Human rights activists: International Criminal Court should be more transparent | ZMINA

Human rights organizations from around the world have recommended that the International Criminal Court should be more open about its work. In particular, to provide more detailed annual and interim reports not only on situations where investigations are ongoing, but also on preliminary reviews and monitoring of closed cases.

Human rights organizations from around the world have recommended that the International Criminal Court should be more open about its work. In particular, to provide more detailed annual and interim reports not only on situations where investigations are ongoing, but also on preliminary reviews and monitoring of closed cases.

Transparency in the ICC's activities helps to defend the rights of victims and survivors, promote the development of national judicial systems, and support the legitimacy of the court itself.

This was emphasized by international human rights defenders in a joint commentary to the ICC' s draft policy update on complementarity and cooperation.

Forty-two local and international non-governmental organizations joined the development of the joint commentary to the ICC Prosecutor. They do not require the Prosecutor to disclose more information in his reports than is currently possible under the rules and principles of the court.

"The ICC Prosecutor's Office is a rather closed structure. First of all, because it has to conduct a comprehensive and independent investigation. And in order to avoid the risks of external influence, the Office must maintain confidentiality in its work," emphasizes Arie Mora, an expert at the Ukrainian Legal Advisory Group, an organization that also joined the commentary on the draft updated ICC cooperation policy.

At the same time, such secrecy can have a negative impact on the credibility of the International Court of Justice on the part of states and communities, as well as on their perception of the legitimacy of the court in general. Therefore, consistent and systematic reporting should protect the ICC from accusations of bias and show that the Office of the Prosecutor is operating without external interference.

Human rights activists emphasize that in previous years, the International Criminal Court submitted more detailed annual reports, sometimes published interim reports on the results of its work, and provided separate reports on specific situations.

However, the 2022 annual report, for example, was superficial in many respects, and interim reporting is not organized at all, experts say.

The International Criminal Court's approach to communicating with the world can vary greatly depending on the head of the ICC Prosecutor's Office and his or her priorities, Mora emphasizes.

For example, the previous prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, devoted a lot of time and effort to preliminary reviews of cases. In particular, for Ukraine, this stage lasted more than six years. At the same time, the current head of the Prosecutor's Office, Karim Khan, prefers to conduct preliminary reviews and move on to direct investigations more quickly.

Experts note that even the fact of checking the situation in the country and reporting on it in detail can draw additional attention to potential crimes from the media, NGOs and international partners. This will facilitate additional control over the consideration of cases both locally and internationally.

Thus, according to Mohr, during the preliminary examination of the situation in Ukraine, the court's detailed reports helped Ukrainian civil society identify problems of national justice in matters of international crimes and identify areas of work that would be relevant to ICC prosecutors.

Human rights activists emphasize that in cases where the International Court of Justice decides not to investigate after a preliminary study of the situation and undertakes to support and monitor national authorities, reporting becomes even more important. This way, victims and the community can understand the reasons for the refusal and adjust the work of the national justice system.

In some of its reports, the ICC pointed out key problems and obstacles to achieving justice at the national level, human rights activists say. This essentially provided a roadmap for state authorities on how to proceed, as well as pointed out to partners and the civil society sector areas of work where more oversight and deeper cooperation is needed.

"In such cases, litigants will be able to collect and provide the court with more relevant information and adjust their activities to the court's requests and needs," adds Arie Mora.

In addition, the ICC's transparent reporting on its work is sometimes the only official source of information for families of victims and survivors of international crimes. It is only through these reports that affected communities can find out whether their case is being considered at all and at what stage the process is, the lawyer emphasizes.

A more open approach to reporting helps other ICC member states to establish international cooperation and more effectively influence the states whose situations are being considered by the court. This, in particular, is the responsibility of the signatories to the Rome Statute, experts emphasize.

Systematic and transparent reporting by the International Criminal Court helps not only countries whose cases are being preliminarily reviewed or even investigated by the court. Human rights activists note that the more detailed the ICC reports on its current work, the easier it will be for other countries where alleged international crimes are committed to prepare submissions to the court and to establish internal work on these violations.

"By looking at the findings of the Office of the Prosecutor in other situations, civil society organizations can analyze and identify what their government and country lack at the national level to investigate potential international crimes," Mora says.

Well-established transparent reporting also plays an important role for victims and survivors of international crimes. For these people, regular reporting to the ICC is often the only official source of information about what is currently happening with their case, both at the International Court of Justice and at the national level, emphasizes the expert of the Ukrainian Legal Advisory Group. This, in particular, helps them to better protect their rights.

The International Criminal Court has all the necessary tools to become more transparent, human rights activists emphasize. However, they need to be used regularly if the Office of the Prosecutor is to truly create a more open and trusting relationship between countries and the ICC.

As a reminder, Ukraine is currently home to one of the largest ICC offices outside of The Hague. At the same time, the community of international and Ukrainian experts emphasizes that the ICC, like other international law bodies in general, lacks mechanisms for implementing its decisions and orders. This is one of the biggest obstacles to achieving justice around the world.Material prepared by ZMINA, original publication: https://zmina.info/news/pravozahysnyky-mizhnarodnyj-kryminalnyj-sud-maye-buty-prozorishym/