How to Land an ICC Internship

Okay, here is the sentence that usually makes people pause: you will not get paid a single euro for this. And thousands of law, international relations, and human rights students still chase it every year, because an ICC internship at the International Criminal Court is one of the few lines on a CV that instantly tells a hiring manager you’ve operated inside the actual machinery of international justice – not just studied it.

The ICC Internship and Visiting Professionals Programme places students and early-career professionals inside the International Criminal Court’s headquarters in The Hague, Netherlands, for three to six months. The internship is unfunded for the vast majority of participants, meaning you cover your own travel, housing, and living costs – but you gain direct experience inside the court that prosecutes the world’s gravest crimes. Here is exactly how eligibility, the application, and the funding situation actually work.

Quick Facts

What This Program Actually Offers

The ICC runs three separate tracks worth knowing apart:

• Staff vacancies – actual paid positions across the Court, from legal officers to administrative and support roles
• Internships – 3 to 6 months, for students and recent graduates, working directly within a section of the Court on real projects
• Visiting Professional Programme – 1 to 6 months, generally aimed at more established professionals who bring existing expertise into the Court for a defined period

Most students reading this are looking at the internship track specifically, so that is what we’ll focus on here – but it is worth knowing the Visiting Professional route exists if you are further along in your career.

Interns aren’t just filing paperwork, either. According to the Court’s own eligibility page, interns get access to educational visits, talks from ICC staff members, several online certifications through the Court and partner institutions, and even recreational and social activities alongside the actual casework. It’s designed as a genuine professional development experience, not just unpaid labor with a prestigious name attached.

Who’s Actually Eligible

Here is something that surprises a lot of applicants: you don’t need to be a law student to apply. The ICC internship programme explicitly welcomes candidates from diverse educational and professional backgrounds – legal studies are common, but so are international relations, political science, human rights, and related fields, depending on which section of the Court is recruiting.

Language matters a lot here, though. English and French are the Court’s working languages, and proficiency in one is required for essentially every internship listing. Knowledge of the other, or of Arabic, Chinese, Russian, or Spanish, is generally considered an asset rather than a requirement – but it does make an application more competitive.

The Court also has an active diversity and geographic representation policy. It specifically encourages applications from nationals of ICC States Parties that are currently under-represented or not represented among Court staff – a list that includes a wide range of countries across every region. If you are a national of one of these states, it’s genuinely worth checking the current list on the official ICC jobs page, since it’s explicitly framed as a factor the Court weighs in recruitment.

The Part Nobody Sugarcoats: It is Unfunded

Let us be straightforward about this, because a lot of internship writeups gloss right over it. The ICC internship programme is, for the overwhelming majority of participants, completely unfunded. You are expected to cover your own travel to the Netherlands, your housing in or near The Hague for the full three to six months, and your day-to-day living costs. The Court does not typically reimburse expenses for standard internship placements.

There are exceptions – a limited number of positions each year are funded through the Trust Fund for the Development of Interns and Visiting Professionals, or through an EU Contribution to the ICC. When a listing is funded, the vacancy announcement will say so directly. If funding isn’t mentioned, assume the position is unfunded and budget accordingly.

This is exactly the kind of opportunity where “unpaid but valuable” is genuinely true – an ICC internship carries real weight for future work in international law, diplomacy, or human rights – but only if you go in with a realistic financial plan rather than finding out about the self-funding requirement after you’ve already accepted a placement.

How to Actually Apply

1. Create a candidate profile through the official ICC jobs portal, where you can search current vacancies, set up job alerts, and track your application status
2. Search specifically under the internship and visiting professional listings, since these are separate from paid staff vacancies
3. Check the language requirement and section focus for each listing – internships are posted per department, so requirements shift depending on where you’re applying
4. Prepare your documents early – expect to need a CV, a motivation or cover letter, and academic transcripts at minimum, with some sections requesting additional writing samples or references depending on the role
5. Apply directly through the official portal only – the ICC does not charge any fee to apply, and any site asking for payment to “process” your ICC application is not affiliated with the Court

Budgeting for an Unfunded Placement

Since most ICC internships are self-funded, the biggest non-application decision you’ll make is how you’re going to actually afford three to six months in The Hague. A few practical things that help:

• A universal EU travel adapter – the Netherlands uses Type C/F plugs, and you’ll want this sorted before you land, not after
• A set of packing cubes if you are relocating for several months, since organized luggage makes a multi-month move genuinely less stressful
• A simple budgeting notebook or expense tracker to actually plan out rent, groceries, and transport costs against your savings before you commit to an unfunded placement

If an ICC internship is part of a longer-term plan toward international law or human rights work, it’s worth thinking about the graduate scholarships that tend to feed into this kind of career too. The Knight-Hennessy Scholars Program at Stanford is one of the more prominent fully funded options for graduate study across fields including public policy and law. And since a strong CV and motivation letter matter just as much here as in a scholarship application, our guide to writing an essay that actually gets you selected covers a lot of the same principles that apply to a compelling ICC motivation letter.

For more career-building opportunities, check out our post on 10 High-Paying Careers for Women, or browse everything currently open in Education.

Frequently Asked Questions

• Is the ICC internship program paid?

No, the ICC internship program is unfunded for the vast majority of participants. A small number of positions are funded each year through specific trust funds, and those listings are explicitly marked as funded.

• Do I need to be a law student to apply for an ICC internship?

No. The program accepts candidates from diverse academic and professional backgrounds, though legal studies, international relations, human rights, and related fields are common.

• How long is an ICC internship?

Internships typically run three to six months. Visiting Professional placements run one to six months.

• What languages do I need to know to apply?

Proficiency in English or French is required, since these are the Court’s working languages. Knowledge of Arabic, Chinese, Russian, or Spanish is considered an asset.

• Is there an application fee for the ICC internship program?

No. Applying through the official ICC jobs portal is free. Any site charging a fee to process an ICC application is not affiliated with the Court.

• Where is the ICC internship located?

At the International Criminal Court’s headquarters in The Hague, Netherlands. The internship is in-person and full-time.

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