Editing Rome Statute (section)

===Background===
The Rome Statute is the result of multiple attempts for the creation of a supranational and international tribunal. At the end of the 19th century, the international community took the first steps toward the institution of permanent courts with supranational jurisdiction. With the [[Hague Conferences|Hague International Peace Conferences]] of 1899 and 1907, representatives of the most powerful nations made an attempt to harmonize [[laws of war]] and to limit the use of technologically advanced weapons. 

After the [[Nuremberg trials]] of [[Nazi]] leaders, international institutions began prosecuting individuals responsible for [[crimes against humanity]] which are inhumane actions that may be legal in a given nation, but represent gross human rights violations. In order to re-affirm basic principles of democratic civilisation, the accused received a regular trial, the right to [[defense (legal)|defense]] and the [[presumption of innocence]]. The [[Nuremberg trials]] marked a crucial moment in [[legal history]], and after that, some treaties that led to the drafting of the Rome Statute were signed.{{Citation needed|date=June 2024|reason=What are these treaties that led to the Rome statute? This is far too vague.}} 

UN General Assembly Resolution n. 260 9 December 1948, the [[Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide]], was the first step toward the establishment of an international permanent criminal tribunal with jurisdiction on crimes yet to be defined in international treaties. In the resolution there was a hope for an effort from the Legal U.N. commission in that direction. 

The U.N. General Assembly, after the considerations expressed from the commission, established a committee to draft a statute and study the related legal issues. In 1951 a first draft was presented; a second draft followed in 1955 but there were a number of delays, officially due to the difficulties in the definition of the [[crime of aggression]], that were only solved with diplomatic assemblies in the years following the statute's coming into force. The geopolitical tensions of the [[Cold War]] also contributed to the delays.

In December 1989, [[Trinidad and Tobago]] asked the General Assembly to re-open the talks for the establishment of an international criminal court and in 1994 presented a draft statute. The General Assembly created an ''ad hoc'' committee for the International Criminal Court and, after hearing the conclusions, a Preparatory Committee that worked on the draft for two years from 1996 to 1998. 

Meanwhile, the United Nations created the ''ad hoc'' tribunals for the former Yugoslavia ([[International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia|ICTY]]) and for Rwanda ([[International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda|ICTR]]) using statutes—and amendments due to issues raised during pre-trial or trial stages of the proceedings—that are quite similar to the Rome Statute.

The UN’s [[International Law Commission]] (ILC) considered the inclusion of the crime of [[ecocide]] to be included within the Draft Code of Crimes Against the Peace and Security of Mankind, the document which later became the Rome Statute. Article 26 (crime against the environment) was publicly supported by 19 countries in the Legal Committee but was removed due to opposition from the [[Netherlands]], the [[United Kingdom]] and the [[United States|United States of America]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=((UN. General Assembly (41st sess.))) |date=1987-01-20 |title=Draft Code of Offences against the Peace and Security of Mankind :: resolution /: adopted by the General Assembly. |url=https://digitallibrary.un.org/record/124973 |language=en |website=United Nations Digital Library System |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231219205451/https://digitallibrary.un.org/nanna/record/124973/files/A_RES_41_75-EN.pdf?withWatermark=0&withMetadata=0&version=1&registerDownload=1 |archive-date= Dec 19, 2023 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite magazine |date=2021-02-19 |title=Lawyers Are Working to Put 'Ecocide' on Par with War Crimes. Could an International Law Hold Major Polluters to Account? |url=https://time.com/5940759/ecocide-law-environment-destruction-icc/ |first1=Mélissa |last1=Godin |access-date=2023-07-05 |magazine=Time |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=The Ecocide Project - Ecocide is the missing 5th Crime Against Peace |url=https://sas-space.sas.ac.uk/4830/1/Ecocide_research_report_19_July_13.pdf |website=School of Advanced Study, University of London |first1=Anja |last1=Gauger |first2=Mai |last2=Pouye Rabatel-Fernel |first3=Louise |last3=Kulbicki |first4=Damien |last4=Short |first5=Polly |last5=Higgins |date=2012 |publisher=Human Rights Consortium |url-status=live |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20231202211859/https://sas-space.sas.ac.uk/4830/1/Ecocide_research_report_19_July_13.pdf |archive-date= Dec 2, 2023 }}</ref>