Antecedents of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court Revisited

O N JULY 17, 1998 the United Nations Conference of Plenipotentiaries on the Establishment of an International Criminal Court adopted the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court .{hereafter Rome Statute or Statute).l This was the culmination of the hopes and dreams of many genera, tions of international lawyers and others who aimed at seeing international law placed on a sounder basis than the voluntarist conceptions so character, istic of it. One hundred and sixty States took part in the Conference, held in Rome be, tween June 15 and July 17, 1998. Thirty,one official organizations and other entities were represented at the Conference by observers. In addition, observ, ers from 134 non,governmental organizations participated. The Rome Statute was adopted on a non,recorded vote of 120 in favor, seven against, and 21 ab, stentions, the remaining States not taking part in the vote. The purpose of this article is to retrace briefly the developments that led to the Rome Statute, to' gether with some afterthoughts.