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EU needs commitment to rights in West Balkans

On February 6, the European Commission will present its new strategy for the enlargement of the EU. People in the Western Balkans may greet the news with scepticism. But if the EU institutions and states are really willing to end the EU…
Roma refugees from Kosovo drink water at the Vrela Ribnicka camp in Podgorica, Montenegro on October 13, 2012
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How Europe is Bending the Arc Toward Justice

Armed conflicts that have given rise to horrific war crimes in Syria, Iraq, Yemen and South Sudan are all beyond the reach of the ‘court of last resort,’ the International Criminal Court (ICC). But domestic courts in Europe are stepping into the void and…
Former Spanish judge Baltasar Garzon
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Defend the Integrity of the Rome Statute and a Court Worth Having

The withdrawals by South Africa and Burundi from the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) pose a real challenge to the evolving system of international justice centered on the ICC. Coming after escalating criticism…
A picture of the ICC logo on a glass wall.
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Africans Speak Out Against ICC Withdrawal

Governments Signal Continued Support for Court

The recent decisions by South Africa, Burundi, and Gambia to leave the International Criminal Court (ICC) are generating wide attention and speculation about a mass exodus from the court by African countries.  But think it’s clear where Africa stands on…
Stella Ndirangu of ICJ Kenya
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UN Panel Reports on ISIS Crimes on Yezidis

“Unimaginable Horrors”

The “unimaginable horrors” that the Islamic State (ISIS) is committing against the minority Yezidis, documented in a report released on June 16 by the UN-mandated Independent International Commission of Inquiry (COI) on the Syrian Arab Republic, shows the…
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For World’s Worst Crimes, Justice Really Matters

July 17, International Justice Day, is a reminder both of how difficult it is to bring the people responsible for the world’s worst crimes to justice and of how crucially important it is not to give up. Over the past two decades, trials for…
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The United States Should Support ICC Involvement in Syria

Recently, US Secretary of State John Kerry reported that President Obama had asked his top aides for new policy options to address the situation in Syria. Though Kerry didn't elaborate what exactly was under consideration, one option the White House hasn’…
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Why U.S. should back ICC role in Syria

Washington’s response to the chemical weapons attack in Syria has been imbued with words ordinarily reserved for a courtroom. President Barack Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry have spoken of “accountability,” “impunity,” “punishment” and even “…
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The sarin gas attack is just one Syrian atrocity the ICC should pursue

The diplomacy over chemical weapons blinds us to the obvious: Assad's atrocities are a job for the international criminal court. As graphic images of adults and children writhing in pain began to emerge from Syria the morning of 21 August, it quickly…
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Q&A: Syria and the International Criminal Court

1. Could the International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecute war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Syria? 2. Should the Security Council refer the situation in Syria to the ICC? 3. What impact could an ICC referral have? 4. Would pursuing…
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Denying Genocide Won't Promote Reconciliation

A public debate at the UN on April 10 will serve up a revisionist denial of the worst killings in Europe since the end of World War II: the ethnic slaughter in the former Yugoslavia that horrified the world in the 1990s. While the session's ostensible…
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Holding the Security Council to Account on Syria

Unusual currents have been swirling around the United Nations Security Council’s shameful paralysis on Syria, a product of repeated vetoes by Russia and China. On January 14, a group of 58 governments urged the council to ask the International Criminal…
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Living Up to the Nobel: EU Must Act on Syria

(Brussels) - Catherine Ashton's mandate is to provide leadership on foreign policy and human rights. She has failed, however, to ensure a collective EU voice for bringing the crimes in Syria before the International Criminal Court (ICC). On 10 December,…
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South Africa can contribute to ending bloodshed in Syria

The recent unification of Syria's opposition could curb human rights violations against civilians, but international pressure is still needed.

To limit the violations by both sides and ensure justice for victims, South Africa and other key members of the international community should support the referral of Syria to the International Criminal Court. Syrian human rights activists have collected…
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Election 2012: Rights and Responsibility

The candidates may disagree on some human rights issues, but the next president will face challenges that transcend partisan lines. How might tomorrow's presidential election affect U.S. policy on human rights? The common wisdom is that unlike their sharp…
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Syria is Bound by the Laws of War

Those responsible for war crimes in Syria must be pursued and prosecuted according to international humanitarian law

It is now widely acknowledged that an armed conflict is taking place across Syria between government forces (including militias) and organised armed opposition groups. This means the laws of war (also known as international humanitarian law, or IHL) apply…
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Syria, A Path to Justice

The International Criminal Court could play a key role in securing justice over serious crimes perpetrated in Syria's conflict. But this in turn requires bold action from the European Union, say Lotte Leicht & Clive Baldwin. The European Union has…
News

Rwanda is hindering justice for Congo's atrocity victims

Rebel leader Thomas Lubanga may now be in jail, but Rwanda continues to support his co-accused, Bosco Ntaganda

The sentencing on Tuesday of Thomas Lubanga, a rebel leader from eastern Democratic Republic of Congo was a rare victory for Congolese victims of atrocities. There have been few occasions during my 13 years of documenting abuses in Congo by Lubanga and…
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Voices from the Syrian GULAG

Russia’s foreign minister Sergei Lavrov correctly pointed out in a recent article that human rights problems are one of the “main causes of the ‘Arab revolutions.’” As an investigator for Human Rights Watch who has interviewed hundreds of people in Syria…

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