History of the Work of PGA's International Law & Human Rights Programme on the International Criminal Court (ICC), 1989-2004
Priority Area 1: Background and Summary of Activities Background In 1989, with the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of the Cold War, PGA's International Law and Human Rights Programme was established in recognition of, and in response to, the increasingly vital role played by international law in contemporary global affairs. Since its inception the Programme has focused primarily on the creation of a permanent International Criminal Court (ICC), which was identified as an essential catalyst in the effective enforcement of fundamental human rights when their violations amount to the most serious international crimes. The inextricable linkage that exists between proper safeguarding of human rights on the one hand, and adequate enforcement of widely accepted international conventions, customary international law and general principles of law on the other, requires a strategy to combat impunity which takes into account this indisputable reality and, as a consequence, is more likely to be effective and succeed in pre-conflict, conflict or post-conflict situations. 1989- A Member of Parliament calls the United Nations to establish a permanent International Criminal Court While for decades the idea of a permanent international criminal court was confined within the premises of legal scholars and human rights activists, PGA played a crucial role in bringing the ICC to the decision-making table of politicians and government. In 1989, PGA held a series of parliamentary meetings to devise new initiatives for global cooperation to be launched in a post-Cold War world. In the fall of that year, H.E. Mr. A.N.R. Robinson, (Trinidad and Tobago), then Prime Minister and PGA member, successfully launched a resolution before the United Nations General Assembly proposing the establishment of an ICC. 1990 - Global Dialogue on a New World Order In September 1990, PGA's Annual Parliamentary Forum entitled "Global Dialogue on a New World Order" was held at the US Congress, in Washington, D.C. and placed the ICC as a central theme of PGA's International Law and Human Rights Programme. PGA members Mr. Lloyd Axworthy, MP (Canada), Dr. Herta Daubler-Gmelin, MP (Germany), Rep. James Leach (United States), and Dep. Emma Bonino (Italy) brought parliamentary initiatives before their legislatures to back the creation of such a Court. 1990-1995 Mobilization of Parliaments to support a draft for the ICC This was only the beginning of a multi-year process (1990-1995) with the advisory role of Professor M. Cherif Bassiouni, a world-known scholar, in which PGA held workshops in different parliaments and formed delegations that met with the UN Secretary General and Member States delegations in New York, as well as with members of the UN International Law Commission in Geneva, Switzerland, to support a draft text for a fair, independent and effective ICC. As a founding member of the NGO Coalition for the ICC, PGA participated as an observer to the sessions of the Ad Hoc Committee for the establishment of the ICC (1995), the UN Preparatory Committee for the ICC (1996-1998) and the UN Conference of Plenipotentiaries on the establishment of an ICC (1998, Rome). 1998 - The Historic Adoption of the Rome Statute On July 17, 1998, the Rome Statute on the ICC was adopted. The ICC became the first permanent Court to exercise a 'general' jurisdiction over the most serious crimes of concern to the international community. Immediately following the adoption of the Rome Statute, PGA launched a global initiative to promote the entry into force of the Statute. 1999 up until today - Ratifications and accession for the entry into force of the Rome Statute, and its effectiveness and universality In early 1999, became the first country to ratify the Rome Statute. The Rome Statute entered into force on July 1, 2002, after the requisite 60 States had deposited their instruments of ratification. Between 1999 and 2004, PGA attended the sessions of the Preparatory Commission for the ICC providing input and recommendations as NGO, and as parliamentary network it organized international, regional, sub-regional and national events to generate awareness and create political leadership on the ICC amongst legislators. Conferences were held, inter alia, in: . Arusha, Tanzania for East Africa, hosted by Mr. Philip Marmo, MP (Tanzania); . Windhoek, Namibia, in cooperation with Mr. Ben Amathila, MP (Namibia) for the Southern African Development Community (SADC); . Buenos Aires, Argentina, hosted by Dip. Horacio Jaunarena (Argentina); . Madrid, Spain, hosted by Sen. Alfredo Prada Presa (Spain) First Vice-President of the Senate; . Brasilia, Brazil, hosted by Dep. Orlando Fantazzini (Brazil), for Latin America and Europe; . Lisbon, Portugal, hosted by Dep. Jose Magalhaes, (Portugal) Minister for Parliamentary Relations; . Mauritius for 10 Francophone African countries, hosted by Hon. P. Ramnah (Mauritius), Speaker, and Hon. E. J. Leung Shing, QC (Mauritius) Minister of Justice and Attorney-General; . Moscow, Russian Federation for the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) hosted by Mr. Mikhail Grishankov, MP (Russian Federation). . Events were also held in Gaborone, Botswana for the SADC region, New Delhi, for South Asian legislators, the Diet of Tokyo, Japan, and in the Shura Council of Bahrain. Under the PGA ICC Campaign, PGA members have been instrumental in achieving the ratification of or accession of 61 of the 106 States Parties of the ICC that up until May 2008 have joined the Rome Statute. Since September 2002, PGA has been accredited and has participated in all of the open sessions of the Assembly of