While the main function of the Security Council is the maintenance of international peace and security, in accordance with Article 24 of the UN Charter, the Council has played an important role with regard to the advancement of international justice. Other than the establishment by the Security Council of ad hoc Tribunals to prosecute crimes against humanity in specific conflict situations such as Rwanda and the former Yugolavia, the establishment of the Special Tribunal on Lebanon, along with the passage of resolution 1595 mandating the withdrawal of the remaining Syrian troops from Lebanon, was a landmark achievement…

Over 120 countries have united to form the International Criminal Court—the first permanent court created to prosecute perpetrators, no matter how powerful, of crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide. The Reckoning follows dynamic ICC Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo and his team for three years across four continents as he issues arrest warrants for Lord’s Resistance Army leaders in Uganda, puts Congolese warlords on trial, shakes up the Colombian justice system, and charges Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir with genocide in Darfur. The Reckoning keeps you on the edge of your seat.

As a joint public-policy and law student, I took Professor Chris Stone’s “Workshop on Crime and Criminal Justice Reform in Global Context” during the Spring of 2009. Harvard’s criminal justice program connects research closely with the world of practice, so as fieldwork for this class, I spent spring break in the Hague with justice and human rights NGOs from all over the world, leaders from the International Criminal Court, and staff from Harvard’s Hauser Center. On this trip the group I was a part of was tasked with beginning to understand and describe the ‘network’ of the ICC within the larger international criminal justice system.