Photo: Flicker (jbdodane)
In a landmark move, the National Senate has ratified the Rome Statute, the governing framework of International Criminal Court, or ICC. The ICC is an international court which tries individuals for "the gravest crimes of concern to the international community," including genocide and crimes against humanity. The ICC holds jurisdiction over its 124 member states. The ratification, approved in a session last weekend, follows the treaty's signing by President Morber in October and aligns Soundland with international efforts to combat such crimes.
The National Senate also passed the International Crimes Act, bringing the Republic of Soundland into compliance with the Rome Statute and providing for the Soundlandian prosecution of such crimes. The act, which President Morber signed just today, includes one crime that is not listed in the statute: ecocide. Ecocide is an emerging legal concept that is broadly defined as deliberate or negligent acts that cause large scale or long term damage to the environment. The reason for the delay between the act's passing and Morber's signing was due to a delay in acquiring Speaker Pro Tempore Aiden Kraft's signature before both he and the President left for an informal diplomatic visit to the New Mexico capitol Santa Fe.
Under the International Crimes Act, or ICA, Soundland is obliged to honor arrest warrants issued by the ICC and to follow the court's criminal code. In addition, the act enables the Department of Justice and Civil Security to prosecute international crimes of its own accord. This power is based upon the legal doctrine of Universal Jurisdiction, that some crimes are so heinous it is the responsibility of every state to prosecute them on a global scale. While the theory is widely accepted, it is up to each state to define the scale and power of Universal Jurisdiction, as the International Crimes Act does.
By ratifying the Rome Statute and enacting the ICA, Soundland joins a large international community of states that recognize the ICC's jurisdiction - one that does not include the United States. This membership comes on the heels of a series of high profile arrest warrants issued by the court in recent years that included the likes of Vladimir Putin, Benjamin Netanyahu, and the assumed dead Mohammed Deif.
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