to the Court, the Committee on Budget and Finance and the Assembly of States Parties. This article focuses on the major challenges and examines the decisions taken by the Assembly. In particular, it looks at budgetary matters relating to the independence of the Prosecutor and decisions that could undermine it. Furthermore, with planned progress towards the first trials it focuses on key areas of the Court's work, including outreach, victim protection and field presence, that are in danger of being compromised through under-investment.

The adoption of the 2004 budget of the International Criminal Court completed the first full budgetary process for the Court. The document sets out the framework and financial parameters that will determine how the Court will function and grow in future years and represents the first comprehensive vision of the fully operational Court. This article looks at the process of creating the document and, referring to the experiences of other international and internationalized courts, analyzes the substantive debates that occurred on ensuring the independence of the Prosecutor in the process and ensuring adequate resources for victims, outreach, and defence.