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Informal Daily Summary from the ASP10: Tuesday, 13 December 2011

13 Dec 2011

Dear all,

The tenth session of the Assembly of States Parties (ASP) to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) continued today in New York, USA.

This message includes a short summary of developments at the ASP (I) as well as related documents (II) and news coverage (III).

The various papers produced by Coalition teams as well as individual members' recommendations to the ASP are available on the Coalition's website at: http://coalitionfortheicc.org/?mod=asp10

Official ASP documents and journals can be found on the ICC-ASP website at: http://www.icc-cpi.int/Menus/ASP/Sessions/Documentation/10th+Session/Tenth+session+of+the+Assembly+of+States+Parties.htm

We also suggest you to follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/_CICC and Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/CoalitionfortheInternationalCriminalCourt where timely ASP updates are posted.

Pictures of the event can be viewed on the Coalition's Flickr account at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/coalitionforicc/

Regards,

CICC Secretariat
www.coalitionfortheicc.org

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I. CICC ASP10 INFORMAL SUMMARY: TUEDAY 13 DECEMBER 2011

A. PLENARY SESSION

The second day of the plenary session was dedicated to the elections of ICC judges. The sole candidate elected today was Robert FREMR (Czech Republic).

During the first round of balloting that took place yesterday, Monday 12 December 2011, Miriam DEFENSOR-SANTIAGO (the Philippines) and Anthony Thomas Aquinas CARMONA (Trinidad and Tobago) were elected as ICC Judges. Three seats remain to be filled.

In the morning session today, Rosolu John BANKOLE THOMPSON (Sierra Leone), Gberdao Gustave KAM (Burkina Faso), and Hamani Mounkaila NOUHOU (Niger) withdraw their candidacies, leaving 14 candidates to contest the four remaining positions. The Tunisian candidate, Ajmi Bel Haj Hamouda withdrew his nomination ….before the elections began. Following the election of Fremr. Modeste-Martineau BRIA (CAR), George A. SERGHIDES (Cyprus) and Antoine Kesia-Mbe MINDUA (DRC) then all dropped out of the running, leaving 9 candidates to contest the three remaining positions. After a total of five rounds of voting States failed to agree on any other candidates to take the remaing seats by the close of the day. Voting will therefore resume tomorrow afternoon.

The three new ICC judges elected to date at the ASP 10 are:

1. Miriam DEFENSOR-SANTIAGO (the Philippines) 2. Anthony Thomas Aquinas CARMONA (Trinidad and Tobago) 3. Robert FREMR (Czech Republic)

B. SIDE EVENTS

The CICC organized an African Regional Meeting with government delegates, representatives of the ICC Office of the Prosecutor and members of civil society. Chaired by Francis Dako, CICC Africa Regional Coordinator, presentations were made by civil society representatives from Kenya (ICJ-Kenya), Uganda (HURINET-Uganda), Cote D’Ivoire (Cote D’Ivoire Coalition for the ICC), Nigeria (Civil Resource Development and Documentation Centre–Nigeria), DRC (CICC Francophone Africa Situations) and Amnesty International. Issues touched upon included Rome Statute ratification, the status of implementing legislation and cooperation, among others. States delegates from the DRC, Kenya, and Liberia also made interventions on some of the issues raised during the session, including the importance of the ICC engaging with African Head of States. For more information on ICC and Africa, visit: http://www.coalitionfortheicc.org/?mod=region&idureg=1

Hosted by the Permanent Mission of Japan, the CICC also organized an Asia and Pacific Regional Meeting with government delegates, ICC officials and members of civil society. Ambassador Tsuneo Nishida, Permanent representative of Japan to the United Nations, opened the session. ICC President Song then made a short statement. Delegates from the Philippines, Malaysia, Maldives, Samoa, Fiji, Mongolia, Australia, Thailand, Laos, China, Brunei, Russia, Palau and Indonesia all made interventions. Civil society representatives included Amnesty International, the Bar Council of Malaysia, Human Rights Watch, ICC Thai Task Force, IMPARSAL, Afghanistan Watch, among others, some of whom addressed the meeting. Finally, a representative from the ICC Registry made a statement, concluding the session. Issues touched upon included Rome Statute ratification in the region, current ICC activities and the proposed ICC budget for 2012. For more information on ICC and Asia-Pacific, visit: http://www.coalitionfortheicc.org/?mod=region&idureg=7

