#GlobalJustice Weekly - Women of international justice | Nigeria ICC Bill | South Africa back on track?

International Women’s Day

This International Women’s Day we join the UN in calling for gender balance in the work force.

To provide just that inspiration we are celebrating the women leading the fight for global justice for the worst crimes.

Read their stories and be inspired.

Nigeria civil society pushes ICC bill

Nigeria has taken a significant step toward global justice as a bill making it possible to punish genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes passed a second reading before the country's House of Representatives. 

The Nigerian national Coalition for the ICC (NCICC), which coordinates Nigerian civil society working on ICC issues, worked with the Working Group of the Federal Ministry of Justice  to produce the draft of the bill. Putting it to the National Assembly has taken a long time, but recent close work between civil society and members of the Assembly have brought the bill to it's current advanced stage: the bill passed both a first reading and then a second reading within this same week.

The House Committee will now take up the bill in a hearing, while the NCICC is working to ensure public consultations occur early enough to preserve momentum around Nigeria's historic move. NCICC has made itself available  to assist the Committee staff in revising the bill based on feedback they receive during the hearing - depending on funds, the hearing could happen this very month.

With some already asking whether international crimes in Nigeria will be the next ICC challenge in Africa, much could ride on the ultimate success of the Nigerian ICC bill.

South Africa revokes ICC withdrawal notice

South Africa has formally revoked the notice it sent to the UN in October 2016 of its intention to leave the ICC. South Africa's decision follows last month's domestic high court ruling that the move was unconstitutional absent prior parliamentary approval.

With parliament now set to consider withdrawal, there remains much work to do. Join us in calling on South Africa to stay with the ICC.

ICC Investigations

CAR: 12 months after election of its latest and most hopeful president, the CAR falls into a worsening security situation, with some claiming the majority of the country remains “as lawless as ever”

DRC: UN report alleges public demonstrators across the DRC have recently been subjected to “excessive, disproportionate, and at times lethal force” at the hands of government security forces

Georgia: An International Center for Transitional Justice report finds that Georgia is in a good place for move beyond the “dark chapter” of its recent past

Libya: Six years after 2011 uprising and NATO-backed mission that toppled its dictator, Libya remains a hotbed of violent political jostling and internal instability

ICC Preliminary Examinations

Ukraine: Separatist rebel groups have threatened to take control of Ukrainian-owned businesses in rebel-held territory if government blockade continues. Meanwhile, occupied areas of Crimea getting more and more difficult for journalists, lawyers and rights defenders to investigate growing number of reported kidnappings, disappearances, torture, arbitrary detentions and other alleged grave abuses

Nigeria: Witnesses and survivors claim certain massacres of civilians were carried out by the Nigerian military in its war against Boko Haram.

Campaign for Global Justice

UN officials express support for Gambia's renewed commitment to reconciliation, justice and accountability

Inter-American Court of Human Rights achieves “landmark judgment” in addressing issues of forced sterilization

Russia cites lack of authority and precedence in objecting to UN General Assembly’s adoption of mechanisms to collect evidence on war crimes in Syria. History shows us that this might not strictly be true

With the rise of populism and extremism around the world the United Nations calls on Member States to uphold their responsibility to protect the rights of all peoples

UNICEF warns of the routine suffering of refugee children and women along the Central Mediterranean migration route in Libya, citing high instances of sexual violence, exploitation, abuse and detention

Around the World

Strikes against aid convoys, chlorine bombs, human shields, indiscriminate shelling: UN reports war crimes happening on all sides in Syria

Human rights defenders highlight how ignorance among Nepali families of their rights encourages impunity, under-reporting and unsteady path towards justice

With a both famine and civil war overwhelming the country and no political solution in sight, many in South Sudan have found themselves forced to make a decision: food or safety?

Rights investigators criticize the failing of Thailand’s prisons to meet international rights standards, pointing to alleged beatings, arbitrary detentions and extreme overcrowding 

Amnesty International reports new evidence of ethnic minority groups in Yemen recruiting child soldiers

UN rights experts call on Myanmar to take steps to end suffering that Rohingya minority faces in the wake of violence, shootings, sexual violence that they’ve faced (and fled) in recent months.

Investigations into Philippine ‘drug war’ found police routinely killed drug suspects in cold blood and then covered up their crimes, reports Human Rights Watch