Forum for International Criminal Justice Newsletter: December 2015

Welcome to the IAP’s Forum for International Criminal Justice (FICJ) December 2015 Newsletter which focuses on the prosecution of war crimes, and genocide, including a roundup of video highlights, announcements, reports, commentaries and the major news developments from the past month.

This month’s newsletter includes a special report on the recent annual Assembly of States Parties of the International Criminal Court, with highlights of the IAP’s participation; a France24 interview with Ben Ferencz, the last surviving Prosecutor as well as numerous domestic developments. Please note that the items included in this publication do not automatically carry any endorsement from the IAP.

*Please have a look at the FICJ forum page on the IAP website and feel free to contribute: the Forum provides individual prosecutors with a password protected space to post news, announcements, etc. and to pose questions to fellow prosecutors from around the world. Your contributions will also be posted in this monthly newsletter. Passwords are provided to IAP members – if you do not have a password, check your membership status by contacting the IAP Office Manager, Evie Sardeman: [email protected].

Danya Chaikel – FICJ Coordinator | email: [email protected]

Video Highlights

Click here to watch Commemorative '70 Click here to watch a short video on the Years Nuremberg' Lecture. Join Justice the AvisFICJ Fishercommunity: WWW.IAPInternational-ASSOCIATION.ORG/FICJ Criminal Court’s /HOMEfield (Residual Special Court of Sierra Leone) spoke operations which includes outreach, as 1 about gender crimes and Judge Morrison Followwell asus field on twitter: work of @iaprosecutorsthe Prosecution, (ICC) spoke about the crime of aggression. Defence and representatives of victims.

14th Annual Meeting of the Assembly of States Parties of the International Criminal Court The IAP participated in the ICC’s annual Assembly of States Parties - here are some highlights by Danya Chaikel, FICJ Coordinator, who attended in

Between 18 - 26 November 2015, representatives from the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) 123 States Parties attended the 14th session of the Assembly of States Parties (ASP 14) in The Hague. The annual meeting of the Court’s governing body focuses on important legal, institutional and financial issues facing the ICC.

In his introductory remarks, the ASP 14 opened with remarks by the ICC’s three principals, the President of the Assembly, Sidiki Kaba, Registrar, Prosecutor, President as well as the ASP President stated that the four ICC trials expected to run in 2016 alone involve 10,000 victims of atrocity crimes, and that the main Rome Statute beneficiaries remain the victims and affected communities.

Among the many pertinent issues raised at ASP 14, one particular agenda item introduced by Kenya received the most discussion by States Parties, Court officials and civil society groups. Kenya sought to review the way ICC judges had applied a new procedural rule to admit prior recorded testimony in a Kenyan case currently being litigated before the Court which implicates Kenya’s Deputy President, William Ruto. In opposition were the ICC President, Prosecutor and Registrar (who co-authored a letter), along with many States Parties from inside and outside Africa, as well as civil society organisations from Kenya and elsewhere, who argued for judicial independence and the separation of powers. The issue arose from the statements of five witnesses, who had previously recanted them in Court or failed to testify, being admitted into evidence in August, amidst witness tampering allegations. Kenya argued that Rule 68 was erroneously applied retroactively, and to the detriment of the accused. While there may be merit to Kenya’s legal argument, the majority of ASP 14 delegations argued that since this issue is currently on appeal, it is sub judice and therefore an issue only the judges may deliberate on. After heated negotiations throughout the eight days, the Assembly decided it would include language on the non-retroactive use of Rule 68 in its final non-binding report summarising discussions held during ASP 14, but did not include it in an official resolution.

South Africa had also introduced a controversial agenda item at ASP 14, which focused on legal issues surrounding head of state immunities and its non-arrest of Sudanese President al-Bashir in

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June who is wanted by the ICC for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide. On this point, the Assembly agreed that there should be further discussion next year on the interpretation of Rome Statute provisions and whether heads of non-States Parties which are referred by the UN Security Council to the ICC are immune from prosecution, and related state cooperation with the Court.

During the plenary meetings, and numerous side events, other discussions were dedicated to a range of issues including the Court’s annual programme budget, the election of senior officials, state cooperation and complementarity, the principle under which national prosecutions take precedence in the ICC system. At one side event, ICC Prosecutor Bensouda and Deputy Prosecutor Stewart presented the OTP’s 2015 Report on Deputy Prosecutor Stewart and Prosecutor Bensouda present Preliminary Examination Activities in relation the OTP’s 2015 Preliminary Examination Report at ASP 14 to nine situations . While the OTP has decided not to proceed with an investigation in Honduras, subject to authorisation from the Pre-Trial Chamber, the office will investigate the situation in Georgia. Seven other situations remain under ongoing examination (Afghanistan, Colombia, Guinea, Iraq/UK, Palestine, Nigeria and Ukraine).

During ASP 14 deliberations, the Assembly notably expressed its deep concern at the ongoing lack of support by the UN Security Council for investigations and prosecutions arising from referrals to the Court, and called for greater political and financial support from the Council.