The Women’s Initiatives for Gender Justice hosted an event to launch the 6th Gender Report Card on the International Criminal Court for 2011. The launch was attended by states delegates, United Nations (UN) officials, ICC officials, media and NGO representatives. Speakers included Fatou Bensouda, Prosecutor-elect of the ICC, Radhika Coomaraswamy, UN Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, and Brigid Inder, Executive Director of the Women’s Initiatives for Gender Justice. The Gender Report Card analyses the institutional developments of the ICC throughout 2011, as well the Court’s substantive work and jurisprudence, with a focus on cases where gender-based crimes have been charged or where these issues have arisen during the legal proceedings, as well as those decisions affecting victims and witnesses appearing before the Court. The Gender Report Card on the International Criminal Court 2011 will be available shortly at: http://www.iccwomen.org/publications/index.php. For more information on the work of Women’s Initiative for Gender Justice visit: http://www.iccwomen.org/

In an event entitled “Victims, Reparations and the ICC: Challenges and Opportunities”, organized by the Victims Rights Working Group and sponsored by Finland, panelists Yoshiki Ogawa (Focal point of the Study Group on Governance), Jonathan O’Donohue (Amnesty International), Lyn Parker (Chef de Cabinet of the President of the ICC) and Pieter de Baan (Executive Director of the Trust Fund for Victims of the ICC) and Andre Kito (Coordinator of the DRC Coalition for the ICC) spoke about the consideration of reparations by the Study Group on Governance, the principles for reparations, the reparations mandate and outlook of the Trust Fund for Victims, and the perspective of victims in the DRC. The panel was moderated by Miia Aro-Sanchez (Facilitator of The Hague Working Group on Victims’ issues and the Trust Fund for Victims). Following questions to the panelists, the ICC Registrar, Silvana Arbia, presented closing remarks on the work of the Registry relating to victims. For more information on the Victims Rights Working Group, visit: http://www.vrwg.org/

A panel discussion on “Complementarity and inter-state cooperation in criminal matters in the investigation and prosecution of ICC core crimes at the national level: presentation of the expert meeting held in The Hague on November 22”, chaired by Belgium, The Netherlands and Slovenia. A number of states delegates and civil society representatives were in attendance. The meeting gave an overview of the outcome of an expert meeting that took place in The Hague to discuss the interest in drafting an international convention on mutual legal assistance, establishing inter-state legal frameworks for cooperation.

In the evening, the CICC hosted a reception honoring the election of the new President of the Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute, Ambassador Intelman (Estonia) and honoring the work of the outgoing President of the Assembly of States Parties Ambassador Wenaweser (Liechtenstein), with the presence of the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Ban-Ki Moon.

II. RELATED DOCUMENTS

A. NGO PAPERS AND STATEMENTS

1. All Coalition Team Papers and individual members’ recommendations to the Tenth ASP can be found here, , http://coalitionfortheicc.org/?mod=asp10

2. “THE IMPLEMENTATION OF VICTIMS’ RIGHTS BEFORE THE ICC Issues and Concerns Presented by the Victims’ Rights Working Group on the occasion of the 10th Session of the Assembly of States Parties 12 - 21 December 2011, VRWG, December 2011, http://coalitionfortheicc.org/documents/2011_VRWG_ASP10with_Annex.pdf

3. Gender Report Card 2011, Women’s Initiatives for Gender Justice, December 2011, http://www.iccwomen.org/publications/index.php. [available shortly]

4. CICC Team Papers and recommendations to the Tenth ASP, December 2011, http://coalitionfortheicc.org/?mod=asp10

5. Background Paper in Preparation for the Tenth ASP, CICC, 5 December 2011,
http://coalitionfortheicc.org/documents/CICC_Background_Paper_ASP_10_Final-1.pdf (English); http://coalitionfortheicc.org/documents/CICC_Background_Paper_ASP_10_final_FRENCH.pdf (French)

6. Tenth Session of the Assembly of States Parties to the Statute of the International Criminal Court: A new era for international criminal justice, FIDH, 12 December 2011, http://www.fidh.org/IMG/article_PDF/article_a11051.pdf (English)
http://www.fidh.org/IMG/article_PDF/article_a11050.pdf (French)

