The Mysterious Mysteriousness of Complementarity

This article examines one of the most peculiar aspects of the debate concerning the principle of complementarity. The article will explore an unusual distortion in the discourse on complementarity and then show how that distortion is obscuring fundamentally important substantive questions on the role of the International Criminal Court (ICC). As was observed in an informal experts group report on complementarity, and conrmed by several Chambers of the ICC, a case is admissible under Article 17 of the ICC Statute where there are no national proceedings in relation to that case. However, many commentators have insisted that this proposition is a gloss, an innovative interpretation, an invented prong of the test, which is noticeable stronger than the actual terms of Article 17.