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I. Introduction

In December 2004 the International Criminal Court (ICC) commenced a process to develop a strategic plan (the “Strategic Plan”).¹ Human Rights Watch welcomes this initiative, which could allow the court to articulate its vision of its work, identify objectives to implement this vision, and present plans to achieve objectives. The Strategic Plan will also allow the court to identify clear divisions of labor between the court’s different units. These steps can enhance the court’s capacity to fulfill its mandate and ensure that the court has a strong sense of its future direction.

The court has indicated it will consider comments on the plan, including from States Parties and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs).² It will then submit a revised Strategic Plan to the Assembly of States Parties (ASP) in advance of its fifth session. Consultation between the ICC and States Parties on the plan can be mutually beneficial by enhancing understanding of the court’s work. At the same time, States Parties must respect the independence of the ICC as a judicial institution.³

Human Rights Watch welcomes the opportunity to comment on the Strategic Plan. The plan currently includes a number of crucial objectives, such as ensuring the full exercise of participants’ rights, promoting awareness of the court, and ensuring cooperation by states and intergovernmental organizations. The Strategic Plan also gives prominence to the need for impartial investigations, quality prosecutions, and fair and expeditious judicial proceedings. We see these as being at the heart of the ICC’s ability to achieve its difficult and unprecedented mandate to bring perpetrators of the most serious crimes to justice when national courts are unable or unwilling to do so.

At the same time, the plan lacks vision to ensure that the court’s work has resonance and relevance with the communities most affected by the crimes the ICC will investigate and try.⁴ Our field experience suggests that the ICC’s mandate will not be fulfilled solely by conducting efficient, effective investigations leading to fair trials, however crucial those tasks are. The experience of the ad hoc international tribunals—which are seated away from the countries where the crimes occurred and where justice has been perceived as far removed by affected communities—underscores the need to prioritize efforts to make international criminal justice accessible and meaningful to local populations.

Unless the ICC makes efforts to maximize its impact with affected communities, it will fall short of achieving its mandate and will disappoint those it was created to serve. The reality that the court will conduct only a limited number of trials in each situation it investigates makes such efforts all the more important.

The plan also places too much emphasis on management and organizational issues,⁵ particularly given the plan’s scope covering the next ten years. A well run institution is key to achieving the court’s success, but the Strategic Plan should primarily focus on the court’s longer-term vision and less on institutional management.

The Strategic Plan should include maximizing the ICC’s impact with affected communities as a goal. This memorandum discusses ways the court can achieve this through: victims’ participation and reparations, field engagement, outreach and communications, the complementarity principle, and initiatives to promote a lasting legacy of the ICC’s work.⁶ Effectively addressing these areas poses intense challenges, but their importance requires their implementation over the long term.

Recommendations for elements to be incorporated into the revised version of the Strategic Plan are detailed in each section of the memorandum. Cognizant that the court operates within tight budgetary constraints, most recommendations do not require substantial additional resources.

While it is not entirely clear how detailed the court intends to make the Strategic Plan, discussion of concrete steps to achieve objectives is lacking in the current version. Our recommendations reflect the level of detail we believe is needed.⁷ More explanation of objectives, and criteria to evaluate their implementation, are also needed.⁸ These are vital to the plan’s better articulating the ICC’s vision and how the court intends to realize its goals. Greater detail will also facilitate assessment of the amount of resources required for future court operations.

As the “engine” of the ICC, the ability of the Office of the Prosecutor (OTP) to move forward with effective investigations and prosecutions is crucial to the court’s capacity to bring justice for serious crimes. Its selection of situations, cases and charges will be key to the court’s legitimacy and credibility. The ICC’s ability to conduct fair and expedient judicial proceedings will be fundamental to its success. This memorandum does not delve deeply into these functions because their significance in the Strategic Plan is not at issue.⁹ Nevertheless, additional explanation of objectives and strategies to ensure effective investigations and prosecutions, and quality judicial proceedings, are needed in the plan.¹⁰