The Jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court Over Nationals of Non-Member States in Light of the Pacta Tertiis Principle

One of the important issues in the Statute of the International Criminal Court is the jurisdiction of the Court, which has been challenged since the Rome Conference and has caused many debates. This id exemplified by the debate over the preconditions of applying the Court's jurisdiction to international crimes subject to its statute. The possibility of extending the jurisdiction of the Court to nationals of non-member States has always been raised by those in favor of the Court's comprehensive jurisdiction, and an attempt is made to grant such a capacity to the Court by broadly interpreting the preconditions to exercising the Court's jurisdiction. The present paper, by examining the views of the proponents and opponents of this issue, seeks to answer whether it is possible to exercise jurisdiction over the nationals of non-member states within the framework of the principles of international law. Using a descriptive-analytical method, we come to the conclusion that not only the rules of international law do not allow this, but also the normative order of the international community does not tolerate such an evolution.