IntroductionThis year’s seventh session of the International Criminal Court’s Assembly of States Parties (ASP) comes only a few months after the court’s supporters celebrated 10 years since the historic adoption of the court’s founding treaty and five years since the court began its operations. Anniversaries offer opportunity for reflection, and 2008 has proved to be a tumultuous year for the court during which both its achievements and the magnitude of the challenges that lie ahead have been on full display. Since the sixth ASP session, proceedings at the International Criminal Court (ICC) have continued to advance in many respects. Charges against two additional defendants have been confirmed in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) situation, and the first defendant in the Central African Republic (CAR) situation, Jean-Pierre Bemba, a former vice-president of Congo, was transferred to ICC custody in July. Under the leadership of a new registrar, Silvana Arbia of Italy, who took office in April, court programs for witness protection and outreach continue in the field, often under challenging conditions, and victim participation in ICC proceedings continues to be facilitated. Disappointingly, however, the court has not yet seen the start of its first trial; proceedings in the Thomas Lubanga case (DRC situation) remain stayed conditionally following the trial chamber’s decision that fair trial standards could not be met in light of the inability of the prosecutor to disclose potentially exculpatory documents protected under confidentiality agreements. The appeals chamber has yet to deliver key decisions on the terms of victim participation in the situation phase in appeals pending since the early months of this year. No substantial progress has been made to execute the court’s outstanding arrest warrants, including in the Uganda situation, where those wanted by the court are reported to have committed attacks on civilians in the DRC, CAR, and southern Sudan this year. The prosecutor’s request for the court’s first warrant of arrest against a sitting head of state, President Omar al-Bashir of Sudan, was decried by Sudan and its allies as a dangerous development. The court’s setbacks stem from a mix of challenges, some that come from within and some imposed by external factors. This year’s anniversaries should offer the opportunity for honest appraisal of these challenges and for a renewal of commitment by the court and its supporters to facing these challenges and building the court to which the world community aspired in Rome in July 1998. In the same way that the realization of a half-century of hopes was far from inevitable that summer night, neither is the success of the institution, which rather must be built steadily day-to-day. Together, the court, its states parties, and civil society each have a role to play, reinvigorated this anniversary year by recalling the highest ends to which the court aims: a check against impunity; delivery of meaningful justice to victims of the world’s worst crimes; and impact among affected communities by deterring future crimes and encouraging accountability. We identify in this paper what Human Rights Watch sees as the key external and internal challenges that the court faces now and make recommendations for concrete actions to be taken by states parties during this ASP session and beyond. Recommendations specific to this ASP session are bullet-pointed below. These external and internal challenges are of course fundamentally connected: a court that is doing well—and seen to be doing well—will provide little ammunition for those whose aim is to undermine its legitimacy and authority. Addressing these challenges will take time, and for victims of mass killings and rape there is no time to lose. |