International Criminal Court and Treaty on War Crimes

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The International Criminal Court prosecutes crimes against humanity, war crimes, and crimes of aggression. It was established in the 1990s with the Rome Statute as its founding treaty outlining genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and crimes of aggression. The US initially opposed the treaty, along with China, Iraq, Israel, Libya, Qatar, and Yemen. Over the years, the US has varied in its support for the ICC, citing justifiable military actions. Initially, there were criticisms that the ICC favored Western states, despite having strong support from the global south.

The world is confusing, but there are experts in everything. In our least funny episode ever, we thankfully convinced a global expert, professor, researcher, author, and Genocidologist (it’s a real word) Dr. Dirk Moses to answer the questions that we may secretly have: What exactly is genocide? How long has it been happening? Is it a war crime? Is it a crime of atrocity? Who makes up humanitarian law? What's self-defense — and what's offense? How is it litigated? Whose business is it? Why do we do this to each other? What can be done? It’s a dense, long episode with lots of asides for history and context, but it might be just what you need to give you perspective on the conditions — and cycles of trauma — that can lead to crimes of atrocities.

Follow Dr. Dirk Moses on X

Read his book, “The Problems of Genocide: Permanent Security and the Language of Transgression”

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