The International Criminal Court and the principle of complementarity: a comparison of the situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the situation in Darfur

Abstract

This dissertation seeks to explore the principle of complementarity, its advantages and its success so far through the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) self-referral to the International Criminal Court (ICC). It seeks also to investigate whether there are loopholes in the principle of complementarity, especially with regard to referrals by the Security Council involving states that are not parties to the Rome Statute. In particular the dissertation seeks to explore whether states can use this principle to hamper the efforts of the ICC to bring justice to victims of the most serious crimes of international concern and to end impunity