This month:
- International Justice Monitor
- Gacaca legacy (UNESCO)
- United Kingdom’s stance on the Palestine investigation of the International Criminal Court
- United States and the International Criminal Court
International Justice Monitor
Gather4Humanity is saddened that IJ-monitor has brought down the curtain on its trial monitoring project.
In June 2007, at the occassion of the trial of former Liberian president Charles Taylor, the Open Society Justice Initiative’s trial monitoring program started. Its initial scope was providing independent and credible information about the trial to audiences in Sierra Leone and Liberia. It soon became a space for information on the major international justice trials around the world. The importance of the project was reflected in its initiative aimed to address the perceived information gap between affected communities and the trials in The Hague.
The monitoring website eventually became a source of information beyond Sierra Leone and Liberia. Academics, government officials, students, victims, and journalists all became regular visitors. At the end of it all, readers and practitioners were very appreciative that the monitoring program helped make the trial process transparent.
We remain thankful for IJ-monitor’s important work and the fact that they have put their lessons learned into the “Guide on Monitoring Mass Atrocity Trials”.
Gacaca legacy
After the 1994 genocide against Tutsi’s in Rwanda, a national -so-called- Gacaca Courts system was set up in Rwanda. The courts were held in local communities and dealt with the cases of alleged perpetrators of the genocide that killed some 1.000.000 people in some 90 days. Up to its closure in 2012, some 1.900.000 cases of genocide were dealt with.
To preserve Gacaca as National Documentary Heritage, scanning and digitalising of Gacaca court archives was successfully been completed.
In April, it became evident that the Gacaca courts archives may be registered to UNESCO’s Documentary Heritage listing, as the Secretary General of the Rwanda National Commission for UNESCO has now proposed the Gacaca Justice System.
Documentary heritage is a fundamental inheritance of culture and historical memory that must be transmitted to future generations in the best possible condition. UNESCO seeks to preserve, protect, safeguard human documentary heritage against collective amnesia, neglect, and the ravages of time and climate conditions.
United Kingdom
In a deeply troubling letter, prime-Minister Boris Johnson outlined that he opposes an International Criminal Court investigation into alleged war crimes in the Israeli-occupied territories. He stated that while his government has respect for the independence of the court, it opposed this particular inquiry into Israel. The letter read that this investigation gives the impression of being a partial and prejudicial attack on a friend and ally of the UK.
Johnson stresses that the court has no jurisdiction to investigate because Israel is not a party to the statute of Rome and Palestine is not a sovereign state.
The court however, has already rejected this line of defence. Therefore, the statement seems to dispute the legitimacy of the court.
United States
Armenian genocide
On 24 April, the US government declared that:
“we remember the lives of all those who died in the Ottoman-era Armenian genocide and recommit ourselves to preventing such an atrocity from ever again occurring.”
With this statement, it confirmed for the first time that it qualifies the events -dating back to 1915- as a genocide.
The Armenian genocide started on 24 April 1915, with the arrest of Armenian intellectuals and community leaders. In all, one and a half million Armenians were deported, massacred, or marched to their deaths in a campaign of extermination.
International Criminal Court
On 21 April, the United States made an important U-turn when it comes to global justice, as president Biden:
- revoked Executive Order 13928 on “Blocking Property of Certain Persons Associated with the International Criminal Court (ICC),” ending the threat and imposition of economic sanctions and visa restrictions in connection with the Court. As a result, the sanctions imposed against ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda and Phakiso Mochochoko, the Head of the Jurisdiction, Complementarity and Cooperation Division of the Office of the Prosecutor, have been lifted;
- terminated the 2019 policy on visa restrictions on certain ICC personnel, as these measures were assessed to be inappropriate and ineffective.
The US government, nevertheless, continues to disagree strongly with the ICC’s actions relating to the Afghanistan and Palestinian situations. Yet, it also reaffirmed its support for
“… the rule of law, access to justice, and accountability for mass atrocities … that are protected and advanced by engaging with the rest of the world to meet the challenges of today and tomorrow. Since the Nuremberg and Tokyo Tribunals after World War II, U.S. leadership meant that history permanently recorded fair judgments issued by international tribunals against justly convicted defendants from the Balkans to Cambodia, to Rwanda and elsewhere. We have carried on that legacy by supporting a range of international, regional, and domestic tribunals, and international investigative mechanisms for Iraq, Syria, and Burma, to realize the promise of justice for victims of atrocities. We will continue to do so through cooperative relationships.”
