LawFuel – Legal Newswire – The International Bar Association (IBA) today called upon the International Criminal Court (ICC) to increase its public information activities and engage more actively with lawyers from national jurisdictions around the world.
Beyond The Hague: forging linkages between the International Criminal Court and key jurisdictions, a report issued today by the IBA, includes an assessment of the institutional challenges facing the Court’s public information mandate and the progress made by the ICC’s Outreach Unit since it was established in 2007.
In light of discussions held by the IBA in key countries, the report argues for greater engagement by the ICC with lawyers in order to stimulate positive change in domestic justice systems.
The report shows that ICC norms have slowly begun to influence national legislation and jurisprudence in countries which do not recognise the jurisdiction of the ICC. Mark Ellis, Executive Director of the IBA, comments: ‘When legal professionals in domestic jurisdictions are engaged, national systems become more amenable to ICC standards. The active involvement of the legal profession significantly enlarges the impact of the ICC.’
Justice Richard Goldstone, Co-chair, IBA Human Rights Institute and former prosecutor at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia and the International Criminal tribunal for Rwanda, comments: ‘The process leading towards a permanent court started only 15 years ago and tremendous progress has been made since then. The ICC is still in its infancy and bars could play an important role by encouraging their governments, if they have not already done so, to ratify the statute and to adopt implementing legislation. Finally, when legislation is in place, bars should scrutinise it and ensure compliance.’
Click here to read the report, Beyond The Hague: forging linkages between the International Criminal Court and key jurisdictions.
Website link: http://www.ibanet.org/images/downloads/10_Report_Beyond_The_Hague-forging_linkages_between_the_International_Criminal_Court_and_key_jurisdictions_Sep2008.pdf
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