Croatia has become the 32nd country and the first in eastern Europe to ratify a treaty creating a permanent global criminal court that would try individuals accused of gross human rights abuses.
Croatia, whose own citizens have been prosecuted under an ad hoc UN court on the Balkan wars, deposited ratification papers with the United Nations legal department.
A total of 60 ratifications, which means national legislatures have approved the court's statutes, is needed for the International Criminal Court treaty to go into force.
Some 139 countries have signed it, signaling their intention to ratify.
The court, based on the principles of Nazi war crime trials at the end of the Second World War, would try individuals accused of the world's most heinous atrocities - mass murders, war crimes and other gross human rights violations.
It would be set up in The Hague, Netherlands, and is expected to be established within the next two years.
Nearly all Western nations have signed the treaty, and Canada, Spain, Belgium, France, Italy, Norway and Argentina, among others, have ratified it. There will be a referendum in the State on the issue on June 7th.