A separate law for peacekeepers: The clash between the Security Council and the International Criminal Court

Security Council Resolutions 1422 (2002), 1487 (2003) and 1497(2003), excluding the jurisdiction of the ICC, give rise to the fundamental issue of whether the legitimacy of an international institution such as the International Criminal Court may be eroded by an act of the Security Council, the political organ of the United Nations, This article analyses the legal validity of such resolutions within the framework of limitations that have been imposed upon the Council in international law. It discusses the relationship between the resolutions and the provisions of the Rome Statute, and concludes that their cumulative effect operates to modify the Rome Statute, It then deals with the effect of the illegality of these resolutions on the obligations of Member States of the UN, as well as on the ICC.