- Germany into Nations League quarters, France and Italy win
- Nagelsmann lauds 'supercharged' Germany's 'best half of the year'
- 'Pandas are coming': Two new bears depart China for US capital
- Dodgers pitcher Kershaw plans to return for 2025
- Mbappe 'investigated for rape' in Sweden: report
- Revived Italy sweep past Israel in Nations League amid high security
- Trudeau slams India as tensions soar over Sikh separatist's murder
- Harris courts Black voters as Trump makes inroads
- Wall Street stocks hit fresh records as oil prices slide
- Nigerian team return home after boycotting AFCON qualifier in Libya
- Nigeria refuse to play in Libya as Algeria, Cameroon qualify
- Strike-hit Boeing leaves experts puzzled by strategy
- Leweling rockets Germany past Dutch and into Nations League quarterfinals
- Kolo Muani double fires France to win in Belgium
- Italy sweep past Israel in Nations League amid high security
- UN peacekeepers to 'stay in all positions' in Lebanon
- NASA launches probe to study if life possible on icy Jupiter moon
- 'Unique' Ronaldo an example to everyone, says Martinez
- New lawsuits against Sean Combs allege sex assault, including of minor
- Italy begins migrant transfers to Albania with first group of 16
- Google signs nuclear power deal with startup Kairos
- Carsley open to foreign England manager amid Guardiola links
- Pogba hungry to have his football cake after doping ban
- India and Canada expel top envoys in Sikh separatist killing row
- Mbappe says victim of 'fake news' after 'rape' report in Sweden
- Lebanon says 21 killed in strike on northern village
- Netanyahu vows no mercy after deadly Hezbollah drone strike
- Russia could be able to attack NATO by 2030: German intelligence
- EVs seek to regain sales momentum at Paris Motor Show
- Clarke backs Scotland to bounce back from 'tough' run
- Harris, Trump target crucial Pennsylvania as US vote looms
- NASA probe Europa Clipper lifts off for Jupiter's icy moon
- Lebanese Red Cross says 18 killed in strike in north
- Mendy borrowed money from Man City team-mates for legal fees
- Palestinian officials say Israeli forces kill two in West Bank
- Football leagues, unions file EU complaint against FIFA in calendar dispute
- Nigeria boycott AFCON qualifier in Libya after 'inhumane treatment'
- India to recall top envoy to Canada: foreign ministry
- Hezbollah, Israeli troops in 'violent clashes' after drone strike
- China insists won't renounce 'use of force' to take Taiwan as drills end
- Painkiller sale plan to US gives France major headache
- Italy begins landmark migrant transfers to Albania
- Russia jails French researcher for three years
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- Stocks shrug off China disappointment but oil slides
- New Zealand 4-0 up in America's Cup but British show signs of life
- Russian prosecutor demands 3 years prison for French researcher
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- Afghan Taliban vow to implement media ban on images of living things
- Russian prosecutor demands 3 years, 3 months jail for French researcher
Ukraine gives ICC new purpose after 20 troubled years
Its first two decades have brought criticism and controversy but as the International Criminal Court marks its 20th birthday the Ukraine war is giving it a new impetus.
Since its founding Rome Statute entered force on July 1, 2002, the world's only permanent war crimes court has had a poor record of just five convictions.
The Hague-based ICC is also accused of focusing on African suspects and suffers from the absence of key countries like the United States, China, Russia and Israel.
But it remains the court of last resort for grave charges such as genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and aggression, when member states are unable or unwilling to prosecute.
Russia's invasion of Ukraine has made the international community realise the importance of the rule of law, says ICC prosecutor Karim Khan.
"If we don't hold on to the law today, I think there is very little hope for anybody's tomorrow," Khan told AFP.
"That growing realisation has been rendered more acute because of the events of the 24th of February and the events in Ukraine -- and I think it's long overdue."
The ICC will hold a special 20th anniversary conference on Friday, which it says is "an occasion for reflections on how well the ICC has met expectations".
And those expectations have always been high.
- 'Lofty goals' -
The ICC is the successor to the Nuremberg trials of Nazi war criminals, when the post-war international order sought an ideal of global justice.
Tribunals into the wars in the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s and the 1994 Rwandan genocide also laid the ground for a permanent court.
The Rome Statute was signed in 1998 and came into effect four years later, allowing the court to finally open its doors.
Yet since then, it has failed to snare any senior government leaders, and its five convictions so far have all been African rebels, including one former child soldier.
"Contemplating the ICC's legacy in light of its lofty goals, the results are negligible," Thijs Bouwknegt of the NIOD Institute for War, Holocaust and Genocide Studies told AFP.
It had high profile failures, with former Ivory Coast president Laurent Gbagbo being cleared, former DR Congo vice-president Jean-Pierre Bemba acquitted on appeal and Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta having charges dropped.
Just as damaging is the absence of key players.
The United States, which signed the Rome Statute in 2000 but never ratified it, has sometimes been actively hostile, at one point sanctioning the court over its Afghan probe.
China, Israel, Myanmar and Syria have also steered clear, along with Russia -- which even allegedly sent a spy posing as an intern to target the ICC's Ukraine probe.
But while there was "deservedly" criticism of the ICC, the court had made a "significant contribution", said Victoria Kerr of the Hague-based Asser Institute for International and European Law.
"The ICC is not a panacea, nor should its effectiveness be measured solely on its convictions," Kerr told AFP.
- 'Recipe for Armageddon' -
In recent years the court has sought to improve.
New probes into the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Afghanistan, Myanmar and the Philippines have taken the ICC into some of the world's most contested conflicts.
Khan said when he took office last year that he wanted to "repair" the ICC's record.
Bouwknegt however said Khan's decision to "deprioritise" alleged US crimes in Afghanistan and focus on the Taliban and Islamic State "exposed that the court still curtsies to the most powerful".
Ukraine is now where the court has a chance to prove its credentials.
Khan said the recent backing of 43 states for the ICC's Ukraine probe was "not simply because of what's happening in Ukraine".
"It's a realisation that when we view international law as an a la carte menu which states can pick and choose from ... that is a recipe for Armageddon," he told AFP.
Long under-funded and short-staffed, the ICC has had a surge in Western support since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, including the help of dozens of foreign investigators.
But Ukraine also throws up the same key difficulty the ICC has faced for the last two decades.
"The key challenge will be bringing high-level perpetrators before the court," said Kerr.
Y.Kobayashi--AMWN