7. “IMPACT DE LA CPI EN REPUBLIQUE DEMOCRATIQUE DU CONGO ET L’APPORT DE L’UNION EUROPEENNE A L’OCCASION DE LA 10ème ASSEMBLEE DES ETATS PARTIES, NEW YORK (IMPACT OF THE ICC IN DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO AND THE CONTRIBUTION OF THE EUROPEAN UNION ON THE OCCASION OF THE 10TH ASSEMBLY OF STATES PARTIES, NEW YORK),” CN-CPI RDC Press Release, 12 December 2011, http://coalitionfortheicc.org/documents/Impact_de_la_Cpi_en_Rdc.pdf

8. “THE IMPLEMENTATION OF VICTIMS’ RIGHTS BEFORE THE ICC Issues and Concerns Presented by the Victims’ Rights Working Group on the occasion of the 10th Session of the Assembly of States Parties 12 - 21 December 2011, VRWG, December 2011, http://coalitionfortheicc.org/documents/2011_VRWG_ASP10with_Annex.pdf

9. “Memorandum for the Tenth Session of the ICC ASP,” Human Rights Watch, 28 November 201, http://www.hrw.org/news/2011/11/28/human-rights-watch-memorandum-tenth-session-international-criminal-court-assembly-st

10. “Recommendations to the Assembly of States Parties at its Tenth Session (12 to 21 December 2011), Amnesty International, http://coalitionfortheicc.org/documents/AI_ASP10_Recommendations_Paper.pdf

11. Position Paper of the International Criminal Bar”, 25 November 2011, http://coalitionfortheicc.org/documents/ICB_position_paper_final_version_EN(1).pdf

12. Intermediaries and the International Criminal Court: A Role for the Assembly of States Parties, Open Society Justice Initiative, December 2011, http://coalitionfortheicc.org/documents/Intermediaries-ICC-memo-OSJI-20111212.pdf

13. Challenges Facing the International Criminal Court: Recommendations to the Assembly of States Parties,” Open Society Justice Initiative, December 2011, http://coalitionfortheicc.org/documents/ASP-memo-20111212.pdf

14. “The Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court - 9 Years On,” FIDH, 9 December 2011, http://fidh.org/The-Office-of-the-Prosecutor-of

15. "Fatou Bensouda - next Chief Prosecutor of the ICC," Media statement, Women's Initiatives for Gender Justice, 2 Dec 2011, http://www.iccwomen.org/documents/Statement_Bensouda_Prosecutor.pdf

16. "Election of the Prosecutor for the ICC: Review of the Process and Final Candidates," Women's Initiatives for Gender Justice, 29 Nov 2011, http://www.iccwomen.org/news/berichtdetail.php?we_objectID=133

17. "CICC Elections Team Q&A on the ICC Prosecutor Election," CICC, http://coalitionfortheicc.org/documents/CICC_Elections_Team__QandA_ICC_Prosecutor_Election_150911-1.pdf

18. "Report on International Criminal Court Judicial Elections 2011," Independent Panel on ICC Judicial Elections, 26 Oct 2011, http://www.iccindependentpanel.org/sites/default/files/Independent Panel on ICC Judicial Elections - Report 26 October 2011.pdf


B. OTHER DOCUMENTS

1. Latest version of the ASP Journal, 12-21 December 2011http://icc-cpi.int/iccdocs/asp_docs/ASP10/ASP10-Journal-ENG.pdf

2. ASP Newsletter. December 2011, http://www.icc-cpi.int/iccdocs/asp_docs/Publications/Newsletter-ASP-7-ENG-web.pdf

3. Outgoing remarks by Christian Wenaweser, ASP President (2009-2011), 12 December 2011, http://icc-cpi.int/iccdocs/asp_docs/ASP10/Statements/ASP10-ST-PASP-CW-CLRemarks-ENG.pdf

4. Statement of Dr. Asha-Rose Migiro, Deputy UN Secretary General “Remarks to the tenth session of the Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court”, 12 December 2011, http://icc-cpi.int/iccdocs/asp_docs/ASP10/Statements/ASP10-ST-UNDSG-Remarks-ENG.pdf