Finally, States Parties historically agreed to delete Article 124 from the Rome Statute. According to Article 124, new States Parties to the Rome Statute may declare that for a period of seven years after ratification they do not accept the Court’s jurisdiction with regard to war crimes allegedly committed by that State’s nationals or on its territory.

Further information:

ICC presents annual report to the ASP: strong cooperation, adequate resources and preserving judicial independence are crucial needs Statement of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Fatou Bensouda: ‘The ICC is an independent court that must be supported’ Daily summaries of ASP 14 prepared by the NGO network, the Coalition for the ICC The Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Fatou Bensouda, issues her annual Report on Preliminary Examination Activities (2015)

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PSV Network co-hosted ASP 14 side-event The Prosecuting Conflict-related Sexual Violence Network (PSV), which was launched by the IAP in September, co-hosted an ASP 14 side-event together with the embassies of Sweden and Australia, entitled: Strategies for Improving Accountability for Conflict-Related Sexual Violence Crimes – the New PSV Network and Related Issues. Michelle Jarvis (Coordinator, PSV Network and Principal Legal Counsel, ICTY), Holo Makwaia (Trial Lawyer, ICC), Janne Holst Hübner (Executive Director, IAP), Rea Abada Chiongson (Gender Specialist, IDLO) and Priscilla Israel (Assistant Director, Public Prosecutions, Botswana), with Serge Brammertz (ICTY Prosecutor) acting as moderator, discussed the need for specialised mechanisms to improve accountability for conflict-related sexual violence including professional associations and other strategies for fostering peer-to-peer support among practitioners in this area.

New Africa Group for Justice and Accountability launched The Africa Group for Justice and Accountability was launched on 23 November 2015, at an ASP 14 side-event. The independent Group is comprised of senior African experts on international criminal law and human rights, including political figures, members of international and domestic tribunals, and human rights advocates. The Group’s objective is to support efforts to strengthen justice and ICC President Silvia Fernández announces the launch of the accountability measures in Africa through Africa Group for Justice Accountability at ASP 14 domestic and regional capacity building, advice and outreach, and enhancing cooperation between Africa and the ICC.

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The members of the Africa Group for Justice and Accountability are:

Femi Falana (Nigeria) Human rights activist and lawyer Hassan Bubacar Jallow (Gambia) Chief Prosecutor at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) and International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals Richard Goldstone (South Africa) Former Chief Prosecutor of (ICTR) & former Yugoslavia (ICTY) Athaliah Molokomme (Botswana) Attorney General of Botswana Betty Kaari Murungi (Kenya) Independent Consultant on Human Rights & Transitional Justice Mohamed Chande Othman (Tanzania) Chief Justice of Tanzania Navi Pillay (South Africa) Former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Fatiha Serour (Algeria) Director of Serour Associates for Inclusion and Equity Abdul Tejan-Cole (Sierra Leone) Executive Director of Open Society Initiative for West Africa

At the launch, Africa Group members spoke about the significance of the new initiative. Former Chief Prosecutor Richard Goldstone spoke about the double standards in international criminal justice, as not all war crimes are committed in Africa but are out of reach of the ICC: “Our Africa Group should fight these double standards by improving the system. It’s the double standards that should be fought and not the institution that has been set up to exactly avoid the effect of those double standards.” Chief Prosecutor Hassan Jallow said that despite many challenges, “Africa has had a long and abiding commitment to justice, accountability and human rights.” Jallow added, “after all, much of the content of the modern law of human rights owes its origin to the struggles of the African peoples and the peoples in the third world for liberation, independence and emancipation.”

The Zimbabwe torture docket decision and proactive complementarity ISS Policy Brief by Max du Plessis*

At yet another ASP 14 side event, on ‘Strengthening African responses to international criminal justice: complementarity in action’ which was co-hosted by The Netherlands and the Institute for Security Studies (ISS), ISS released a new policy brief entitled The Zimbabwe torture docket decision and proactive complementarity. The decision of a landmark case heard in the South African Constitutional Court means there is an obligation for states to complement the work of the ICC – extending the court’s influence in prosecuting serious crimes of international concern in states where it does not have jurisdiction under the Rome Statute. The court found that the South African security authorities, exercising South Africa’s universal jurisdiction, are obliged by law to investigate

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international crimes committed in Zimbabwe, which is not a state party to the ICC. According to ISS, the decision establishes a progressive framework for prosecuting international crimes, provides a powerful tool against impunity, and confirms that states can and must play a complementary role in pursuing the aims of international criminal justice in respect of non-states parties.

*Max du Plessis (B.Iuris SA, LLB Natal, LLM Cambridge, PhD University of KwaZulu-Natal) is an associate professor at the University of KwaZulu-Natal and a practising advocate in South Africa. He is also an associate tenant at Doughty Street Chambers, London, and a senior research associate at the Institute for Security Studies.

