John B. Bellinger III discusses why the United States is unlikely to join the International Criminal Court anytime soon.

Paul B. Stares and Alexander Noyes argue that "A conditional suspension of the ICC's warrant for Bashir is the best way to prevent a collapse of the CPA, protect those still in need, and force Khartoum to act toward ending the conflict in Darfur."

Michael Gerson weighs in on the International Criminal Court's indictment of Sudanese president Omar Hassan al-Bashir and the challenges that now fall on the Obama administration.

Sundaa A. Bridgett Jones argues, "relative calm in South Sudan is no reason to make nice with a war criminal."

Backed by strong international support, the formation of a permanent International Criminal Court (ICC) will soon replace the use of ad hoc tribunals such as those for Yugoslavia and Rwanda. The United States, originally a proponent of the ICC treaty negotiated in Rome in 1998, now stands with the small minority opposing the ICC. With the court likely to come into existence, the terms of U.S. participation in the treaty are now a vital question.

Podcast: A veteran reporter discusses a war crimes tribunal trying members of Cambodia's Khmer Rouge regime.

The Charter of the International Military Tribunal, also known as the the Charter of the Nuremberg Tribunal, was signed in London on August 8, 1945.

The UN Security Council decided through this resolution of March 31, 2005 to “refer the situation prevailing in Darfur since 1 July 2002 to the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court”.