The Rome Statute, unlike the statutes of the International Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and for Rwanda, creates a permanent court whose dormant jurisdiction covers the territory and includes the nationals of States Parties and is universal in cases where the Security Council makes a referral. Besides, unlike the "ad hoc" tribunals, which have jurisdiction over specific crisis situations whose personal, territorial and temporal parameters have been defined in their respective statutes by the UN Security Council, in the case of the ICC it is not possible to determine a priori in which situations the ICC will be involved. As a result, the most relevant activity of the Court is the determination of those situations regarding which the dormant jurisdiction of the Court will be triggered. The book "The Triggering Procedure of the International Criminal Court" constitutes the first comprehensive analysis of the proceedings that, prior to any criminal investigation, aim to make such a fundamental determination.

This book offers a unique critical analysis of the legal nature, effects and limits of UN Security Council referrals to the International Criminal Court (ICC). Alexandre Skander Galand provides, for the first time, a full picture of two competing understandings of the nature of the Security Council referrals to the ICC, and their respective normative interplay with legal barriers to the exercise of universal prescriptive and adjudicative jurisdiction. The book shows that the application of the Rome Statute through a Security Council referral is inherently limited by the UN Charter as well as the Rome Statute, and can conflict with other branches of international law, including international human rights law, the law on immunities and the law of treaties. Hence, it spells out a conception of the nature and effects of Security Council referrals that responds to these limits and, in turn, informs the reader on the nature of the ICC itself.

This book presents the first comprehensive study of international criminal jurisdiction over organized crime and demonstrates the potential of international law to bring leaders of cartels and trafficking rings to justice.

This systematic, contextual and practice-oriented account of complementarity explores the background and historical expectations associated with complementarity, its interpretation in prosecutorial policy and judicial practice, its context (ad hoc tribunals, universal jurisdiction, R2P) and its impact in specific situations (Colombia, Congo, Uganda, Central African Republic, Sudan and Kenya). Written by leading experts from inside and outside the Court and scholars from multiple disciplines, the essays combine theoretical inquiry with policy recommendations and the first-hand experience of practitioners. It is geared towards academics, lawyers and policy-makers who deal with the impact and application of international criminal justice and its interplay with peace and security, transitional justice and international relations.

A universal criminal court : the emergence of an idea -- The global civil society campaign -- The victory : the independent prosecutor -- The defeat : no universal jurisdiction -- The controversy : gender and forced pregnancy -- The missed chance : banning weapons -- A global civil society achievement : why rejoice?