Picture the scene: it’s The Hague, a city that sounds like it should come with a free packet of Dutch stroopwafels, but instead, on this day, March 11, 2003, it served up something rather more significant—the grand opening of the International Criminal Court. Yes, the ICC, humanity’s slightly belated attempt at saying, “You know what? Maybe we should have a standing institution to deal with the absolute worst of the worst instead of scrambling to put together a tribunal every time some maniac decides to redefine ‘crimes against humanity.’”
Now, to be fair, it took us a while to get here. About 50 years, in fact. You’d think the whole “Nuremberg Trials” thing might have inspired a bit more urgency, but bureaucracy being what it is, we dawdled. So, after decades of “should we, shouldn’t we” dithering, world leaders finally decided, “Right! Let’s make this official,” and in 1998, they signed the Rome Statute, essentially the ICC’s birth certificate—except with far more Latin and significantly fewer embarrassing baby photos.
Fast-forward to 2003, and the court is finally open for business. The big moment arrives: the inaugural session! Eighteen judges are sworn in—seven women, eleven men, all highly esteemed legal minds from across the world, brought together by a common goal: to make war criminals sweat through their suits. Among them, the formidable Anita Ušacka from Latvia, a judicial powerhouse who had probably spent her career making even the most confident lawyers consider a career in gardening.
Then, of course, there was Kofi Annan, the UN Secretary-General at the time, stepping up to give the big opening speech. And in classic Annan fashion, it was both profound and vaguely terrifying. He reminded everyone that this court wasn’t just a place for legal wrangling—it was, in his words, “our collective conscience.” Which is a rather magnificent way of saying, “Behave yourselves, world, because now we’re watching.”
And thus, the ICC was born. A beacon of justice. A stern librarian for global wrongdoing. A permanent institution that, to this day, continues to put despots, warlords, and genocidal maniacs on notice: You can run, you can hide, you can even try deleting your emails, but eventually, the long arm of the law—now with an international reach—just might grab you by the scruff of your ethically compromised neck.
So, happy anniversary to the ICC! May it continue to scare the living daylights out of tyrants and provide a flicker of hope to those who believe that, every now and then, justice might just prevail.