5. Statement of Mr. Seretse Khama Ian Khama, President of Botswana, 12 December 2011, http://www.icc-cpi.int/Menus/ASP/Sessions/Documentation/10th+Session/Tenth+session+of+the+Assembly+of+States+Parties.htm#statements [available shortly]

6. Statement of Ms. Navi Pillay, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. 12 December 2011, http://www.icc-cpi.int/Menus/ASP/Sessions/Documentation/10th+Session/Tenth+session+of+the+Assembly+of+States+Parties.htm#statements [available shortly]

7. Statement of Judge Sang-Hyun Song, the President of the ICC, 12 December 2011, http://icc-cpi.int/iccdocs/asp_docs/ASP10/Statements/ASP10-ST-Pres-Song-Remarks-ENG.pdf

8. Statement of Mr. Luis Moreno Ocampo, the Prosecutor, 12 December 2011, http://icc-cpi.int/iccdocs/asp_docs/ASP10/Statements/ASP10-ST-ProsecutorLMO-ENG.pdf

9. Statement of Ms. Fatou Bensouda, the incoming Prosecutor, 12 December 2011, http://icc-cpi.int/iccdocs/asp_docs/ASP10/Statements/ASP10-ST-FatouBensouda-ENG.pdf

10. Press Conference by Fatou B. Bensouda, Prosecutor-elect of the International Criminal Court (ICC) and Tiina Intelmann, President of the Assembly of State Parties to the Rome Statute, 12 December 2011: http://www.unmultimedia.org/tv/webcast/2011/12/international-criminal-court-assembly-of-states-parties-to-the-rome-statute.html and http://www.unmultimedia.org/tv/webcast/2011/12/international-criminal-court-assembly-of-states-parties-to-the-rome-statute-2.html [VIDEO]

11. “Statement by High Representative Catherine Ashton on the election of Ms. Bensouda as next ICC Prosecutor,” 13 December 2011, http://www.consilium.europa.eu/uedocs/cms_Data/docs/pressdata/EN/foraff/126853.pdf


III. RELATED NEWS COVERAGE

1. “Failure to Support International Criminal Court is Failing Humanity, Stresses Deputy Secretary-General at Assembly of States Parties to Rome Statute,” IEWY News, 13 December 2011, http://www.iewy.com/37968-failure-to-support-international-criminal-court-is-failing-humanity-stresses-deputy-secretary-general-at-assembly-of-states-parties-to-rome-statute.html

2. “Meet The New Chief Prosecutor,” IJ Central, 13 December 2011, http://ijcentral.org/news/meet_the_new_chief_prosecutor/

3. “SA welcomes African ICC prosecutor,” SAPA, 13 December 2011, http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/Politics/SA-welcomes-African-ICC-prosecutor-20111213

4. “Fatou Bensouda, future procureur de la CPI, face à des défis politiques” (“Fatou Bensouda, ICC prosecutor-elect, facing political challenges,”), AFP, 12 December 2011, http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iAbpue8HGSnYu20JTfFiPa3sX0Rg?docId=CNG.95a36e62c2e1d9852fb343d83257961e.3e1

5. “Estonia assumes leadership of Assembly of States Parties of International Criminal Court,” The Baltic Course, 13 December 2011, http://www.baltic-course.com/eng/legislation/?doc=50119

6. “Miriam wins ICC seat,” Journal Online, 12 December 2011, http://www.journal.com.ph/index.php/news/top-stories/19542-miriam-wins-icc-seat

7. “Miriam elected judge of International Criminal Court,” GMA News, 13 December 2011, http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/241475/news/nation/miriam-elected-judge-of-international-criminal-court

8. “Miriam makes history, wins seat as ICC judge,” Manila Bulletin, 13 December 2011, http://www.mb.com.ph/articles/344663/senator-santiago-makes-history-wins-icc-seat

9. “Thoughts from the 10th Session of the Assembly of States Parties to the ICC,” Justice in Conflict, 13 December 2011, http://justiceinconflict.org/

10. “View from New York: ICC ASP session,” IntLawGrrls, 13 December 2011, http://intlawgrrls.blogspot.com/2011/12/view-from-new-york-icc-asp-session.html