ICC in the Media, Update #11

Earlier this week ICC President Sang-Hyun Song addressed the U.N. General Assembly highlighting the many achievements of the ICC over the past year, and the challenges it faces. In particular he urged the nations to cooperate in arresting the eight individuals wanted by the court for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide. As we mentioned several weeks ago, a Kenyan business man brought a case to a Mombasa court challenging the authority of the ICC under Kenya's new constitution. The High Court in Mombassa ruled that it has no jurisdiction to question the authority of the ICC in Kenya and denied the man's request. The controversy surrounding the ICC's request for evidence from high-level security officials has seemingly been resolved this week. The government issued a special gazette on Monday that will allow the ICC to interview the officers and record them on video. However, the officers have been permitted to decline to answer questions that they believe may implicate them or compromise national security. In other news, the Intergovernmental Authority for Development Conference (Igad) has been moved from Kenya, a member state of the ICC, to Ethiopia, a non-member state. Many suspect that the move was made to assist the attendance of Omar al-Bashir, and to absolve responsibility for Kenya to arrest him if he chooses to attend. In the wake of this decision a senior member of Sudan's ruling party has stated that the government will "never" cooperate with the ICC. Finally, the Lubanga trial, which has now resumed, has been temporarily slowed again. Witness testimony, which was scheduled to be presented this week, has been postponed because the witnesses weren't ready to take the stand. The trial court ruled that the trial would resume on Monday. Photo credit: BBC News.

IntLawGrrls: United States' cooperation & the ICC

IntLawGrrls cite AMICC sources for recent post on US cooperation with the ICC. Check out the full post here:
United States' cooperation & the ICC

Ending Impunity for Gender Based Violence

The historic UNSC resolution 1325 celebrates its tenth anniversary on October 31, 2010. This extraordinary document was the first to emphasize the essential nature of women in securing peace and ending conflict. The resolution requires all parties involved in conflict to respect women's rights and to support their participation in peace negotiations and in post-conflict reconstruction.


Sec. of State Hillary Clinton speaks at the UNSC about US commitment to end gender violence.

UN Photo/Paulo Filgueiras

Yesterday, the Security Council and several high ranking state ministers from around the globe met together in New York to discuss the successes and failures of this resolution over the past 10 years. The pervasive sexual violence and culture of impunity in the Democratic Republic of the Congo was label as the biggest failure. All countries recognized the need to end impunity in the DRC if we are to ever establish peace. The delegate from the United Kingdom concluded that “lasting peace cannot exist without justice for women”.

While the resolution recalls the possibility of using the International Criminal Court (ICC) as a mechanism to end impunity, the Court had not yet been operating at the time the resolution was passed in 2000. A few nations mentioned their work with the ICC but only one told specifically how it was using the ICC as a way to end gender crimes. The delegate from Mexico affirmed the importance of the ICC in ending gender based and sexual violence. The delegate from Austria explained how leaders from his country were working to create national standards for gender crimes that coincided with the standards found within the Rome Statue. He continued to explain that the international community must use every tool at their disposable if they are to end violence against women.

The ICC is mandated to end the culture of impunity and provide accountability to victims of atrocity crimes. It is uniquely equipped to try gender based crimes such as discrimination and sexual violence as the first court to define rape, other forms of sexual violence, and persecution as crimes against humanity. Currently, there are two trials at the court that are prosecuting individuals for gender based crimes. Jean-Pierre Bemba , the former president of the Central African Republic, is facing two counts of rape and Germain Katanga and Mathieu Ngudjolo Chui are jointly facing two counts of rape and two counts of sexual slavery. In addition to these trials, there are arrest warrants for six other individuals for alleged rapes, sexual enslavement, and other outrages on human dignity.

ICC in the Media, Update #10

On Tuesday the ICC rejected an appeal from former Congolese Vice-President Jean-Pierre Bemba, accused of committing numerous crimes against humanity and war crimes in the Central African Republic. This development clears the way for his trial, which is set to begin on November 22, 2010 in the ICC's Trial Chamber III. Back in Kenya, the government is still scrutinizing minutes from secret high-level security meetings during the post-election violence period, determining whether it should release them to the ICC as requested several weeks ago. The government argues that it can withhold the minutes if they threaten national security, but there is some question of whether they in fact do pertain to security issues. On Tuesday Kenya's President Kibaki suspended education minister William Ruto, who is facing corruption charges, although it is widely thought that the suspension resulted from the belief that Ruto is one of the ICC's prime suspects in the post-election violence events. In other news, human rights groups are protesting the possibility of Omar al-Bashir of Sudan visiting Kenya for the Intergovernmental Authority on Government meeting (Igad). They argue that a second visit would send negative message of Kenya's committment to ending impunity, and would "send damaging signals to victims of mass atrocity in Darfur."

