Roping in 70 states outside ICC system my top priority – Judge Piotr Hofmański

The president of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Piotr Hofmański, has said that getting the roughly 70 sovereign countries which are still outside the ICC system is the overarching agenda for his tenure as the leader of the court.

Judge Hofmański said the reason for his all-encompassing agenda is that: “There is growing empirical evidence showing that the Rome Statute system helps prevent violence in the long term in the countries that are part of it.”

Judge Hofmański was addressing guests today (28 September 2022) at the “Annual Eminent Public Lecture” series, organised by the African Centre on International Criminal Justice (ACICJ). The ACICJ is one of a number of law centres within the Faculty of Law at the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA). He used the opportunity to solicit Ghana’s support to make his vision a reality.

“The ICC’s jurisprudence has broken new ground on matters such as the use of child soldiers, destruction of cultural heritage and the participation of victims in judicial proceedings.

“Global awareness about the ICC is higher than ever, and the court has beyond any doubt become one of the pillars of the international legal system. In sum, I dare say the ICC has achieved more in this relatively short time than many thought possible,” Judge Hofmański said.

Expanding the ICC’s reach

Emphasising his agenda further, the ICC president argued that “the ICC’s impact goes far beyond what happens in its own courtrooms in the Netherlands”.

“One hundred and twenty-three countries have joined the Rome Statute. That is a remarkable number, when you stop to think about it. It means that almost two-thirds of the world’s sovereign states have endorsed the jurisdiction of the ICC for crimes committed on their territory, or crimes committed by their nationals.

“Those 123 states have made a solid commitment that the perpetrators of the gravest international crimes must be held accountable either by domestic jurisdictions, or, failing that, the ICC.

“And those 123 states have accepted the legal obligation to co-operate fully with the ICC in its investigations and trials, and to participate in funding the court’s activities,” the ICC president said.

Ghana, Judge Hofmański said, “can be proud that it was sixth among those 123 countries to join the Rome Statute and make those important commitments, which have a real, positive effect on your people”.

“But, while we can rejoice about the support of so many countries, the flipside of the coin is worrisome: approximately 70 states are still outside the ICC system. The populations of those countries fall outside the legal protection of the Rome Statute,” Judge Hofmański said.

“I have made this one of my priorities as president of the ICC. The Assembly of States Parties has also repeatedly underlined the importance of promoting the universality of the Statute.

“In the ECOWAS region, only two states are not parties to the Rome Statute – Togo and Guinea-Bissau. I hope Ghana on its part can encourage those two to join the family of ICC states parties committed to peace and security through the rule of law,” he said.

ICC global outlook

Addressing the old claim that the ICC largely targets African countries and leaders, the ICC president argued that this is no longer the case. According to him, during the ICC’s 20 years of operations, “the ICC has done much more than many imagined it would do”.

“The ICC has opened investigations on four continents, in 16 different countries. Let me repeat and underline that: we have investigations in 16 countries, on four different continents: Africa, Asia, Europe and South America,” the ICC president said.

“You see, the ICC’s work started largely in Africa, after several African governments asked for the ICC Prosecutor to investigate events in their countries. But we have long since started moving out of Africa.

“For instance, the last six investigations of the ICC Prosecutor are all in countries outside of the African continent: Afghanistan, Palestine, Myanmar/Bangladesh, the Philippines, Venezuela and Ukraine. In total, 31 cases involving 51 suspects or accused have been brought before the ICC so far,” he said.

Enhance capacity

The ICC president also said: “Numerous states have enhanced their national capacity to tackle such criminal acts [genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and the crime of aggression] since they joined the Rome Statute.

“Roughly half of the 123 states parties have incorporated genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in their national criminal codes.

“Let me take this opportunity to encourage the Republic of Ghana to finish that process on its part – if I am not mistaken, the crime of genocide is contained in the criminal code of Ghana but the other Rome Statute crimes are not,” Judge Hofmański urged.

“Incorporating them would allow your country to be in full readiness to address such odious acts through its judicial system, if it ever became necessary,” he said.

Incorporation assured

In a meeting with the ICC president and a delegation from the court held at Jubilee House in Accra on Tuesday (27 September 2022), President Akufo-Addo assured Judge Hofmański that Ghana will take immediate steps to incorporate the Rome Statute crimes fully into the country’s laws.

“I think, with the presence of the ICC president here, I think it is good [reason] for us to commit to that. I don’t have a difficulty about having that [the Rome Statute crimes] in our municipal laws.

“I think that, even in this hung parliament, we can support it and make sure that it becomes a reality,” President Akufo-Addo said.

Wilberforce Asare

Join the conversation. Call: 020 000 9951 or 059 415 7777. Or WhatsApp: 020 000 0995.
#AsaaseRadio
#TheVoiceofOurLand