ASP 15 Day Four - Will Syria ever see justice?

On the fourth day of the annual Assembly of States Parties, informal consultations on the omnibus resolution and the budget continued through the day, along with several side events on accountability for Syria, victim's reparations, and justice for children affected by grave crimes.

Throughout the Assembly we bring you daily summaries the plenary sessions, side events, and other key developments, as well as related news coverage, documents, and websites.

Follow us on Twitter with the hashtag #ASP15 for real time updates from the Assembly.

See our curated Twitter collection for highlights from ASP Day 4
 

SIDE EVENTS

NGO meeting with the Registrar, Mr. Herman von Hebel
Speaker:
Mr. Herman von Hebel - Registrar at the ICCThe meeting with the Registrar focused on the issue of budget of the Court, the  Registry ReVision process, the functioning and efficiency of the Registry, gender and geographic representation in the Registry, the availability of resources for outreach activities, the communication and sharing of information between the Registry and states parties, victims, and the reform of legal aid.

Justice in Kenya after the International Criminal Court
Speakers:
Nelly Warega- ICJ-Kenya
Fergal Gaynor – Victim’s representative in Kenyatta
Njonjo Mue – ICJ-Kenya
Jaqueline Mutere - Victim of Kenya's PEV

This side event focused on the search for justice for the 2007-8 post-election violence (PEV) in Kenya following the collapse of the ICC Kenya cases. It featuring a sexual and gender-based crimes (SGBC) survivor’s experience during and in the aftermath of the crisis. Panelists explored the Kenyan government’s response to the PEV, while highlighting victims’ accounts of not having received reparations or recognition from the government. Participant relected on the way forward and how to put victims at the forefront of all considerations.

Hosts: Open Society Justice Initiative and the International Commission of Jurists, Kenya

Moving reparation forward, some lessons learned
Speakers:
Gaelle Carayon, Redress Post Conflict Policy Advisor
Motoo Noguchi, Trust Fund for Victims Chair of Board
Dr Luke Moffet, Queens University of Belfast
Fidel Nsita, Victims Lawyer for the Katanga case
Jacqueline Moudeina, Victims Lawyer for Hissène Habré Case , Chad
Pieter de Baan, Trust Fund for Victims Executive Director

Participants discussed the role and expectations of the international community and the ICC in providing reparation and justice to victims of the gravest crimes, the milestone in that its first concrete symbolic reparation program was approved in the Thomas Lubanga case, the impact of lengthy ICC proceedings on child soldiers awating reparations, the ICC Germain Katanga case, the methodology used in the identification of victims, collaboration with governments, local villages and other actors, the role of the Trust Fund for Victims in providing both financial and symbolic reparation, the need for reparative expertise of judges, along victims misunderstandings that reparation would come at the beginning or at arbitrary stages of prosecutions.

Host: REDRESS

Accountability options for Syria
Speakers:
Paul Wilke - Permanent representative of the Netherlands to the ICC 
Rami Nakhla - PWJ Syria Project Coordinator
Ayman Ghojal - Syrian Human Rights Defender
Richard Dicker - Human Rights Watch (HRW)

This side event discussed accountability for the situation in Syria. Panelists discussed a range of topics, including the possibility of a UN Security Council referral, alternative justice mechanisms, evidence collection by various NGOs, the alleged use of chemical weapons by Syria and positive developments such as national proceedings against suspected perpetrators of grave crimes in various countries. Panelists commended the efforts made by governments like Germany, France and Sweden to bring perpetrators of war crimes in Syria to justice. 

Hosts: Canada, Liechtenstein and No Peace Without Justice

The ICC’s children’s policy: an essential response to child victims
Speakers:
H.E Ambassador Ammar Hijazi: Government of the State of Palestine
Dr Athaliah Molokomme: Attonery General of the Republic of Botswana
Khalded Quzmar: Defence For Children International ef for children int’l Palestine
Sarah Kasande Kihika: ICTJ Uganda
Gloria Atiba davis: Head of gender and children’s unit OTP ICC Head of gender and childrens’ unit otp icc

Participants welcomed the OTP policy on children, launched on 16 November 2016, which provides a framework for ICC operation, to ensure that consistency in the different investigation teams , discussed practicalities to achieving the policy and recommendations in ensuring its effectiveness, the particular damage that conflict inflicts on children, the ICC trial of Thomas Lubanga, guidelines for the OTP’s use of intermediaries in investigations, challenges in investigating and prosecuting crimes against children, grave crimes allegedly committed against children in Palestine during the 2104 Gaza war and in Israeli detention, the 60,000 children abducted and conscripted by the Lord’s Resistance Army in Uganda, and uses of child soldiers by the Ugandan military, and the intersection of sexual and gender based crimes and crimes against children. 

Hosts: State of Palestine and the Institute for Security Studies

STATEMENTS

Statement of the Nigeria National Coalition for the ICC

Statement of Justice Without Frontiers to the Assembly of States Parties 15

NEXT WEEK AT THE ASP

The ASP will resume on Monday with plenary sessions on the ICC budget, consultations on the omnibus resolution, the presentation and discussion of the progress report, and more. 

Throughout the second week, the Coalition and its NGO members will continue hosting several side events on a range of topics, such as accountability, sexual violence, Rome Statute crimes, ICC cooperation, the future of the ICC and complementarity, among others. 

Have a look at some of the side events scheduled for Monday: 

• Liability for public statements: the case of the Philippines (hoster by No Peace Without Justice)
• The role of the ICC in promoting acocuntability for crimes committed in Ukraine (co-hosted by the International Partnership for Human Rights and International Renaissance Foundation)
• The Bemba ruling and beyond: prosecuting conflict related sexual violence (hosted by the Institute for Justice and Reconciliation)
• Activiation of the Kampala Amendments on the crime of aggression (hosted by Liechtenstein)
• Strenthening ICC cooperation through legislation and legal sources (co-hosted by Norway, CILRAP, Chinese on Internatinoal Law and Internatinoal NUremberg Principles Academy)
• The ICC and crimes against humanity in North-Korea (co-hosted by the Republic of Korea and Geoffrey Nice Foundation, Giordano Bruno Foundation and International Coalition to Stop Crimes against Humanity in North Korea)
• Draft convention on the prevention and punishment of crimes against humanity (co-hosted by Germany, the Republic of Korea and the Whitney R. Harris World Law Institute)
• Through the looking glass – Imagining the future of International Criminal Justice – followed by a reception (co-hosted by the Africa Group for Justice and Accountability and Wayamo Foundation with the art exhibition, “Weights and Measures: Portraits of Justice”) 

Please find ASP material, information, updates on our newly launched website.

Find out more about how the ASP works here and here. 

Find all ASP materials and documents on the ASP 2016 webpage
Read more on the Annual Assembly
Read more about civil society and the Rome Statute
 

Don't forget to sign up for our daily summaries and ASP 15 explainer