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19 Oct 2016 - NPWJ News Digest on international criminal justice
NPWJ in the news
La CPI s’apprête à compenser les victimes
CCTV.com française, 16 Oct 2016
La Cour pénale internationale a franchi une étape de plus après une semaine d'audiences vers le débloquage d'une aide pécuniaire pour les enfants forcés à combattre en République démocratique du Congo à partir de 2002. Le chef de guerre congolais Thomas Lubanga a déjà été jugé et mis en prison. Mais la cour continue de distribuer les réparations, même des années après le débat.
Dans les yeux de la Cour pénale internationale, il ne fait aucun doute que Thomas Lubanga est un criminel de guerre. Mais les juges n'ont pas encore décidé de la compensation à accorder aux victimes.
Alison Smith, activiste, No Peace Without Justice : "C'est la première fois qu'il y aura des réparations devant la CPI et ça sera un test sur la façon dont la question est gérée."
En 2012, Lubanga devenait la première personne à être condamnée pour crimes de guerre par la CPI. La cour l'a condamné à 14 ans de prison mais a également ordonné de compenser les victimes. Les procureurs disent que les enfants enlevés avant l'âge de 15 ans et forcés à combattre dans des guerres ethniques sanglantes en République démocratique du Congo qui ont commencé en 2002. Cette semaine, les organisations d'aide aux enfants-soldats se sont exprimées devant la CPI.
Brigid Inder, Directrice exécutive, Initiatives des femmes pour la justice du genre : "Beaucoup ont envisagé le suicide en raison du rejet dont ils ont fait l'objet par leurs familles et communautés. La marginalisation des anciens enfants-soldats est un obstacle sérieux à leur rétablissement." La CPI a déjà établi un fonds de 1,1 million de dollars pour aider les enfants-soldats de Lubanga. Mais lors de l'audience de la semaine, leurs avocats ont demandé à la cour de débloquer plus de fonds. Quel que soit le chiffre, Lubanga devra rembourser. Les observateurs de la CPI disent que la tâche est difficile.
Alison Smith, activiste, No Peace Without Justice : "Comment donner une valeur pécuniaire à la souffrance des gens. Cela dépend de ce qu'ils peuvent faire de leur vie et de la façon dont on peut les aider à reprendre une vie normale." Les audiences de réparations sont terminées et la CPI va donner sa décision. La cour dit que les anciens combatants ne recevront pas d'argent liquide. L'argent sera plutôt distribué à des organisations d'aide au rétablissement après des traumatismes de guerre.
Articles
Burundi's vote to withdraw from war crimes court stirs concern in The Hague
by Reuters , 18 Oct 2016
Burundi's parliamentary vote last week to leave the International Criminal Court poses "a setback in the fight against impunity," the court's governing body said on Tuesday. Burundi's parliament voted overwhelmingly on Oct. 12 to withdraw from Rome Statute, the 1998 treaty establishing the global court, which would make it the first country to quit. The head of the ICC's governing body, Sidiki Kaba, said he was concerned that would undermine "efforts towards the objective of universality" and called on Burundi to "engage in a dialogue”. The ICC, which opened in July 2002 and has 124 member states, is the first legal body with permanent international jurisdiction to prosecute genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. But several African countries have expressed concern that its focus has been on Africa rather than anywhere else in the world. The ICC opened a preliminary investigation in April into Burundi, looking into killings, imprisonment, torture, rape and other forms of sexual violence, as well as enforced disappearances. Burundi's parliamentary vote will go into force one year after it has submitted a formal withdrawal notification to the United Nations. The country would still be required to cooperate with any ongoing cases before the court.
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Srebrenica elects as mayor Serb who denies massacre was genocide
by The Guardian , 17 Oct 2016
Srebrenica, where 8,000 Muslim men and boys were killed by Serb nationalist forces seeking to carve an ethnically homogeneous state out of Bosnia, has elected its first Serbian mayor since the 1995 massacre. For relatives of the victims, the election of Mladen Grujicic, a Serbian nationalist who denies that the massacre was genocide despite international court rulings to the contrary, marks an ominous turn in Bosnian politics. The US-brokered Dayton accords that ended the war set up an intricate federal structure with a weak central government designed to preserve Bosnia as a multi-ethnic state. But decentralisation has essentially entrenched the status quo achieved by Serbian and Croatian forces, critics say. Srebrenica, a Muslim-majority town before the war, fell within the territory of Bosnia’s Serb Republic under the peace deal; its 7,500 population is now 55% Serb and 45% Bosniak (Muslim). Bosnia’s other autonomous entity is the Bosniak-Croat Federation. Grujicic claims Srebrenica’s Serbs face discrimination, and denies that the international criminal tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague has ever proved the massacre was genocide. “When they prove it to be the truth, I’ll be the first to accept it,” he said. His defeated rival, Camil Durakovic, a Bosniak, pledged to appeal against the result of what he called a “rigged” election. Zulfo Salihovic, a local politician who was one of the last Bosniaks to escape Srebrenica before the massacre, said he was worried for the future of the town’s Bosniaks.
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Africa: Chief Justice Chande to Open International Justice Symposium
by All Africa, 17 Oct 2016
Chief Justice Mohammed Chande will tomorrow open a symposium to address 'System for International Justice,' here. The Symposium is organised by the Africa Group for Justice and Accountability (AGJA), an organisation that was launched on the sidelines of the International Criminal Court (ICC) Assembly of States Parties in The Hague. The two-days Arusha symposium is the second AGJA bi-annual events and is scheduled for October 18 through 19, 2016. According to Ms Irene Thomas from the organizing committee, the event has attracted more than 100 human rights activists, experts on international criminal law, and civil society organisations from across Africa and other parts of the world. Experts on international criminal justice, human rights activists, academics and practitioners from the field of international law are gathering to discuss a range of issues around the theme, "Towards a System of International Justice." Some of the critical topics to be discussed over the two days of the symposium will include: The promise and limitations of the International Criminal Court (ICC) and how this relates to Africa; The revival of hybrid tribunals; Domestic justice and universal jurisdiction; African accountability for international crimes. They will also address a holistic approach to justice; the state of human rights in Africa and obstacles to consolidating a system of international justice and the way forward. As part of its core activities the Africa Group is engaged in regular capacity building activities, and whilst in Arusha will host a two-day workshop from 21 to 22 October, for first responders to scenes of mass crimes.
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ICC prosecutor warns Philippines over drug war killings
by Reuters, 13 Oct 2016
The International Criminal Court may have the jurisdiction to prosecute perpetrators of thousands of alleged extrajudicial killings in the Philippines' crackdown on drugs, a prosecutor at the Hague-based tribunal said. Nearly 2,300 people have died since Duterte started the campaign on June 30, according to police, of which 1,566 were drug suspects killed in police operations. "I am deeply concerned about these alleged killings and the fact that public statements of high officials of the republic of the Philippines seem to condone such killings," ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said in a statement. The Philippines joined the ICC in November 2011 and extrajudicial killings could be prosecuted by the ICC if they are "committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack against a civilian population," she said. Earlier on Thursday, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte called U.S. President Barack Obama, the European Union and United Nations "fools" and said he would humiliate them if they questioned his war on drugs. Duterte's communications secretary, Martin Andanar, said the president has already stated he was "willing to submit himself for investigation before any body". Andanar said vigilante killings were not sanctioned by the government.
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