The conclusion and adoption in Rome in July 1998 of the Statute of a Permanent International Criminal Court (`the Statute`) marked a turning point in the application of the legal norms governing armed conflict. The establishment and functioning of the United Nations International Criminal Tribunals for the Former Yugoslavia and Rwanda was an important first step in this area, and the work of these Tribunals will prove to be of considerable importance for the ICC`s interpretation and application of the substantive law it applies. However, the separate contractual basis for the establishment of the ICC means that it is clearly not part of the United Nations composed of the six principal organs referred to in Article 7(1) of the Charter and their subsidiary organs. . . .