Former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan Asks Kenya to “Clarify” Bashir Visit

AFP Aug 29 2010

Former UN chief Kofi Annan said on Sunday Kenya should clarify its position on the International Criminal Court after it last week hosted Sudan’s Omar al-Bashir, wanted for genocide.

“Like many, I was surprised by the presence of President Al-Bashir of Sudan in Nairobi for the promulgation of Kenya?s new constitution,” Annan said in a statement in his capacity as chair of the Panel of Eminent African Personalities.

“Kenya has specific obligations as a signatory of the Rome statute and is also cooperating with the International Criminal Court on investigations relating to the 2007/8 election violence,” said the text issued in Nairobi.

“In the circumstances, the government should clarify its position and reaffirm its cooperation with and commitment to the ICC,” said Annan, whose team brokered a power-sharing deal between Kenyan President Mwai Kabaki and his former foe turned prime minister Raila Odinga after the 2008 violence.

Read Full Story

Read Full Post »

Bashir Visits Kenya in Defiance of ICC Warrant

VOA New Aug 29 2010

Kenya has rejected international criticism over the inclusion of Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir in Friday’s Promulgation Day festivities.  The east African nation has defended its actions as necessary for regional stability and national security.

At a news conference in Nairobi, members of the Kenyan government defended the decision to invite controversial Sudanese leader Omar al-Bashir to the Friday signing of the country’s new constitution.  The International Criminal Court has issued two warrants for Mr. Bashir under allegations of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide in Darfur.

Kenya, a signatory to the court, was blasted by the international community for failing to arrest Mr. Bashir and present him to The Hague.

Read Full Story

ICC Asks for UN Action

VOA News Aug 28 2010

The International Criminal Court is asking the U.N. Security Council to take action against Kenya for hosting Sudan’s president in defiance of international warrants for his arrest.

ICC judges in The Hague said Friday Kenya has a “clear obligation” as a member of the court to cooperate in enforcing its arrest warrants for Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir.

Mr. Bashir was one of several regional leaders who traveled to Nairobi for Friday’s ceremonial signing of the new Kenyan constitution.  Kenyan Foreign Minister Moses Wetangula says Mr. Bashir was invited because he is the head of a friendly neighboring state.

Read Full Story

More Stories:

Daily Nation

BBC on Kenya Constitution Signing

Read Full Post »

ICC Adds Genocide Charges to Bashir Warrant

July 12, 2010 The Times of India-

UNITED NATIONS: Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir, has been slapped with three counts of genocide in Darfur by the International Criminal Court at The Hague.

Last year, an arrest warrant for war crimes and crimes against humanity was issued against the leader of the largest country in Africa. The Court’s pre-trial chamber said that there are reasonable grounds to believe that Bashir is responsible for three counts of genocide against the Fur, Masalit and Zaghawa ethnic groups in the region.

The charges include genocide by killing; genocide by causing serious bodily or mental harm; and genocide by deliberately inflicting conditions of life meant to destroy each target group. The conflict between the ethnic tribes of Darfur and the predominantly Arab government has been persisting for almost ten years.

Read Full Story

CNN

VOA

AFP

Read Full Post »

Katanga Trial Set to Move Forward

July 12, 2010 UPI.com

THE HAGUE, Netherlands, July 12 (UPI) — A Congolese militia leader’s appeal to have the war crimes charges against him dropped was denied Monday by international court judges.

The Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Court found that the November decision of the Trial Chamber denying Germain Katanga’s request did not infringe on his right to a fair hearing. The panel said he had been given “adequate notice and opportunity to raise the issue of his alleged unlawful pre-surrender arrest and detention.”

Katanga had filed a motion in June 2009 requesting his detention be declared unlawful and the proceedings against him be stopped. The Trial Chamber rejected that motion in November, saying it was submitted seven months too late.

Read Full Story

Read Full Post »

ICC Suspects in Sudan Surrender

The Associated Press, June 19, 2010

Two men suspected in a deadly 2007 attack against African Union peacekeepers in Darfur have voluntarily surrendered to the International Criminal Court to face war crimes charges, the court said Wednesday.

Abdallah Banda Abakaer Nourain and Saleh Mohammed Jerbo Jamus are accused of commanding a 1,000-strong rebel force in the assault Sept. 29, 2007, on an AU base in the troubled region of western Sudan.

Prosecutors say 12 peacekeepers were killed and eight wounded, while a large amount of equipment was destroyed at the Haskanita base in northern Darfur.

