‘Fragile ICC facing serious challenges’ - HRW

By Desmond Davies, GNA London Bureau Chief

London, July 18, GNA – The International Criminal Court (ICC) is “fragile” and is “currently facing serious challenges resulting from its own missteps, as well as external threats to its independence,” Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a statement on Wednesday to mark International Justice Day.

The New York-based watchdog added: “In the past year, the court’s performance shortcomings have become evident, underscoring the need for changes in policy and practice.”

It said for instance, on January 15, ICC trial judges acquitted former Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo, because the prosecution had not presented sufficient evidence for the case to proceed.

On April 12, a pre-trial chamber unanimously rejected the request by the Prosecutor to investigate serious crimes committed during the armed conflict in Afghanistan since May 2003.

The judges found that such an investigation would not be in “the interest of justice” because “the current circumstances of the situation in Afghanistan are such as to make the prospects for a successful investigation and prosecution extremely limited”.

It said: “This problematic interpretation of ‘interest of justice’ injected political and practical considerations into a judicial decision.

“These decisions and other recent developments have highlighted shortcomings at the court that also include the pace of judicial proceedings, management of victim expectations, lack of cooperation, and inadequate resources.

“Moreover, with preliminary examinations ongoing in 10 countries and investigations underway in 10 more, the Prosecutor’s docket far outstrips the reach of current and foreseeable staff capacity.

“These issues need to be addressed forthrightly rather than backing away from the court’s mission.

“An appropriate step toward meaningful change in the court’s policy and practice would be the creation of an independent expert group tasked with assessing a select number of issues confronting the court,” the statement added.

It pointed out that other international and hybrid tribunals – the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, as well as the Special Court for Sierra Leone – had instituted independent expert assessments.

“At the ICC Assembly of States Parties session in late 2020, there will be significant changes in court leadership, including the election of a new prosecutor and six new judges,” said HRW

“An independent expert assessment would provide an important basis to inform these elections while also providing a set of recommendations to guide the incoming prosecutor and judges.”

The President of the ICC, Chile Eboe-Osuji, was more upbeat about the state of the court.

“The fact that we have today a permanent International Criminal Court has changed the way the world looks at atrocities,” he said.

“The world expects accountability. Victims demand justice. The space for impunity for these atrocities is shrinking.”

However, human rights activists admit that the court is “facing serious external challenges, [as] hostile non-member states are seeking to obstruct ICC investigations and weaken its independence”.

For example, Human Rights Watch noted: “Under the Trump administration the US government launched an unprecedented attack against the ICC.

“On March 15, US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo announced that the US would impose visa bans on ICC officials involved in the court’s potential investigation of US citizens for alleged crimes in Afghanistan.

“Given the Prosecutor’s request to appeal the decision that rejected opening an investigation in Afghanistan, as well as the ongoing preliminary examination in Palestine, no one should expect changes in the US administration’s approach toward the court.

“It is critical for ICC member states to push back against Washington’s pressure to blunt the threat to judicial independence and any chilling effect on the court’s work,” Human Rights Watch said.

Richard Dicker, international justice director at Human Rights Watch, said: “Change at the court is needed because the values underlying the Rome Statute system far exceed in importance the ICC’s performance shortcomings.

“Court officials, ICC member states, and civil society groups need to meet the challenges head on by strengthening ICC practice and providing a much more robust state support.

“Twenty-one years after its creation, the International Criminal Court is needed more than its founders ever imagined,” said Mr Dicker.

“Despite the challenges the court is facing, its mandate and founding aspirations remain vitally important.”

Chantal Meloni at the European Centre for Constitutional and Human Rights said: “It is time for the ICC to be strong, fearless and resilient.

“It is time for the ICC to speak truth to power and give effect to the fundamental principle that no one should enjoy impunity.”

From Uganda, Mike Gesa Munabi, the founder of Students for Global Democracy, backed the ICC, which has been facing strong opposition from some African governments that accuse the court of being biased against the continent.

He said his organisation was committed to promoting “the role and relevance of the International Criminal Court among the public to counter and defeat misinformation, misrepresentation and misunderstanding against the ICC in Uganda and Africa”.

“This will help to raise a generation of young people who will respect the principles of international justice," Mr Munabi added.

International Justice Day marks the historic adoption of the Rome Statute on July 17, 1998 that established the ICC, the world’s only permanent court to hold individuals accountable for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and the crime of aggression.

GNA

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