Read the full Zimbabwe torture docket decision and proactive complementarity policy brief on the ISS website

New IBA report Trial of the Libyan regime - An investigation into international fair trial standards The trial of 37 Qaddafi-era officials, including Saif al-Islam Qaddafi, and Abdullah al-Senussi –the son and brother-in-law of the late Colonel Muammar Qaddafi, respectively – was severely compromised and did not meet international fair trial standards, concludes Dr Mark Ellis, Executive Director of the International Bar Association (IBA), in his new report. In assessing the fairness of the proceedings in Libya, the report, Trial of the Libyan regime - An investigation into international fair trial standards, identifies several impediments to due process:

Libya’s volatile security situation significantly hampered the appearance of witnesses; defendants, notably Saif al- Islam Qaddafi, were largely tried in absentia; counsel had insufficient access to evidence and to their clients, and were not given adequate time and facilities to prepare a defence and fulfil their professional duties; restrictions on publicity resulted in a paucity of information and compromised public hearing; and defendants were denied the right to appeal and the right to a public judgement.

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Interview with Ben Ferencz Last Surviving Nuremberg Prosecutor speaks about his role

19 November 2015, France 24

On the 70th anniversary of the start of the Nuremburg trials, FRANCE 24 asked Ben Ferencz, the last surviving Nuremburg prosecutor, about his role in the historic trials and his later work to create the ICC.

Ben Ferencz’s family left Europe in 1921, fleeing the persecution of Hungarian . They arrived in the when he was just 10 months old. “I was raised as a poor boy in a heavy crime area in , and I didn’t like what I saw,” he says by way of explaining his interest in law at a young age. He would eventually graduate from in 1943.

Even before the Allied powers declared victory in Europe in May 1945, Ferencz had started compiling evidence of Nazi atrocities as a corporal and then a Benjamin Ferencz, aged 27, during the in 1947. sergeant in the US Army. After the war he was recruited to work on what would be described as the “greatest trial in history”.

The first of the 12 military tribunals to judge Nazi war crimes – including the Holocaust – after World War II, began in the German city of Nuremburg on November 20, 1945.

At Nuremburg, Ferencz held the distinction of being the youngest prosecutor at just 27, and the chief prosecutor in the case against leaders of the Einsatzgruppen, roaming death squads responsible for killing over one million civilians – mainly by shooting – in Eastern Europe.

In the years after Nuremburg, Ferencz was haunted by the possibility of a repeat of the Holocaust and became a tireless advocate of the creation of an international court to settle disputes before war broke out. That once far-fetched dream became a reality with the creation of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in the late 1990s.

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Ferencz, now 96, continues to work to advance the cause of peace, and remains convinced justice is the only way for humanity to survive the next 70 years. He spoke to FRANCE 24 via telephone from his home in New Rochelle, New York.

FRANCE 24: The almost didn’t happen. How did you bring the case to trial and become its chief prosecutor?

Ben Ferencz: I had been assigned by General [Telford] Taylor, who was chief of council for the 11 trials, to continue doing my work in the army as investigator of the Nazi crimes. He said, “Look, you know what’s happened, so go to Berlin and set up an office there and send us the evidence of the crimes”… One of my researchers who was working in the foreign ministry came upon a set of reports in big binders which had the German title “Reports from the Eastern Front – Top Secret”. In there, they reported how these special extermination squads hidden under the untranslatable name Einsatzgruppen operated. And every day they reported to Berlin from the field describing how many Jews they killed. They never used the word “killed”, only “eliminated” -- how many communist officials they eliminated, how many gypsies they had eliminated, and any other potential threats to the Reich. When those reports were handed to me in Berlin I took a little adding machine and began adding up the numbers murdered by these special squads. When I reached a million murders I stopped adding.

I flew from Berlin to Nuremberg, and told General Taylor that we have to put on a new trial. He said ‘”We cannot. The schedules have already been made, all the lawyers have been assigned, the Pentagon is not going to agree to any further expansion, so we can’t do it”. I told them we couldn’t let these mass murderers go free. And he said, “Can you do it in addition to your other responsibilities?’ So it came about that I became the chief prosecutor in what was the biggest murder trial in human history… I convicted all of the defendants, all 22 of them, 13 were sentenced to death, and I rested my case after two days. I didn’t call a single witness, and I was 27 years old. And that broke every record in the book.

FRANCE 24: How did your experience in Nuremberg shape your personal views about justice?

Ben Ferencz: You cannot talk about justice under such circumstances. In these particular instances, in any war, crime is committed on a vast scale. In my judgement war is the biggest crime of all. The only thing that would be “just” in a war is to stop killing the people – that would be justice.

Nuremberg set a pattern as a whole. What was done was absolutely the correct thing to do: to hold the individuals responsible for their crimes, to limit it to the leaders, to treat everyone equally under the law. It condemned what had been a national right, that is, the right to go to war when you think your national interests are threatened. It changed that national right into an international crime…

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But wars have continued and the ideals of Nuremburg – what we hoped to teach the rest of the world – were forgotten. The United States itself had forgotten it when it went into Vietnam and other places. Instead of using peaceful means only, we sought to achieve our goals through force and violence. Well, we have paid a serious price, the world has paid a serious price for that very fatal mistake. We continue to pay the price, and I continue to try to stop it.

FRANCE 24: You played an instrumental part in creating the ICC, do you worry about its future?

