Yemeni Parliament to discuss ratification of ICC Statute. Important step in Arab world in fight against impunity

The Council of Representatives of Yemen will discuss ratification of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) at its forthcoming session that will begin next week. No Peace Without Justice has been invited to Sana’a to brief key legislators on the ICC on the eve of the vote.
 
NPWJ has long been working in partnership with the Government of Yemen on the ratification process of the Rome ICC Statute: the ICC was of the main pillars of the Sana’a Intergovernmental Regional Conference on Human Rights, Democracy and the Role of the International Criminal Court jointly organised by the Government of Yemen and NPWJ in January 2004.
 
Thanks to the engagement of the Yemeni Government and the insistent pressure of Yemeni human rights activists, the commitments taken two years ago are now a step closer to being fulfilled.
 
Declaration by Sergio Stanzani and Gianfranco Dell’Alba, President and Secretary General of No Peace Without Justice:
 
“We welcome the decision of the Yemeni Parliament to schedule discussion on the ratification of the Rome ICC Statute and we urge legislators to vote in favour of its ratification. This decision would meet one of the recommendations endorsed by all participants at the Sana’a Inter-Governmental Regional Conference on Democracy, Human Rights and the Role of the ICC that NPWJ organised together with the Government of Yemen in January 2004.
 
“The Court’s establishment represents an essential milestone in the development of international justice, in the continuing fight against impunity for the most serious crimes under international law and for the defense of fundamental human rights. The Rome Statute entered into force in July 2002 and, with the recent ratification by Mexico, it has been ratified by 100 countries across every continent. The Court is already operational, with ongoing investigations in three situations, including the Democractic Republic of Congo, Uganda, and Darfur (Sudan).
 
“Yemen’s ratification would represent an important step towards greater support in the Arab world for the Court and would put this country in a position of leading the way to more active participation from the broader Middle East and North Africa region. The Rome Statute is a rigorous and flexible instrument, conceived to be adapted to different juridical systems, including those as complex as Arab systems. 
“At the same time, by becoming party to the Rome Statute and by adopting implementing legislation, Yemen would firmly place itself among those countries whose democratic evolution is encouraging and who support accountability and the rule of law at the global level. While Yemen has been recently in the spotlight of the international press for the wrong reasons, we urge Yemeni lawmakers to demonstrate the willingness of the country to move towards a future of democracy, human rights and the rule of law”.
 
For more information please contact Nicola Giovannini, phone: +32-2-548 39 14 – fax: +32-2-548 39 19 – ngiovannini@npwj.org