Summary Day Six
Assembly of States Parties 2018
Putting victims (back) at the center of international justice efforts
11 December 2018
Day Six Plenaries
Day Six of the ASP saw a plenary discussion on the “Achievements and challenges regarding victims’ participation and legal representation after 20 years of the adoption of Rome Statute.” Organized at the initiative of the Cluster I co-facilitators, Argentina, and the United Kingdom, States Parties, Court officials, and civil society representatives exchanged views on the topic and considered questions such as, “at what stages may victims participate?;” “which victims may participate?;” “what does participation mean in practice?;” and, “how does legal representation work?”
Ms. Erica Lucero (Argentina) and Mr. Philip Dixon (United Kingdom) moderated a panel featuring Mr. Hirad Abtahi (Head, Legal and Enforcement Unit, Presidency/Acting Chef de Cabinet, ICC Presidency); Mr. Fabricio Guariglia (Director, Prosecution Division, ICC Office of the Prosecutor); Mr. Philipp Ambach (Chief, Victims Participation and Reparations Section, ICC Registry); Ms. Paolina Massidda (Principal Counsel, ICC Office of Public Counsel for Victims); Mr. Francisco Cox (Legal Representative of Victims in the ICC case against Dominic Ongwen); and Ms. Christine Alai (Technical Advisor to the International Commission of Jurists-Kenya Chapter, International Justice Program).
During the interactive session, state representatives from Austria, the United Kingdom, Norway, Argentina, Palestine, and Chile took the floor, while civil society representatives from the International Federation for Human Rights, Women’s Initiatives for Gender Justice, and Transitional Justice Coordination Group-Afghanistan also weighed in. Mr. Xavier-Jean Keita (Principal Counsel, ICC Office of Public Counsel for Defense), also intervened from the floor.
States then adopted resolutions on Rule 26 (ICC-ASP/17/L.6); Cooperation (ICC-ASP/17/L.5); and Remuneration of the judges (ICC-ASP/17.L.7).
Discussions continued in the morning on the budget of the Court, leading to the introduction of a draft resolution on the Programme Budget for 2019 (ICC-ASP/17/L.4) in the afternoon. A draft of the omnibus resolution, “Strengthening the International Criminal Court and the Assembly of States Parties,” was also introduced.
Day Six Side Events
The impact of the ICC and national proceedings on victims’ experience of justice was also the focus of a number of side events on Day Six.
ASF Canada, Colombian Comision Colombiana de Juristas, and HUMANAS opened Day Six with a side event on “Colombia, context and current challenges: towards another interim report on the Preliminary Examination?”
The UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the Centre for International Law Research and Policy - Case Matrix Network, the Commission for International Justice and Accountability, the Institute for International Criminal Investigations, and Redress discussed “Documenting conflict and atrocity-related sexual violence crimes in CAR, Iraq, Myanmar and Sri Lanka: Country supplements to the International Protocol on the Documentation and Investigation of Sexual Violence in Conflict.”
In the afternoon, Amnesty International convened a side event on, “Nigeria and the ICC: Addressing (Non)-Accountability.”
“Realizing Victims’ Right to Reparation at the International Criminal Court” was co-hosted by Chile, Finland, Switzerland, Sweden, Redress, the Institute for Security Studies, and the Trust Fund for Victims (TFV), while the United Kingdom and the International federation for Human Rights (FIDH) convened a discussion on, “Victims at the Heart of Justice: Reflections on Victims’ Participation at the ICC.”
Luxembourg and Open Society Justice Initiative explored the question of “Complementarity and Cooperation Revisited: What role for the ICC in supporting national and hybrid investigations and prosecutions?” while France, Senegal, and the International Criminal Court Bar Association (ICCBA) addressed the issue of “The role of ICCBA in supporting and enhancing complementarity.”
France revisited the “Paris Declaration on Cooperation in Asset Recovery” in a side event entitled, “Déclaration de Paris sur l’efficacité de la justice pénale international.” The Declaration, which had been adopted on 14 December 2017, invited the Court to: create and strengthen the ICC’s partnerships with national authorities (para 11); to raise awareness of the ICC’s mandate (para 12); and to conduct efficient and effective financial investigations to obtain freezing and seizure of assets (para 13).
Civitas Maxima and the Center for Justice and Accountability closed Day 6 with a side event entitled, “Closing the impunity gap: a pragmatic approach to universal jurisdiction.”
Tomorrow, 12 December 2018, is the last day of ASP17.
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