The Lacunae in the Rome Statute for the Exercise of Universal Jurisdiction by the International Criminal Court

The issue of “universal jurisdiction” reveals a legal chasm in the applicability of the Rome Statute and have plagued the International Criminal Court with criticisms for not having the right to exercise such jurisdiction over international crimes. Universal jurisdiction can be simply defined as “the exercise of jurisdiction regardless of any other acknowledged jurisdictional relationship to a State party to the Statute”. This question of universal jurisdiction becomes especially important when currently, the Court is recently struggling to exercise jurisdiction over the crimes committed in the Philippines, in the context of their government’s "War on Drugs" campaign, due to the withdrawal of the country as a State Party to the Statute on March 17, 2019. This article provides an insight into such lacunae of the Statute in terms of adequately preparing the ICC for exercising its jurisdiction in such situations or cases.