Strengthening Accountability Globally

Side event to the 21st session of the Assembly of States Parties of the ICC

The expanded conflict in Ukraine has triggered a strong response from the international community, including through unprecedented support for a variety of justice initiatives to pursue accountability for grave international crimes. The range of initiatives demonstrates just how interconnected are the different elements and dimensions of what may be understood as the “ecosystem” to deliver justice for serious international crimes. In Ukraine, it remains to be seen how all these elements will coordinate and interact with each other, as has also been the case in other situations. Renewed attention now on the role of the ICC and the importance of accountability provides an opportunity to reflect on the linkages within the broader system and the concrete ways in which governments through their support for a range of justice-related initiatives can bolster the system globally.

These dimensions include:

• Providing financial, political, and practical support to domestic, hybrid, and international courts tackling grave international crimes;
• Expanding the ICC’s membership to extend the court’s reach and victims’ access to justice;
• Criminalizing and prosecuting grave crime domestically, including by ensuring that adequate legal and institutional frameworks are in place;
• Showing greater consistency in the judicial response to atrocities wherever they occur; and
• Restraining the use of the UN Security Council veto in situations of mass atrocities.

This side event aims to explore different elements and dimensions of the international justice ecosystem and discuss concrete steps that civil society organisations and governments are already taking to achieve the goal of bolstering accountability for serious crimes globally.

Opening remarks: Amb. Jaime Moscoso Valenzuela, Ambassador of Chile to the Netherlands

Panel: 

• Ehsan Qaane, Transitional Justice Coordination Group
• Matevž Pezdirc, Head of EU Genocide Network Secretariat
• Nadia Volkova, Ukraine Legal Advisory Group
• Amb. Jose Antonio Zabalgoitia, Ambassador of Mexico to the Netherlands
• Maria Elena Vignoli, Human Rights Watch

Moderator: Michelle Reyes Milk, No Peace Without Justice