In the framework of the 13th session of the Assembly of States Parties (ASP) of the International Criminal Court (ICC) held in New York, No Peace Without Justice (NPWJ) contributed to the side event “Making Justice Visible – Exploring the impact of ICC outreach and communications”, co-hosted by the Permanent Mission of Finland, Ireland and the Coalition for the ICC on Tuesday 16 December 2014 (from 13:15 to 14:30, Conference Room 8 (GA)).
The panel was moderated by Niall Matthews, head of communications for the Coalition for the ICC. Panelists included Alison Smith, legal counsel and director of the No Peace Without Justice International Criminal Justice Program and leader of the Coalition for the ICC NGO Team on Communications; Dr. Phuong Pham, director of Program on Evaluation and Implementation Science at the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative; Ali Ouattara, president of the Côte d’Ivoire Coalition for the ICC; and Kwamchetsi Makokha, Journalists for Justice Kenya. Opening remarks were made by Paivi Kaukoranta, director general of the Legal Service in the Finnish Ministry for Foreign Affairs.
The discussion explored the impact of ICC outreach and communications to date, as well as the role of other stakeholders and plans to improve communications. Topics discussed included the importance of coordinated outreach; the need for early outreach, especially in the preliminary investigations phase; experiences from the situations in Kenya and Côte d’Ivoire; perceptions and knowledge of the ICC in the eastern DRC and Côte d’Ivoire; and the impact of proposed reforms to the Court on outreach and communications.
NPWJ and the ICC
No Peace Without Justice, which is a founding member of the NGO Coalition for the International Criminal Court (CICC) and which has been one of the organisations at the forefront of promoting the establishment and entry into force of the permanent International Criminal Court (ICC) and continues to work for its universal ratification, has participated in every session of the ASP since its first session in 2002, the year the ICC was established.
For further information, contact Alison Smith on asmith@npwj.org or +32-2-548-3912 or Nicola Giovannini on ngiovannini@npwj.org or +32-2-548-3915.
