Exterior view of the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands. © 2021 AP Photo/Peter Dejong |
International justice – accountability through fair trials for genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity – is an essential element of building respect for human rights.
July 17 marks International Criminal Justice Day, and around the world, we’ve seen that progress in international justice is possible, even if there is still much to do. |
Unprecedented political momentum led the International Criminal Court (ICC) to swiftly open an investigation into serious crimes committed during the armed conflict in Ukraine. The speed of the referral highlights how international support can fast-track accountability efforts.
The ICC’s investigation in Ukraine is a significant step toward ensuring documentation of potential war crimes. |
The ICC currently has 17 country situations on its docket. One of the newest countries is the Philippines, where the ICC is looking into alleged crimes against humanity related to unlawful killings in former President Rodrigo Duterte’s “war on drugs”. Another is Venezuela, where the ICC is investigating possible crimes against humanity, including torture, rape, and persecution.
The court also opened its first Darfur trial, giving the victims of crimes committed nearly 20 years ago some tangible hope for justice. |
While this number of proceedings is impressive, the court routinely faces resource constraints due to underfunding. The ICC’s member countries have allotted the court too-limited resources to match its growing workload.
Also, there has been a lack of tangible progress in a number of investigations, including those into Palestine and Afghanistan, where the ICC prosecutor deprioritized scrutiny into crimes allegedly committed by US and Taliban forces citing in part limited resources.
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Syrian women hold pictures of relatives who died in Syria, in front of the court in Koblenz, Germany, January 13, 2022. © 2022 AP Photo/Martin Meissner |
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It’s not just the International Criminal Court that plays a role in international justice. We also look to other international tribunals and even national courts.
Germany held the world's first trial addressing large-scale state-sponsored torture in Syria, and two Syrian ex-intelligence officials were convicted of crimes against humanity. Another German court opened the first trial for serious crimes committed in Gambia, related to a “death squad” created by former president Yahya Jammeh. Germany’s laws allow serious crimes to be tried there, even without a German connection to the crimes, a principle known as “universal jurisdiction.”
The Special Criminal Court in the Central African Republic also opened its first trial, which focus on a massacre in two villages in the country’s northwest -- the first major violation of a 2019 peace agreement between the government and rebels. This court is a “hybrid” model, including both international and national staff. |
We believe justice for victims matters for achieving lasting peace, and that ignoring atrocities reinforces a culture that encourages future abuses.
The events of the last year alone have shown the importance of holding perpetrators of serious crimes to account, even if it is, sometimes, slow-going.
Justice matters, no matter where abuses are committed or by whom. |
| Trans people have a right to their identity. But transgender people in El Salvador experience significant discrimination without a procedure for legal gender recognition. |
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| Yusuf Zahab was last heard from when he sent desperate pleas for help during an ISIS siege of Al-Sina’a prison in al-Hasakah city in January 2022. |
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| Natural gas projects in Myanmar generate over US$1 billion in foreign revenue for the country’s abusive junta annually, its single largest source of foreign currency revenue. |
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| One year after his arrest at Casablanca airport, Uyghur activist Yidiresi Aishan remains under threat of extradition from Morocco to China, where he faces significant danger of being subjected to torture. |
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A man shields himself from the sun during a heat wave in New Delhi, India. © 2022 Sipa via AP Images |
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Large parts of the globe are currently sweltering in record-breaking temperature extremes. Governments have human rights obligations to help people adapt to the impacts of climate change. This includes an assessment of the foreseeable impact of extreme heat, especially for the populations who are the most at-risk, followed by effective plans to mitigate the expected harm. |
© 2021 Brian Stauffer for Human Rights Watch |
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Every year, Canada detains thousands of people seeking safety or a better life. But provincial leaders have the power to change this! Tell them to end their immigration detention contracts with the federal government today. |
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