Photo Credit: CNN.

ICC in the Media, Update #9

On October 12, 2010 Moldova became the 114th nation to ratify the Rome Statute and become a member state of the ICC. The ICC commended the European nation in a statement it released for Moldova's dedication ending impunity for perpetrators of atrocity crimes. This week the ICC has also made strides in its investigation into 2007-2008 Post-election violence in Kenya. Today the ICC investigators traveled to Kisumu, a city in western Kenya that was a hotspot for post-election violence, in order to collect evidence and meet with victims. Another group of ICC officials are set to record statements with senior Kenyan security officials in the coming days, although there remains tension regarding the collection of official statements and minutes of high-level government meetings. In other news, reports have surfaced that Joseph Kony, wanted by the ICC for war crimes and crimes against humanity, is likely currently in southern Sudan. Although this has not been confirmed, analysts have traced the pattern of Lord's Resistance Army attacks, and have concluded that their trajectory leads to the Daffak region of south Sudan. Photo Credit: Nations Online.

France Arrests New ICC Suspect on Charges of Atrocities Against Civilians in the Kivus, DRC

On October 11, 2010 French authorities arrested Callixte Mbarushimana, a Rwandan national who is the Executive Secretary of the Forces Démocratiques pour la Libération du Rwanda - Forces Combattantes Abacunguzi (FDLR-FCA), in response to a sealed arrest warrant issued by Pre-Trial Chamber I on September 28, 2010. He is suspected of five counts of crimes against humanity and six counts of war crimes for alleged attacks against civilians in the North and South Kivus, DRC. Click here to read an OTP factsheet.

ICC in the Media, Update #8

As we posted earlier, this week the ICC judges decided to lift the stay on proceedings and allow the Lubanga trial to continue. This decision was shortly followed by a statement from the ICC Prosecutor saying that victims can rest assured that Lubanga will have a full trial and will be held accountable if the judges so decide. Lubanga has been charged with using child soldiers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, although he denies these allegations. In other news, the ICC President Sang-hyun Song said in an interview on Tuesday that he is "very optimistic and hopeful" that the United States will join the International Criminal Court. He cited the increased cooperation with the Court under the Obama administration as a positive sign. However, due to the difficult realities of U.S ratification including approval by the Senate, he said that he did not expect U.S. ratification for a number of years. Photo credit: BBC News.

Lubanga trial to resume after Appeals Chamber reverses stay

A decision today by the Appeals Chamber of the ICC clears the way for the Court to resume its landmark first trial in the near future. The trial of Thomas Lubanga Dyilo on charges of recruiting and using child soldiers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which began in January 2009, has experienced several delays which have frustrated ICC supporters but have also demonstrated that the Court is fully functioning and maintaining the rights of all parties.

The most recent delay began on July 8 when the trial judges ordered a stay in the proceedings after determining that the Prosecutor had not complied with their order to disclose to the defense information about the identity of a person who assisted the prosecution with obtaining witness evidence. In addition, the Trial Chamber ordered the release of Lubanga because it did not believe that a fair trial was possible given that, in its view, the Prosecutor refused to comply with judicial orders of the Court, and thus it had lost control of the proceedings. The trial judges did not give effect to the order to release Lubanga until the Prosecutor had the chance to appeal the decision. Last month, the prosecution offered to provide the requested information. However, the chamber refused to restart the trial because it maintained its concern about the prosecution’s unwillingness to comply with judicial orders, a matter that was also the subject of appeal.

Today’s decision is the result of the Prosecutor’s appeal. In it, the judges found that the Trial Chamber did not make an error in determining that the Prosecutor failed to implement its orders and thus threatened the fairness of the trial. It decided, however, that the Trial Chamber had not lost control of the proceedings and had other, less drastic measures, such as sanctions to bring about compliance, at its disposal besides staying the proceedings and ordering the release of Lubanga. The Trial Chamber should have, in the opinion of the Appeals Chamber, imposed such sanctions before ordering a stay of the trial. It is unclear from the decision whether the Prosecutor could still face sanctions now that he has disclosed the information that he previously refused to disclose.

Previously, the start of the Lubanga trial had been delayed because the prosecution did not disclose materials to the defense which may have helped Lubanga to defend his case. The relevant materials were eventually made available to him. There was also a delay of several months in late 2009 because two of the three trial judges gave notice that the chamber may convict Lubanga of crimes about which it hears evidence but for which he was not charged. The prosecution and the defense appealed this decision. The Appeals Chamber ruled that the Trial Chamber could not convict him of additional charges.

Photo ©ICC-CPI/Michael Kooren