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June 14, 2021

Dear Madam Prosecutor,

As your term as prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) draws to a close, we are writing to thank you for your longstanding service and significant contributions to the ICC, as well as to acknowledge the progress that the Office of the Prosecutor has made during your tenure.

While civil society organizations have identified areas for improvement and will continue to advocate for changes to ensure effective investigations and prosecutions, the office has made considerable advances in a number of situations and preliminary examinations under your leadership.

We especially admire the high degree of independence you have exhibited during your mandate. Your office has opened investigations in the face of immense pressure and politicized opposition. You have done this work at great personal and institutional cost. Developments on the ground in Myanmar, Afghanistan, and Palestine over the last few months have confirmed that accountability in those and other situations is essential, especially when the ICC is the only remaining option for justice. We will call on the next prosecutor to build on this legacy and continue to ensure that the court fulfils its mandate, regardless of the nationality or position of alleged perpetrators.

Finally, we thank you for your office’s—and your personal—constructive engagement and collaboration with civil society over the past eighteen years. As the office transitions into new leadership, civil society cooperation will be critical to the court’s success, and we will continue to work hard to support the ICC.

We wish you the very best with your future endeavors.

Sincerely,

List of signatories:

Action des chrétiens pour l’abolition de la torture au Burundi

African Centre for Democracy and Human Rights

Al-Haq

Al Mezan Center for Human Rights

All Survivors Project

Amnesty International

Asia Justice and Rights

Asian Legal Resource Centre

Asociación Civil Democracia Global

Asociación Feminista La Cuerda, Guatemala

Australian Centre for International Justice

Bureau d’études et de réflexions pour le bien-être des communautés, DRC

Center for Accountability and Rule of Law – Sierra Leone

Center for Peace and Justice, BRAC University

Centre for African Justice, Peace and Human Rights

Centre for Democracy and Development

Centre marocain de la loi et la paix

Children Education Society, Tanzania

CLEEN Foundation, Nigeria

Club des amis du droit du Congo

Coalition burundaise pour la Cour pénale internationale

Coalition guinéenne pour la Cour pénale internationale

Coalition ivoirienne pour la Cour pénale internationale

Coalition malienne pour la Cour pénale internationale

Coalitions d’Afrique francophone pour la Cour pénale internationale

Comisión Mexicana de Defensa y Promoción de los Derechos Humanos

Congo Peace Initiative

Dr. Denis Mukwege Foundation

Economic Justice Network-Sierra Leone

Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect

Global Justice Center

HEDA Resource Centre, Nigeria

Human Rights Watch

Impact: Center against Human Trafficking and Sexual Violence in Conflict

Informal Venezuelan NGO Network

Institute for Human Rights and Development in Africa

Institute for Security Studies

International Center for MultiGenerational Legacies of Trauma

International Commission of Jurists

International Federation for Human Rights

International Platform of Jurists for East Timor

Iranian Center for International Criminal Law

Justice and Reconciliation Project, Uganda

Justice International

Kenya Human Rights Commission

Kurdish Organizations Network Coalition for the International Criminal Court

Lawyers Committee on Nuclear Policy

Ligue burundaise des droits de l'homme Iteka

MADRE

MARUAH, Singapore

Naripokkho, Bangladesh

Nigerian Coalition for the International Criminal Court

No Peace Without Justice

Observatoire ivoirien des droits de l’homme

Odhikar, Bangladesh

Open Society Justice Initiative

Palestinian Centre for Human Rights

Parliamentarians for Global Action

Philippine Coalition for the International Criminal Court

Reporters Without Borders

Réseau Equitas, Côte d’Ivoire

Rohingya Women Welfare Society

Sexual Violence Research Initiative

Society for Threatened People, Switzerland

SOS-Burundi

Students for Global Democracy-Uganda

Sudanese Women Rights Action

Swedish Foundation for Human Rights

Transitional Justice Coordination Group, Afghanistan

Ukrainian Legal Advisory Group

United Nations Association – Greater Philadelphia

United Nations Association of Sweden

Vision GRAM-International

Women’s Initiatives for Gender Justice

Women’s Rights Advancement and Protection Alternative, Nigeria

World Federalist Movement-Canada

World Federalist Movement/Institute for Global Policy

World Renewers Organization

World Without Genocide

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