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Comment on the Oversight Question: “This debate addresses a constitutional issue: What is the proper balance between the independence of the International Criminal Court (the “Court”) and the oversight role of the Assembly of States Parties (the “Assembly”) regarding the Court’s administration under Article 112 of the Rome Statute?”
I take your point regarding ICJ decisions; maybe many take these non-binding decisions as law.
But ultimately, I disagree on construing "recommendations" as obligations. Though some may desire a more binding nature, a recommendation does not obligate anything.
Say, for instance, the Security Council issued a resolution recommending all states to cooperate with an ICC investigation. This doesn't obligate states to cooperate. Even if the Council recommends state cooperation more forcefully by "urging" it—as it did in Resolution 1593—it still doesn't obligate states.
Should they cooperate? Maybe. Must they? No. If the Council had intended to bestow such an obligation, it would have written, "all States shall cooperate fully"—as the Council wrote in Resolution 827, where it created the ICTY and required all states to cooperate with that tribunal.