What Criminals Brought Before the ICC Are Charged With

Since its inception in 2002, the International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued arrest warrants and summons to appear to 51 individuals accused of war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide and offenses against the administration of justice, which in this case mostly means false testimony. Of those still alive among those 51 individuals, 14 are still at large with outstanding warrants. As our chart shows, most of the charges are related to crimes against humanity and war crimes.

According to official court records, 33 defendants committed crimes against humanity in the eyes of the court, while 31 were seen guilty of various war crimes. Some of the more infamous defendants in cases brought before the court are former president of the Republic of Sudan Omar Al-Bashir, the sole instance that explicitly focuses on the crime of genocide, as well as the late commander of the Armed Forces of Libya Muammar Gaddafi and Joseph Kony, commander-in-chief of the Lord's Resistance Army in Uganda in the early 2000s. 21 of the 24 defendants tied to closed cases died before judgment could be passed, were acquitted or had the prosecution withdrawn.

The current situations under investigation focus primarily on the African continent. 10 of 16 investigations are tied to countries like Uganda, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo or Libya. Other investigations include territories in Palestine, Venezuela, Ukraine, Myanmar, the Philippines and Georgia. Due to the focus on armed conflicts on the African continent, some states claim the ICC is a neo-colonial tool trying to shift attention away from the crimes committed by nationals of the countries that ratified the underlying Rome Statute.