Chantal Meloni, Senior Legal Advisor on International Crimes and Accountability at the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR), shares a powerful vision of meaningful justice. Chantal emphasises that justice must be prompt, equal, and address the root causes of crimes, including historical and socio-economic factors. Chantal highlights the importance of "strategic optimism in order to keep working for accountability and justice given the dire picture in front of us today" and underscores the essential role of international justice mechanisms like the ICC in ensuring fundamental rights for all. 

Read the full interview below to explore Chantal's inspiring perspective on justice. 

1. What does meaningful justice mean (to you)?  

At ECCHR we work with victims of international crimes committed in many different countries and in the context of several conflicts. Each of them, regardless of the diversity of their situations, is striving for peace and fighting for justice. As peace is not just the absence of war, so justice is not just the initiation of some judicial proceedings. To be meaningful, justice must be prompt, and equal. It must get to the roots of the conflict and consider the causes of the crimes in its multidimensional aspects, which often involve several layers of responsibilities, including historical and socio-economic causes of inequality. Meaningful justice is a complex goal that requires a holistic dimension of the work, one that goes beyond the pure criminal responsibility component of it. 

2. What brings you hope for accountability and justice?   

It is not easy nowadays to find hope in the grim situation the world is going through. One needs to have a great deal of strategic optimism in order to keep working for accountability and justice given the dire picture in front of us today; the level of disrespect for the fundamental principles of international law and human rights, in Palestine and beyond, is very distressing and worrying. It is important to get energy from the small advancements and every little victory counts in this sense. The Syrian trials in Germany, where perpetrators of atrocities within the Syrian internal conflict were convicted of crimes against humanity in front of German tribunals acting on the basis of the universal jurisdiction principle, was an important achievement. We wish that the model could be replicated also in other situations. In addition, the human dimension of the work, in strong cooperation and partnership with local organizations and with the broader network of civil society organisations, is very relevant. What we are witnessing is a new phase of international justice, much more driven from the bottom, thanks to the courageous work of human rights activists, the victims and affected communities themselves, who are reclaiming their rights in a powerful way. It is a collective awakening that brings hope, despite the existence of great political hurdles. 

3. How are international justice mechanisms and the ICC relevant to your work?

International justice mechanisms and the ICC specifically are very relevant for the work we do at ECCHR: being a European based centre we file our claims in front of domestic courts acting pursuant to the universal jurisdiction principle, but also in front of the ICC in the form of art. 15 Communications. We do represent many victims of atrocious crimes that fall under the notion of international crimes, committed in situations where the internal judicial system of the relevant State is not able to deal properly with the accusations and ensure justice to the victims. One of these situations, that certainly require the ICC intervention, is the one of migrants and refugees, in particular those who pass through Libya on their escape from their native African countries to Europe, who are victims of a number of atrocious crimes under the ICC jurisdiction. States' judicial authorities in Europe have proven unwilling so far to investigate these crimes in their proper international dimension, which includes possible responsibilities at the highest levels of the EU and European governments for their criminal policy towards migration. Thus in our experience, international justice mechanisms are absolutely essential in order to work towards a universal implementation of fundamental rights and ultimately to ensure respect and dignity to every human being, regardless of their nationality, ethnicity, colour, gender, religion or political affiliation.