On 15 September 2008, No Peace Without Justice testified at the Human Rights Slot on The International Criminal Court and International Justice, organised by the European Parliament’s Committee on Development, addressing the topic “The Role of Civil Society in the Promotion of International Justice”.
Speakers also included Fatou Bensouda, Deputy Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, and Herman von Hebel, Registrar of the Special Court for Sierra Leone.
The scope of the meeting was to provide an overview of the current challenges faced by the international criminal justice institutions and to discuss the complementary role that civil society can play in enhancing their effectiveness and legitimacy, bearing in mind each others’ mandates and independence.
The process of setting up the ICC is one of the best examples of cooperation between State and non-State actors working together for the common goal of an effective and efficient international institution. In this respect, NGOs have played and continue to play a vital role in the goal of universal ratification, through a range of activities designed to build and strengthen political will.
The cooperation between States and NGOs has also been very effective in promoting and defining the Court’s outreach responsibilities, as well as with respect to the Court’s judicial work, through providing information to the court (such as conflict mapping reports and amicus curiae briefs).
In the whole range of potential roles, the most important aspect lies in working with local civil society, empowering local activists to collect information, or to do outreach, to take an active part in the accountability process set up for them and their country. In many ways, this is the real point: the promotion of international criminal justice as a means to accountability, as a means to local ownership and as a means to leave a lasting legacy, through a strengthened rule of law and increased likelihood for achieving and maintaining sustainable peace.
For further information, contact Alison Smith on asmith@npwj.org or +32-486-986 235 or Nicola Giovannini on ngiovannini@npwj.org or +32-2-548-3914.
