(The Hague) On the occasion of the 15th session of the Assembly of States Parties (ASP) to the ICC Statute, which takes place in the Hague from 16 to 24 November 2016, FIDH presents its position paper with five recommendations to the States Parties.
This session will take place after South Africa, Burundi and Gambia have taken steps to withdraw from the ICC Statute. These withdrawals, as well as other concerns expressed by some African States, will be without doubt intensively discussed at this session. These actions seek to damage the highest level of accountability for the most grave crimes of concern to the international community.
At the same time, many African States Parties have recently made statements affirming their continued support to the Court, including Botswana, Ivory Coast, Malawi, Nigeria, Senegal and Sierra Leone. FIDH echoes Tanzania’s call for constructive dialogue rather than withdrawal.
"States should resist making compromises in exchange for retaining membership, if those compromises do not fully comply with the integrity and independence of the ICC. States Parties should use every opportunity to defend the integrity of the Rome Statute throughout the ASP”.
- Recommendation 1: States must defend the integrity of the Rome Statute, encourage universality, and denounce efforts to withdraw from the ICC.
- Recommendation 2: States should actively encourage cooperation and sanction non-cooperation
- Recommendation 3: States should actively contribute to positive complementarity in national jurisdictions
- Recommendation 4 : States should authorise the proposed 2017 budget and support a transparent and needs-driven budgetary procedure
- Recommendation 5 : States Parties should support human rights defenders working towards international justice and the fulfilment of the ICC’s mandate and implement all necessary measures to protect them