States Parties of the Rome Statute. Implementation of the Rome Statute within Domestic Legal Orders and Consolidation of the Rule of Law The principle of complementarity governs the relationship between States, which have the primary responsibility to bring to justice perpetrators of international crimes, and the ICC, the jurisdiction of which complements that of States. To ensure that complementarity functions properly, PGA Members promote and support legislation designed to fully implement the obligations of the Rome Statute within domestic legal orders, in accordance with the specific needs and requirements of each legal system. PGA has a country-specific approach to legislation, and respects at all times the mandate that parliamentarians have to fulfill, individually and collectively, within their own sovereign constitutional framework. Legislators have an important role in increasing awareness among the different concerned parties (military forces, judges, prosecutors, defense lawyers and law-enforcement authorities) about the Rome Statute and the duty of States, both State Parties and Non-State Parties, to prevent, investigate and prosecute international crimes. Only such awareness may give genuine effect - through the adequate allocation of human and financial resources - to the fight against impunity, at both national and international levels. PGA's work on implementation is also designed to generate support among concerned "political actors" for ICC-field investigations and effective cooperation by States with the Court itself. To maximize efforts in this delicate area of law-making, PGA collaborates with the International Justice Programme of Amnesty International and other Members of the Coalition for the ICC, international institutions (e.g., the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Istituto Superiore Internazionale di Scienze Criminali) and individuals with relevant expertise in this area of law-making. To learn more about PGA's work on implementing legislations please consult our past events Multilateral and national positions for the Protection of the Integrity of the Rome Statute Parliamentarians play a vital role in the ongoing efforts to protect the integrity of the Rome Statute of the ICC, which is based on the universally accepted principle of "equality of all before the law" and is a cornerstone of the credibility of the new judicial institution. In mid 2002, PGA members launched a global strategy to coordinate parliamentary efforts aimed at preventing the renewal of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1422. Resolution 1422 was adopted unanimously on 12 July 2002, and upon decision of the Council under Chapter VII deferred for 12 months (renewable) any ICC investigation or prosecution against individuals from Non States Parties allegedly involved in the commission of crimes against humanity, war crimes or genocide in the course of a UN-peacekeeping or authorized operation. On June 12, 2003, upon US insistence, the resolution was renewed for an additional 12-month period as Security Council Resolution 1487, but confronted a higher level of opposition, as expressed in an open meeting of the Security Council where nearly 80 States voiced their concerns. In contrast to the previous year's unanimous adoption, the resulting vote of the Council in 2003 was 12-0 with abstentions from France, Germany and Syria. In June 2004, the proponent of a further renewal of the resolution dropped its request, in light of the modified position of the majority of States within the Security Council. PGA Members in several countries - including Brazil, Chile and the United Kingdom, Members of the UN Security Council - played a significant political role in raising the issue of non-renewal in their respective Parliaments prompting the opposition at the Executive level. Additionally, in an effort to contribute to the preservation of the letter and spirit of the Rome Statute of the ICC, PGA members from Argentina, Bolivia, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Romania, South Africa, Switzerland, Tanzania, Uruguay and several other countries presented parliamentary resolutions or statements to oppose or review Bilateral Non-Surrender Agreements in violation of the Rome Statute and closely questioned their governments on the status of current negotiations. In this way, members of Parliament from all over the world have contributed to the acknowledged and articulation of the inherent importance of the Rule of Law and its pivotal role in preventing the outbreak of violence/civil unrest as well as ensuring a sustainable restoration of societal order in post-conflict situations, has garnered wider acceptance only in relatively recent times. This principle is evidenced in the increasing attention which the United Nations Secretariat and United Nations Security Council have devoted to Rule of Law issues, conceptually and practically, during the course of the past two years. The Report of the Secretary-General of August 2004 (S/2004/616) as well as the increasing number of resolutions that refer to need to adhere to the rule of law, international law and international humanitarian law in conflict and post-conflict situations reinstate that while the application of rule of law principles must always be tailored to the particular circumstances of any given situation, the gradual shift in perception of the rule of law from being a possible hindrance or obstacle to in fact representing a sine qua non in post-conflict peace-building reflects in many ways a maturing of collective understanding, borne of hard experience. To learn more about Parliamentary Initiatives on the Protections of the Integrity of the Rome Statute visit our Resources click here to go to resources |