Ben Ferencz: When the ICC was finally created, it finally had its own case against [Congolese militia leader Thomas] Lubanga. When they finally reached that point, the head prosecutor Luis Moreno Campos sent me a note, Ferencz at the 1998 diplomatic conference in Rome, which was organised to he told me, “We want you to do finalise and adopt a convention on the establishment of the world’s first the closing statements for the international criminal court prosecution”. I did the closing remarks for the prosecution on the first case of the first International Criminal Court. I was then 92- years-old. So I have two interesting book ends. The first case was the biggest murder trial when I was 27, the second when I was 92.

Yes, [the ICC] can be undone, because one never knows when suddenly someone comes on the horizon, like a Senator McCarthy, like we had in the United States, who gets public support and then tries to undo things when they perceive it as weaknesses on the part of the government… So we must always be on guard because political attitudes change and when they change, they change the action as well. Almost invariably the net effect of that is large numbers of innocent people who pay with their blood.

FRANCE 24: In previous interviews you described gathering witness testimonies under duress just after WWII, lining up villagers and threatening to shoot them if they lied. You said at the time you were not aware such methods could invalidate evidence. Do you think 70 years from now people will raise their eyebrows over how justice was served in 2015? Think that it was backwards?

Ben Ferencz: No, they will not look on it as backwards. Unless they accept the principle of settling disputes peacefully, there will be nobody here 70 years from now. This will be a cold planet like the other billions of planets in space… Our capacity to kill people so far exceeds our capacity to create

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the institutions necessary to avoid that. There is an acute danger that 70 years from now, if we do not change, not only our habits and our way of thinking, but also the methods by which we settle our disputes, there will be nobody left. And I will be looking down from heaven, or up from hell, or wherever, saying ‘I told you so’.

Read more on the France24 website

grave was found close to the town of Sinjar after it News November 2015 was recaptured from the so-called Islamic State (IS) group earlier in November… Sinjar's mayor, Click on the hyperlinked headlines to see the Mahma Khalil, told the BBC this was the biggest of full articles of international criminal justice news the mass graves found so far…He appealed to from the previous month. international organisations for help in compiling evidence for the International Criminal Court, of 30 November what he called IS's genocide of the Yazidis, who Hague Tribunal to Release Yugoslav Army War made up a majority of the population in the town… Criminal (Balkan Transitional Justice) 28 November After serving two-thirds of his 14-year prison The Netherlands Blocks Deportation of Genocide sentence, Vladimir Lazarevic, the former chief of Suspects staff of the Yugoslav Army’s Pristina Corps, will be (News of Rwanda) released from the UN detention centre in The The Netherlands has blocked extradition of two Hague in December, the International Criminal Rwandan genocide suspects Jean Baptiste Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia told BIRN. Mugimba and Jean Claude Iyamuremye. A Dutch According to the Serbian government’s office for court in The Hague ruled Friday that the two cooperation with the ICTY, he could arrive at suspects would not get a fair trial in the Rwandan Belgrade airport on a regular flight from courts. The verdict states “in cases of genocide in Amsterdam on December 3… Rwanda, legal assistance in practice is insufficiently insured. As long as the Dutch authorities cannot Fatal Mali rocket attack could be '' - UN prove the contrary, the two cannot be transferred (RTE News) to Rwanda.”… The United Nations Security Council condemned a rocket attack that killed two UN peacekeepers and UK could be prosecuted for war crimes over a contractor in northeast Mali, warning the assault missiles sold to Saudi Arabia that were used to kill could be a war crime. In a unanimous declaration, civilians in Yemen the council's 15 member countries urged the (Independent) Malian government to "swiftly investigate this Britain is at risk of being prosecuted for war crimes attack and bring the perpetrators to justice and because of growing evidence that missiles sold to stressed that those responsible for the attack Saudi Arabia have been used against civilian should be held accountable"… targets in Yemen’s brutal civil war, Foreign Office lawyers and diplomats have warned. Advisers to 29 November Philip Hammond, the Foreign Secretary, have IS blamed for mass Yazidi grave found near Sinjar, stepped up legal warnings that the sale of Iraq specialist missiles to the Saudis, deployed (BBC) throughout nine months of almost daily bombing A booby-trapped mass grave containing the bodies raids in west Yemen against Houthi rebels, may of at least 110 people from the minority Yazidi sect breach international humanitarian law… has been found in northern Iraq, officials say. The

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27 November Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) Prosecutor Kenya backs down from threat to leave ICC over Norman Farrell concluded today a four-day Ruto case working visit to Lebanon, during which he held (Reuters) meetings with judicial representatives, other Kenya backed down from its threat to quit the ICC, Lebanese officials, diplomats, and the Prosecutor’s saying fellow member states had given it the staff in the Beirut Office…During his mission, the assurances it wanted over the DP's trial, but Prosecutor gave a lecture at the American warned that any adverse ruling could change its University of Beirut to students participating in the view. Deputy President William Ruto is facing fifth Inter-University Programme on International charges of crimes against humanity including Criminal Law and Procedure (IUP-ICLP). IUP-ICLP is murder, deportation and persecution linked to an organised by the STL in cooperation with nine outburst of ethnic killings after the 2007 prominent Lebanese universities and the T.M.C. presidential election… Asser Institute in The Hague…