Sudan’s government and rebel troops have blamed each other for the attack.

Read Full Story

Read Full Post »

ICC Reaches Agreement on Crime of Aggression

UN News Center 14 June 2010

Member States of the International Criminal Court (ICC) have agreed on what constitutes the crime of aggression, a long-running source of contention in international law, after nearly one decade of discussion.

Nations agreed to amend the Rome Statute, which set up the Court, to define the crime of aggression as “the planning, preparation, initiation or execution, by a person in a position effectively to exercise control over or to direct the political or military action of a State, of an act of aggression which, by its character, gravity and scale, constitutes a manifest violation of the Charter of the United Nations.”

Under the resolution adopted at the end of the two-week-long ICC review conference in Kampala, Uganda, on Friday, blockades of ports or coasts of a State by armed forces of another State, as well as an invasion or attack by troops of one State on the territory of another, are considered as acts of aggression under the statute.

Nations agreed that the ICC can exercise jurisdiction over crimes of aggression, but only over those committed one year after 30 States Parties have ratified the newly-made amendment.

Read Full Story

Additional Articles:

Law.com: http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1202462696625&pos=ataglance

Democracy Now: http://www.democracynow.org/2010/6/14/headlines/icc_adds_aggression_to_list_of_courts_prosecutable_offenses

AFP: http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iOdxB-p9KVt6MaZha0e6rKbAw7Iw

Irish Times: http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/world/2010/0614/1224272439829.html

Read Full Post »

UN Chronicle Ban-Ki Moon on Future Role of the ICC

The Age of Accountability

By Ban Ki-Moon, UN Secretary General May 27 2010

Twelve years ago, world leaders gathered in Rome to establish the International Criminal Court. Seldom since the founding of the United Nations itself has such a resounding blow been struck for peace, justice and human rights.

On May 31, nations come together once again, this time in Kampala, Uganda, for the first formal review of the Rome treaty. It is a chance not only to take stock of our progress but to build for the future. More, it is an occasion to strengthen our collective determination that crimes against humanity cannot go unpunished — the better to deter them in the future.

As UN Secretary-General, I have come to see how effective the ICC can be — and how far we have come. A decade ago, few could have believed the court would now be fully operational, investigating and trying perpetrators of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity across a broadening geography of countries.

This is a fundamental break with history. The old era of impunity is over. In its place, slowly but surely, we are witnessing the birth of a new “age of accountability.” It began with the special tribunals set up in Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia; today, the ICC is the keystone of a growing system of global justice that includes international tribunals, mixed international-national courts and domestic prosecutions.

Read Full Piece

Read Full Post »

ICC Review Conference Considers Crime of Aggression

By MIKE CORDER, The Associated Press May 27 2010

THE HAGUE, Netherlands — The 111 member nations of the International Criminal Court hope to finally agree on how to prosecute illegal attacks by one state on another when they meet next week in Uganda, the conference’s leader said Thursday.

President of the Assembly of States Parties, Lichtenstein diplomat Christian Wenaweser, told reporters during an online question-and-answer session that he is “cautiously optimistic and believe that we have a good basis for a solution that finds very wide political support.”

But top jurists and a prominent human rights organization warn that prosecuting the as-yet-undefined crime of aggression could open the world’s first permanent war crimes tribunal to accusations of politicization.

Read Full Story

Read Full Post »

Amnesty International Calls on Nations to Join ICC

May 27, 2010 Radio Free Europe

The human rights group Amnesty International is calling on Russia, China and the United States to join the International Criminal Court — the only independent permanent court with the authority to try genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.

In its annual “State Of The World’s Human Rights” report, Amnesty also called on India, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey to sign up for the court.

Amnesty said 2009 was a landmark year for international justice because the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir for war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Darfur region.

Read Full Story

Read Full Post »

Liu Institute for Global Issue Blogging The ICC Review Conference

http://blogs.ubc.ca/ligi/

From the Liu Institute: “The Liu Institute for Global Issues aims to bridge the gap between academics and practitioners. This blog, Reports from the Field, will offer information and analysis from Liu Institute researchers. Our first series is on the Review Conference of the International Criminal Court.’

Current Blog Posts:

Asad Kiyani: Africa and the ICC – Resistance or Cooperation? May 25 10

Adam Bower: What is the Review Conference, and Why Should You Care? May 24 2010

Read Full Post »