Res. 1502
The Security Council votes to refer Sudan to the ICC, the first such Security Council referral, on 31 March 2005. Credit: UN.
Shortly after the tragic bombing at the UN office in Baghdad in August 2003, the Security Council adopted Resolution 1502, addressing the need for greater protection for humanitarian workers and UN personnel. The adoption of the resolution was stalled, however, because of US insistence that all references to the Rome Statute and International Criminal Court be omitted. While the final resolution does not explicitly mention the ICC, it includes language that “there are existing prohibitions under international law against attacks knowingly and intentionally directed against personnel involved in a humanitarian assistance or peacekeeping mission, which in situations of armed conflict constitute war crimes,” and calls on states “to end impunity for such criminal acts.”
For more information about this resolution, this section includes the text of the resolution as well as press statements made by the CICC and its members.