Pamplona to file for investigation into crimes by The new enemy of mankind: The Jurisdiction of Franco regime in Spain the ICC over members of “Islamic State” (Guardian) (EJIL:Talk! blog) The city of Pamplona will ask a local court to President Obama has called the recent Paris terror investigate crimes committed against its residents attacks an “attack on all of humanity”. In doing so, during the civil war and dictatorship of Francisco he has touched upon the core of so-called crimes Franco after city councillors voted in favour of an against humanity. Due to their quantitative and unprecedented resolution. “This is of huge qualitative dimensions and their utter disregard for importance,” said Carlos Slepoy, a human rights fundamental values, such crimes are directed not lawyer who, along with several organisations, only against individual persons, but against helped draft the resolution outlining the course of humanity as a whole…However, does the ICC also action. “It will be the first time that a public have formal jurisdiction over acts committed by institution in Spain – a city council that represents members of Islamic State?... the fact that the acts thousands of Spaniards – decides to present a have taken place in a State Party – that is, that criminal complaint in front of the Spanish they took effect there (e.g. causing the deaths of courts.”… civilians) – should be sufficient. This is the correct view, as it is based upon the principle of objective New MONUSCO report: “Invisible Survivors: Girls territoriality recognised in international law… in Armed Groups in Democratic Republic of the Congo from 2009 to 2015” Serbia to Adopt National War Crimes Strategy (United Nations) (Balkan Transitional Justice) The report “Invisible Survivors: Girls in Armed Serbia’s justice ministry told BIRN on Thursday that Groups in Democratic Republic of the Congo from the first draft of its National War Crimes Strategy 2009 to 2015”, published this week by the United will be published by the end of December and then Nations Organization Mission in the Democratic thrown open for public debate before being sent Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) on the to the government for adoption… According to the recruitment of girls by armed groups in the latest report by the Organisation for Security and country highlights the violence girls are confronted Co-operation in Europe’s mission to Serbia, the with as well as the difficulty of providing them with country is still lagging behind on war crimes adequate assistance… prosecutions and hasn’t yet brought high-ranking suspects from the 1990s conflicts to court… 26 November Prosecutor Farrell concludes a working visit to 25 November Lebanon Statement of the Prosecutor of the International (STL press release) Criminal Court, Fatou Bensouda, marking the

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International Day for the Elimination of Violence (openDemocracy Opinion) Against Women … The minority population of Yazidi women and (ICC press release) girls are being systematically kidnapped, bought …As Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court and sold into slavery, given to ISIL fighters as ("ICC"), I see all too often the prevalence of mass ‘gifts’—and these actions are merely considered violence against women in the form of sexual and ‘spoils of war.’ Girls as young as six and nine years gender-based crimes, such as rape, sexual slavery old are being raped, tortured, executed and and forced marriages. Any woman subjected to trafficked by ISIL. In numerous reports, hundreds these evils anywhere in the world, is one too of Yazidi women have committed suicide to escape many…In accordance with my mandate, I will spare their horrific situations. Even in light of these facts, no effort to bring accountability for such heinous the international community is currently failing to crimes. Where others may want to draw a veil over act on these atrocities. these crimes I, as Prosecutor, must draw a line under them… 20 Years of Dayton Accords: Flaws in “Safe Area” Policy in Bosnia UN calls for moratorium on execution in (The Hague Institute for Global Justice) Bangladesh Key international players on the former Yugoslavia (The Daily Star) released extensive new documentation on Safe In a statement issued in Geneva yesterday, Ravina Areas in Bosnia on 23 November, drawing Shamdasani, spokesperson for the UN High attention to the failure of the United Nations and Commissioner for Human Rights, said the NATO to protect tens of thousands of refugees government should not implement death expelled from their homes by a brutal ethnic sentences awarded by the International Crimes cleansing campaign…. Tribunal, “given the doubts that have been raised about the fairness of trials conducted before the Establishing Performance Indicators for the tribunal.” The statement came in response to International Criminal Court Sunday's execution of war criminals Salauddin (OSJI) Quader Chowdhury and Ali Ahsan Mohammad 2016 will be a busy year for the ICC, with three Mujahid… new trials scheduled to begin hearings in January, adding to an already active caseload. With this Kunduz bombing: US attacked MSF clinic 'in error' growth comes an increasing demand to better (BBC) understand how the court works… Measuring the A US aircraft attacked a Medecins Sans Frontieres performance of judicial institutions differs from (MSF) clinic in the Afghan city of Kunduz because measuring other organizations because the “end of "human error", a US military inquiry said. The product” is the criminal justice process itself. investigation found the crew of the AC-130 Unlike other judicial institutions, the ICC is gunship mistook the clinic for a nearby relatively new and, in contrast to national judicial government building that had been seized by institutions, it deals with few cases—albeit of Taliban fighters. At least 30 civilians were killed in much greater complexity. However, indicators can the 3 October attack, amid a campaign to retake play a unique role in reflecting on the life of the Kunduz from Taliban forces. MSF said the report institution and highlight the progress it makes demonstrates "gross negligence" by the US towards achieving its overall goals… military. The group said the incident constituted "violations of the rules of war" and reiterated calls 22 November for an "independent and impartial investigation Experts call for an end to use of child soldiers at into the attack"… UAE forum (The National) 23 Novmeber The UAE has a responsibility to help countries in International community neglects to act on Yazidi the region to deal with conflict and end the use of genocide child soldiers. With wars raging in Syria, Iraq and

