Title: 

The ICC at 15: Shaping a sense of justice

The ICC invited ICC and civil society members to take part in the #WhenIWas15 campaign. © ICC
Author: 
Editors
1 July 2017 was the International Criminal Court’s 15th anniversary. To celebrate, the campaign #WhenIWas15 was launched from 1 to 17 July and invited all interested to tell their stories about being 15, and how events in their youth shaped their sense of justice.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) launched several videos as part of its #WhenIWas15 campaign featuring members of the Court and civil society to explain how experiences in their youth helped shaped their sense of justice. The online campaign aimed to "engage with a broad community of those for whom justice matters, celebrate achievements thus far, and look to the future to build a more just world". The campaign ran until 17 July, Day of International Justice, and was promoted heavily on social media, including the new ICC Facebook page and the Court's English and French Twitter accounts, as well as one YouTubeTumblr and Flickr.

 

The campaign featured interviews with individuals including ICC officials, such as the ICC President, Prosecutor and judges, as well as with the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Convenor of the Coalition for the ICC.

 

"When I was 15, justice was essentially about retribution, about dispensing rewards or punishment, giving to each one what they deserve," said ICC President Silvia Fernández de Gurmendi.

 

They were asked questions such as: "Why does justice matter to you?"

 

They also used the anniversary to call for more support for a stronger Court.

 

It was also an opportunity to reaffirm the Court's historic significance, as reflected in a statement by Coalition Convenor William Pace, who called the ICC a world court "that could not have been agreed to when I was 15, and could not be agreed to in 2017 [...] It is a new system of justice that is one of the greatest acts of peace ever by the international community."

 

The entire online community was also encouraged to join the conversation on Twitter with the hashtags #JusticeMatters and (Building a) #MoreJustWorld.