Last week representatives from more than 100 countries, NGOs and lawyers convened in Kampala, Uganda to engage in a two-week review of the International Criminal Court’s Rome Statute.
Those familiar with the ICC may not have heard about the Rome Statute, the treaty that established the court’s functions, jurisdiction and structure. It was adopted in—quite obviously—Rome in July 1998, and entered into force in 2002. As of March this year, 111 nations, including Canada and Uganda, have ratified the treaty and 37 countries have signed but not ratified it. Unsurprisingly, the United States has “unsigned” the treaty, indicating it no longer intends to become a state party and once again sending its proverbial “we’re too powerful for multilateral consensus” message.
The ICC currently has a mandate to prosecute genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. A major issue up for discussion at the conference is adding the crime of aggression to the list of offenses. Though it’s unclear to the non-legal mind how “aggression” doesn’t already fall into the categories of genocide and war crimes…
In addition to talking about how the Rome Statute should be revised, expanded and implemented, there have been calls from certain groups to ramp up investigation of the crimes committed against the people of northern Uganda by the Lord’s Resistance Army, as well as the Ugandan army.
Elizabeth Evenson of the Human Rights Watch international justice program said the conference should “remind the Ugandan authorities that they have an obligation to prosecute serious crimes, and that there hasn’t been enough accountability for human rights violations that they might have carried out themselves.”
At a consultative meeting with war victims in Gulu, ICC president Sang-Hyun Song responded to war victims’ concerns that the ICC has been one-sided by indicting rebel commanders and paying little attention to government soldiers who committed similar crimes. “There will be no selective justice for trials into war crimes committed in northern Uganda,” he said.
The ICC issued its first official arrest warrants in 2005 against the LRA’s leader Joseph Kony and four of his commanders. They were charged with 33 counts of crimes against humanity and war crimes. None have been caught or prosecuted to date.
– Nicole Kallmeyer is an intern with Athletes for Africa & GuluWalk this summer and a freelance journalist based in Toronto. More of her writing is available at www.nicolekallmeyer.com. You can email her here or follow her on Twitter or leave a comment below.
From my understanding, the expansion of including wars of aggression would go beyond genocide and war crimes by categorizing pre-emptive strikes as war crimes - this would deal a blow to the several forces active in the Middle East, including the US operation in Iraq and actions on both sides in Israel-Palestine. Hopefully the court can devise a plan for pushing forwards with actual apprehension and justice - the people in these regions need it. Thanks for all the work GuluWalk does!
Thanks for that expansion. It seems that the U.S. and Israel wouldn’t be much affected by adding crimes of aggression, since both unsigned the Rome Statute and are therefore not party to its legal obligations. And it doesn’t seem like adding the crime of aggression would have much impact in Uganda. Do you think this review conference will spur the ICC and the Ugandan courts to arrest more perpetrators of the civil war in northern Uganda?