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Yemen, the number of children being recruited to 20 November fight in these countries has doubled in the past Seventy years after Nuremberg, global justice is year, experts told an audience at the Future still a work in progress Security of the GCC Forum. Arabian Gulf countries (Guardian Opinion, by Philippe Sands) also need to negotiate with armed groups to end On 20 November 1945, the criminal trial of 23 violent regional conflicts, humanitarian and senior Nazis opened in courtroom 600 of security experts said… Nuremberg’s Palace of Justice. Hermann Goering, Albert Speer and Hans Frank were among those in In Congo, Women Seek Justice for Rape in Mobile the dock for a variety of horrors, in a case that was Courts cobbled together at great speed. It was a unique (Thomson Reuters Foundation) moment, the first time in history that individual Ongoing fighting among rebel groups has stifled leaders of a sovereign nation had found reconciliation in the Democratic Republic of Congo, themselves before an international criminal court. a country recovering from conflicts that have The day heralded the promise of a new world claimed as many lives as World War II…As the constructed on the pillars of justice and law, a international court currently tries Bosco Ntaganda, world that seems as far away as ever in the light of a former rebel commander, on charges of rape in the current situation in Syria and the barbaric The Hague, women's groups in the DRC grapple to events in Paris… secure justice for rape survivors at the local level by working with judges who travel the country in a New Human Rights Center study calls on the system of "mobile justice."… world to increase support for victims (UC Berkley School of Law) 21 November A multi-country study of more than 600 survivors Bangladesh hangs Chowdhury and Mujahid over of war crimes and crimes against humanity—The 1971 war crimes Victims’ Court? A Study of 622 Victim Participants (BBC) at the International Criminal Court—will be issued Two Bangladesh opposition leaders have been by the Human Rights Center, UC Berkeley School of executed for war crimes committed during the Law, during the Assembly of States Parties meeting 1971 independence struggle against Pakistan. in The Hague on November 20… Salahuddin Quader Chowdhury and Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujahid were hanged in Dhaka's Chief Hague prosecutor received by Serbian central jail. They were convicted of genocide and officials rape - charges they denied… (B92) The cooperation between the Serbian War Crimes At Ex-Dictator’s Trial, Women Reveal Dark Secrets Prosecution and the Hague Tribunal "is proceeding (Human Rights Watch) at a highly professional level." This is what Serbia's Khadidja Hassan Zidane testifies during the trial of War Crimes Prosecutor Vladimir Vukcevic and the former dictator of Chad Hissène Habré in Serge Brammertz, chief prosecutor of the Senegal on October 19 and 20, 2015. She and International Criminal Tribunal for the former other women described their experiences in the Yugoslavia (ICTY), said during a meeting in desert camp at Oudi-Doum, where nine women Belgrade on Friday . The prosecutor's office said in and girls were allegedly forced to serve the soldiers a statement that Brammertz conveyed the support of Hissène Habré’s army…The alleged crimes took of the ICTY Office of the Prosecutor to the Serbian place over 25 years ago, but for these women the war crimes prosecutors for work on ongoing effects have lingered. Taking the witness stand, cases… they all recounted how they were held prisoner, transported, raped, or tortured. Humiliated, 19 November degraded, stigmatized… International court urged to reform or risk losing Africa (Reuters)

