International Criminal Court: How is the Court Funded?
The financing of the International Criminal Court (ICC) is subject to part 12 of the Rome Statute (RS) which governs the ICC. More specifically, the relevant provisions are Article 115 and Article 116.
Article 115 establishes the following sources for funding the court; contributions by state parties, and funds from the United Nations for referrals by the Security Council (subject to general assembly approval). Article 116 further outlines that the ICC is not constrained to the sources of funds in Article 115, but can make use of funds that are voluntary contributions from governments, international organisations, individuals, corporations and other entities. The use of voluntary contributions is subject to the relevant criteria adopted by the assembly of state parties.
The referral of the Ukraine situation to the ICC resulted in Prosecutor Karim Khan QC asking state parties for the contribution of additional resources, as the current 2022 budget cannot accommodate for an investigation without it negatively impacting ongoing investigations. In response, the following states have announced:
Austria has announced they will send an expert to the ICC and donate 100,000 euros; helping “finance software for the collection, analysis and processing of evidence as well as specific expertise for the psychological assistance of victims and witnesses.”
Canada will be “sending a team of Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers to support the International Criminal Court in its investigation into war crimes in Ukraine.”
Czech Republic announced their intention to help coordinate evidence gathering with participating states.
Denmark is providing 100,000 USD to the ICC. They have also launched the Group of Friends of Accountability initiative with Albania, Colombia, Marshall Islands, Netherlands and Ukraine in a bid to coordinate broad international support and coordination.
The European Union has announced “7.5 million euros to train Ukrainian prosecutors to investigate alleged war crimes.”
Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia and Ukraine are members of the joint investigation team backed by Eurojust. Lithuania also intends to allocate 100,000 euros.
France announced a contribution of 500,000 euros and will be providing 2 judges and 10 investigators.
Germany, Netherlands, Sweden collectively announced around 2.7 million euros to the ICC.
Ireland announces 3 million euros for ICC with 1 million available immediately. This is up from a previous announcement of 150,000 with 200,000 euros committed to a fund.
Norway will be assisting the investigation. Their National Crime Investigation Service will be tasked with this, with the Norwegian Police Directorate taking care of the logistics. It is also worth noting that Norway is providing assistance at the request of the ICC.
Spain will be deploying 39 forensic experts, 29 forensic doctors and 10 forensic officers.
Switzerland will be funding an additional two more positions for Swiss experts, bringing the total to 3.
The United Kingdom and Northern Ireland will be providing 1 million GBP in funding, and deploying a specialist legal and police team.