On Thursday 3 March 2011 Greta Barbone on behalf of No Peace Without Justice, together with representatives of Human Rights Watch (HRW), Parliamentarians for Global Action (PGA) and the Coalition for the International Criminal Court (CICC) addressed the media on the situation in Libya and the implications of the latest UNSC resolution, including the next steps for the ICC, and the role that NGOs and the European Union may play in this process, among other crucial issues.
The press conference, which was organised by the CICC at the CICC/HRW offices in Brussels, was moderated by Kirsten Meersschaert Duchens (CICC), with interventions from Elizabeth Evenson (HRW), Greta Barbone (NPWJ) and David Donat Cattin (PGA).
In her intervention, Greta Barbone commended the Security Council unanimous resolution referring the situation in Libya to the International Criminal Court (ICC) and welcomed the speedy decision of the Office of the Prosecutor to open an investigation. “This would contribute”, she said, “preserving information and evidence on the ground and reinforcing the message that there are direct, immediate consequences for those who use violence against peaceful demonstrators. What we fully expect is that in the coming months the Office of the Prosecutor will continue to gather information from all relevant sources as well as undertaking its own investigation directly with primary sources within and outside the country.”
“We also expect the ICC to start outreach activities in Libya as soon as possible to ensure that accurate information about the ICC process and the rights of victims under the Rome Statute are available so that victims can make an informed decision on how they wish to exercise their rights under the Statute and affected communities can decide what they want vis a vis the ICC and justice.”
The representative of NPWJ also called for credible transitional justice mechanisms and processes in the MENA region to determine who was responsible for the violations of the past and remove them from positions of power. “This would contribute drawing a line between the old and the new thereby making the change towards democracy effective and durable”, Greta Barbone affirmed.
Since 2007 NPWJ has been working in the MENA region on transitional justice more broadly with the Al Kawakibi Democracy Transition Center (KADEM), a “Tunis-based” organisation which is also the coordinator of the Arab Transitional Justice Working Group. In the coming months we will continue working with our local partners in the MENA region to ensure accountability is ensured for those who have committed crimes under authoritarian regime.
Press coverage:
Arrêter Kadhafi “le plus tôt possible”
La Cour Internationale va enquêter sur 10 à 15 responsables libyens
Le Soir, 4 mars 2011
For further information, contact Alison Smith on asmith@npwj.org or +32-2-548-3912 or Nicola Giovannini on ngiovannini@npwj.org or +32-2-548-3915.