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The International Criminal Court faced calls to officials the moment they step foot on Spanish change its approach in Africa or face losing some of territory. The order was passed in connection with its largest members as Kenya and South Africa the attack by Israel's forces on the Freedom Flotilla joined forces at its general assembly to lobby for ships, which were sailing to Gaza from Istanbul and more freedom to interpret the court's rules. Both Greece in support of Palestinian settlements in countries have been rebuked by the court, with 2010… At the International Criminal Court (ICC), Kenya accused of allowing intimidation of the Mavi Marmara incident has provoked intense witnesses in an ICC case against its deputy controversy as well. ICC prosecutor Fatou president and South Africa under fire for not Bensouda performed an initial investigation but extraditing Sudan's leader when he was in the decided to close the case without moving forward country in June… with a full criminal investigation. A ruling in September asked her to reconsider her decision… 18 November Q&A: ICC prosecutor on trying the world's worst Russian lawmaker calls for trial of ISIS militants in crimes ICC (AFP) (Rapsi) Three years into her nine-year tenure the Deputy Speaker of the State Duma Nikolai Levichev prosecutor of the world's only permanent war has called on the International Criminal Court (ICC) crimes court is battling a growing caseload as she in The Hague to consider crimes committed by the fights "to give victims a voice." This year Fatou Islamic State militants, RIA Novosti reported Bensouda, a trained lawyer from Gambia, opened Tuesday. The IS terrorists must be convicted by the preliminary probes into alleged crimes in Palestine, International Criminal Court, Levichev said… broadened the scope of an initial inquiry in Ukraine, and has asked the ICC to open a formal 13 November investigation into the 2008 Russia-Georgia war… Germain Katanga’s sentence reduced and to be completed on 18 January 2016 17 November (ICC press release) Securing Justice for Victims of Sexual and Gender …Germain Katanga was sentenced, on 23 May Based Violence [Guatemala] 2014, to a total of 12 years' imprisonment after (Thomson Reuters Foundation Opinion, by Justice being found guilty, as an accessory, of one count of Rapid Response) crime against humanity (murder) and four counts In July of 1982, the Guatemalan army constructed of war crimes (murder, attacking a civilian a military outpost intended for “rest and population, destruction of property and pillaging) relaxation” in Sepur Zarco, where it assigned a committed on 24 February 2003 during the attack regiment of soldiers… What they were not told was on the village of Bogoro, in the Ituri district of the that over that period the soldiers would repeatedly Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC)…a Panel rape the women throughout the duration of their of three Judges of the Appeals Chamber of the ICC, time spent there… A sexual and gender based reviewed Germain Katanga's sentence and decided violence expert from a rapid deployment roster to reduce it. Accordingly, the date for the managed by Justice Rapid Response (JRR) assisted completion of his sentence is set to 18 January Guatemalan authorities on cases such as Sepur 2016.… Zarco, steeped in details of kidnapping, sexual violence, torture, forced disappearances, and 12 November human exploitation and trafficking… Ukraine's parliament recognizes deportation of Crimean Tatars in 1944 as genocide Spanish court issues arrest warrant against (Ukraine Today) Benjamin Netanyahu in Freedom Flotilla case Mass deportation of Crimean Tatars from their A Spanish court passed an order to arrest Israeli homeland in 1944 was genocide. That is according Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and seven to a resolution of the Ukrainian parliament, which other former and current Israeli government was supported on Thursday by 245 MPs present in

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the session hall. Day of Remembrance of the which would order the Bosnia and Herzegovina victims of genocide of the Crimean Tatar people (BH) State Court to terminate the proceedings will be held annually on May 18… against the former BH Army commander in Srebrenica… US Holocaust Museum supports Iraq Yazidi community genocide claim against Islamic State Venezuela opposition asks ICC to probe Maduro, (Jurist) officials The US Holocaust Memorial Museum voiced (News Fulton County) support for the Yazidi community in Iraq on Opposition figures have asked the ICC to Thursday and said that the Islamic State (IS) investigate Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro militants committed genocide against the Yazidi and other officials for crimes against humanity people. The atrocities witnessed by the museum's following last year’s deadly anti-government Simon-Skjodt Center for the Prevention of protests, lawyers for the group said Wednesday… Genocide "Bearing Witness" team took place between June and August 2014 and are denounced 10 November as crimes against humanity, ethnic cleansing, and 'Tribunal' opens hearings into mass killings in war crimes against the Yazidi people and other Indonesia minorities, including Christian, Turkmen, Shabak, (AP) Sabaean-Mandaean, and Kaka'i, in Northern Iraq… A “people’s tribunal” opened hearings in the Netherlands Tuesday intended to publicize Opinion : A Dictator on Trial in Africa allegations that Indonesian authorities were (Justice Info, by Reed Brody, counsel with Human responsible for killing hundreds of thousands of Rights Watch) suspected Communists 50 years ago. Human rights “To the victims I ask for forgiveness. I know it’s not lawyers acting as prosecutors charge the state of sufficient, but I ask for forgiveness.” Bandjim Indonesia in a nine-count indictment with crimes Bandoum, once a top political police agent of the including murder, torture and sexual violence in former Chadian dictator, Hissène Habré, had the notorious killing spree from 1965-66 that left waited 25 years to unburden himself. Then he an estimated 500,000 people dead… turned to Habré, sitting a few feet away, and said, “I have lived up to my responsibility, now it is time UN envoy commends South Sudanese opposition for you to live up to yours.” Habré remained silent, commanders’ plan to prevent rape his face covered up in a turban and sunglasses. The (UN News Centre) scene took place last month in the Extraordinary The United Nations Special Representative on African Chambers, an innovative Senegalese court Sexual Violence in Conflict today commended 54 established in 2013 with African Union support… ranking members of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Sudan People’s Liberation Army-in 11 November Opposition (SPLA-IO) for signing “explicit Naser Orić’s Defence Requests Termination of the undertakings” to prevent conflict-related sexual Proceedings violence. “This is an encouraging step towards the (iLawyer) protection of women, children and men of South Naser Orić’s defense lawyers have called on the Sudan from such crimes,” said Zainab Hawa Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals to Bangura… order the termination of the proceedings against their client. The charges against him were brought 7 November before the State Court in Sarajevo. The defense of “A Well-Reasoned Opinion?” Naser Orić, who was previoualy tried by the (iLawyer) International Criminal Tribunal for the former The Asian International Justice Initiative (AIJI) has Yugoslavia (ICTY), has asked Theodor Meron, the written and published “A Well-Reasoned Opinion? president of the Mechanism for International Critical Analysis of the First Case Against the Criminal Tribunals, to appoint a panel of judges Alleged Senior Leaders of the Khmer Rouge”, a

