9. The Global South and the Drafting of the Subject-Matter Jurisdiction of the ICC

The time between the Nuremberg and Tokyo Trials and the establishment of the ad hoc Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda is often considered as an unfortunate discontinuation of the international criminal justice project. Contrary to such perspective, this chapter shows that the above period marked a significant progression of international criminal law and justice, which had the opportunity to incorporate the views, concerns and needs of the enlarged international community that emerged from the decolonisation process. The majority of States and scholars from the Global South fervently promoted the international criminal justice project, believing in the counter-hegemonic potential of its subject-matter jurisdiction. The chapter argues that the limited subject-matter jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court failed to address the concerns of a substantial part of the international community, in the name of which the Court operates. In doing so, the drafters of the ICC Statute subverted the counter-hegemonic capacity of the institution and opened the door to potentially competing regional projects.