Today, the International Criminal Court ("ICC" or "the Court") joins the world in marking Human Rights Day, which commemorates the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the United Nations on 10 December 1948.
This year's theme "Our Rights, Our Future, Right Now" emphasises the importance and relevance of human rights in our daily lives and how human rights provide a pathway to solutions, playing a critical preventative, protective and transformative role in creating a better future.
This theme is integral to our work at the ICC. The Court's mandate is to try individuals, and to hold them accountable for the most serious crimes of concern to the international community, namely the crime of genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and the crime of aggression. These crimes constitute grave breaches of international law, which may also entail breaches of international human rights law. The ICC participates in a global fight against impunity and seeks to protect human rights through international criminal justice and to help prevent atrocities from happening again.
Together we are able to defend the values of humanity, the fundamental human rights of the peoples of the world and the future of our children and grandchildren. The ICC will continue to carry out its mandate and its efforts to uphold human rights and build a more just world.
