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Calls for UN Council to do more to support ICC’s jurisdictional expansion

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Oxford University Professor of Public International Law has called on the United Nations Security Council to promote state cooperation with the International Criminal Court. He says this in an open debate seeking to explore ways to develop and strengthen accountability mechanisms for serious violations of international law.

The Council also heard from the High Commissioner for Human Rights who warned that impunity fueled and intensified many crises currently on the Council agenda.

The open debate hopes to bring the necessary attention to the victims of international crimes, gross violations of international human rights law and serious breaches of international humanitarian law as alleged in Ukraine, Ethiopia and Syria among other global hotspots.

The High Commission for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet says the adoption of a Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Crimes against Humanity, would fill a significant gap in the current international framework, and facilitate international cooperation in this area.

Bachelet adds, “Relevant treaties providing the jurisdictional basis for accountability, including the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, deserve universal adherence and should be ratified by all States, and I equally encourage all States to accept the compulsory jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice, in the common interest of the entire international community.”

She says her office will continue strengthening the focus on gender sensitivity in all phases of justice and accountability processes. She says they have stepped up support for human rights mandates established by the Human Rights Council, including collection and consolidation of evidence towards future accountability, Supporting National Transitional Justice Mechanisms and truth commissions and reparation programmes.

“This Council’s support for an independent and impartial investigation, justice and accountability efforts is essential. In that regard, I encourage further reflection on how the Security Council, drawing on the full breadth of its mandate and legal power, can systematically and consistently support appropriate justice and accountability measures. In its own process, the Council could also consider regular invitations for briefings by investigative and accountability mechanisms, as well as of relevant civil society actors in this field,” Bachelet explains.

Calls have been made for the Council to better support the expansion of the ICC’s jurisdiction and the binding rulings of the International Court of Justice. The Court’s decisions are often ignored, including its most recent ruling that Russia withdraw its troops from Ukraine.

University of Oxford’s Dapo Akande, says the statute of the ICC provides the obvious vehicle by which the Council can bring about the investigation of international crimes through referrals of situations to that court.

“The Council has done this with respect to Darfur, Sudan and Libya, and should take similar steps where international crimes have been committed and the ICC does not otherwise have jurisdiction. However, referral of situations of atrocity to the ICC is insufficient to discharge the responsibility of the Council. The ICC is dependent on the cooperation of states in order to fulfill its mandate. This Council can promote cooperation by states with the ICC in various ways,” Akande adds.

A high bar when several permanent members are not signatories to the Rome Statute and don’t recognize its jurisdiction.

The council is urged to consider a number of measures to promote state cooperation with the ICC – through establishing a process to consider whether to impose targeted sanctions on individuals wanted by the Court. It is explicitly mandating peacekeeping missions operating in states under investigation to cooperate with the Court or by better supporting investigative mechanisms established by other UN bodies like the Human Rights Council in Geneva.

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