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final, comprehensive report on the trial of Nuon (OSJI) Chea and Khieu Samphan in Case 002/01 at the Last Wednesday, October 28, Guatemala’s Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia judiciary opened a third high-risk court, called (ECCC)… group C, which includes a preliminary proceedings judge and a three-judge trial chamber. This new 6 November court will be in charge of overseeing complex Baltasar Garzón on universal jurisdiction and the criminal cases, including cases related to grave Habré trial crimes committed during the country’s 36-year (Justice Hub) long internal conflict. The development of the new Former Spanish investigative magistrate Baltasar chamber, with financial support from the United Garzón visited the trial last month of former States Agency for International Development Chadian dictator Hissène Habré before the (USAID), will allow some grave crimes cases to Extraordinary African Chambers (EAC) in Senegal. proceed to court more quickly than previously Habré, nicknamed the ‘African Pinochet’, is scheduled… accused of crimes against humanity, war crimes and torture committed during his rule between 3 November 1983 and 1990… court declares 93-year-old former SS sergeant fit for trial 5 November (Jurist) Bosnian Croat Ex-Commander Arrested for War A German court deemed Monday that a 93-year- Crimes old former SS sergeant, charged with 170,000 (Balkan Transitional Justice) counts of accessory to murder for allegedly serving Djakic, the former commander of the First as a Nazi camp prison guard, is fit for trial… Battalion of the 108th Brigade of the Croatian Defence Council (HVO) in Bosanska Posavina, was Still falling short—the ICC’s capacity crisis arrested on Thursday on suspicion of killing a (openDemocracy Opinion) Bosnian Serb prisoner and failing to stop the killing …Describing the high demands for the ICC to of three wounded Serb prisoners of war… respond to impunity around the world, the reluctance of states to fully fund necessary budget PGA Congratulates the Senate of the DRC on the increases and resulting delays in existing Adoption of the Implementing Legislation of the investigations and cases, we stressed that the ICC Rome Statute of the ICC risks falling behind in the fight against impunity… (PGA press release) Today, the Senate of the Democratic Republic of 2 November Congo (DRC) voted quasi unanimously for the AU, African Court to begin dialogue on access to adoption of the Law implementing the Rome justice, others on Wednesday Statute of the ICC in the domestic legal order. This (The Guardian) legislation, which consists of 4 separate bills, Determined to promote and protect the rights of amends and completes the Military Criminal Code, Africans and provide access to justice of all the Military Criminal Procedure Code, the Criminal Africans across the continent, the African Court on Code and the Criminal Criminal Procedure Code. Human and Peoples’ Rights and the African Union Parliamentarians for Global Action (PGA) welcomes (AU) will on Wednesday begin a judicial dialogue of this new step taken by the DRC legislators to two hundred delegates including Chief Justices, ensure the full implementation of the Rome Presidents of the Supreme Courts and Statute as a way to end impunity for the most Constitutional Courts of member states in Arusha, serious crimes of international concern… Tanzania…

4 November ICTR to deliver its final Appeal Judgment Guatemala Opens a New Court to Hear Cases (ICTR Press Release) Related to Grave Crimes

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…judgment of the Appeals Case in the Trial of The against the Yazidis in northern Iraq. In light of his Prosecutor vs. Nyiramasuhuko et al. (Butare Case) recent efforts, Moreno-Ocampo recently gave a will be delivered on Monday, 14 December 2015 at lengthy interview to Richelle Carey of Al Jazeera 10.00 a.m. in the Laïty Kama Courtroom, Fourth America in which the former prosecutor ripped Floor, Kilimanjaro Wing of the AICC. This is the last into America’s record in supporting the Court – appeals judgement before the ICTR. The six and the project of international criminal justice… accused in the case were, on 24 June 2011, variously convicted of crimes of genocide, 1 November conspiracy to commit genocide, incitement to Chile doubles down on prosecutions for Pinochet- commit genocide, crimes against humanity and era crimes war crimes for their role in crimes committed (Reuters) against Tutsis during the 1994 genocide… …During Pinochet's 1973-1990 dictatorship, an estimated 3,200 people were murdered and Former ICC Prosecutor Slams U.S. Record on the another 28,000 tortured by the state…In the 25 ICC, International Justice years of democracy, there have been 1,149 (Justice in Conflict Blog) convictions handed down for dictatorship-era …The former chief prosecutor of the International human rights crimes. But since Munoz took office Criminal Court (ICC) is involved in a human rights in January 2014, investigating judges have sent NGO in Libya and, more recently, has worked to some 400 cases to prosecutors, according to the bring a case forward to the ICC alleging that the Interior Ministry… Islamic State (ISIS) has perpetrated genocide

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