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Congolese warlord Thomas Lubanga hears the first ever sentence handed down by the International Criminal Court in The Hague on July 10, 2012. Lubanga, 51, has been sentenced to 14 years in prison for using children soldiers in his rebel army. (Jerry Lampen / AFP / Getty Images)
World leaders gathered in Rome 20 years ago to draft a treaty to establish the first permanent International Criminal Court (ICC). On July 17, 1998, after difficult and uncertain negotiations States approved the Rome Statute for signature and ratification
Molded in the spirit of the Nuremberg Trials and International Criminal Tribunals for the l '. former Yugoslavia and Rwanda. The ICC has avoided administering the "victor's justice" – in which those who win a war administer justice in its wake – to try the main perpetrators of genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and badaults. from all sides of a conflict. The ICC's mandate will never expire, which will allow it to deal with past crimes and prevent future crimes.
[Can the International Criminal Court investigate the violence in Gaza?]
It would be a permanent court located in The Hague, but of global jurisdiction, serving countries that can not or do not want to
NGOs worked to build a consensus for the ICC
My research for my new book reveals the crucial role of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and civil society in the construction and support of the ICC. These actors, made up of individuals and groups of citizens, work to promote a broader public interest without links to governments or businesses.
During the Treaty of Rome negotiations, thousands of Amnesty International supporters held a "lie" on the streets surrounding the Coliseum as the law was debated. The protesters lay like corpses to represent the victims of abuse that the court was going to fight to end.
Meanwhile, the NGO Coalition for the ICC, a group representing hundreds of human rights organizations, collaborated. Their teams worked on all issues to reach consensus when nothing seemed possible, to protect key provisions and to help small states that would prove crucial in the final vote.
Lawyers and academics praised the Rome Statute as a great achievement for civil society. C & # 39; was. But it was only the beginning of the efforts of civil society.
NGOs have been defending the Rome Statute for the past 20 years – just as conservation groups are trying to protect tropical forests or whales. The ICC is their child, and NGOs have supported them with vigilance similar to that of parents
William Pace, the NGO Coalition's lead for the ICC, described the pbadion behind this protection: "All As a child, the birth and the young of a new international organization are crucial, particularly formative, extremely vulnerable.It will take years, probably one or two decades, for the ICC to reach maturity – and it will need all that parents, family and community have to give in order to survive and thrive. "
In 2002, four years later During the drafting of the Rome Statute, civil society groups celebrated the simultaneous ratification of 10 States – bringing the number of ratifications to six beyond the required 60. a surprise to many jurists who thought it would take generations for the ICC to be established. NG played a key role: The Coalition of NGOs for the ICC and parliamentarians for global action coaxed, coerced and helped states to ratify. They capitalized on past relationships with state diplomats, provided legal badistance on obstacles to ratification, publicly humiliated states and generated pressure from local civil society.
NGOs claim to have directly contributed to the ratification of 77 states. To date, 123 countries have joined
. Supporting operational ICC
NGOs then took on a wider advocacy role. The first investigations into suspected war crimes in Uganda and Congo revealed the information gap between the Hague Tribunal and the affected communities. Few people in these countries know the court or its operation, or the status of investigations.
The ICC does not have a budget for outreach. National and international NGOs then went on the radio, organized village-by-village workshops and translated the court information into local languages. NGOs have also requested funds from states for action by the courts.
In 2009, a crucial test for the nascent court came when the United States Security Council referred the situation in Darfur to the ICC. The ICC issued an arrest warrant against Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir for genocide and war crimes.
The Bashir affair is at the heart of the international justice project: would states arrest an incumbent head of state? Would the states be in favor of a case where the country would not have accepted the jurisdiction of the court? Many states, even those obliged to do so by the Rome Statute, refused.
[The International Criminal Court convicted a war criminal. And that revealed one of the ICC’s weaknesses.]
NGOs lobbied states to arrest and arrest them. In 2015, Bashir narrowly escaped arrest in South Africa after a federal court issued an emergency order to arrest him, at the request of a US-based police officer. Local NGO. They continue to condemn states for allowing or inviting Bashir to travel. Bashir remains free.
Pressure from Women's Initiatives for Gender Justice, a Hague-based NGO, helped bring justice to victims of badual violence. The ICC was late in issuing indictments of badual violence, so the NGO lobbied the prosecution and filed a petition from a "friend of the court" asking the judges to request that the prosecution add such charges.
Attorney Fatou Bensouda fully integrated the demands of the NGO. The Gambian lawyer has appointed the former executive director of the NGO to be the ICC's special advisor on gender issues to the prosecution. Multiple indictments for crimes of rape and badual slavery followed. In 2016, the conviction of Jean-Pierre Bemba Gombo was the first case of the ICC to prosecute crimes of badual violence.
The Future Relationship
The ICC has so far 11 situations under investigation, five trials in progress and nine cases closed or closed – resulting in two convictions and one plea of guilty. And he faces daunting challenges: his first case on the African continent, the withdrawal or threat of withdrawal from several states, and the recent reversal of Bemba's conviction on appeal.
What are the consequences for the ICC – and its NGO stewards? It remains to be seen, just as any parent and child, how the relationship will evolve with age. The ICC could forge its own path and correct its shortcomings. It is also possible that civil society groups are continually hovering over like the parent who is ready to go back, always vigilant for the failures of repair.
Heidi Nichols Haddad is Assistant Professor of Politics at Pomona College and author of "The Hidden Hands of Justice: NGOs, Human Rights and International Tribunals" ] (Cambridge University Press, 2018).
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