Global Policy Forum

Delegates attending a conference in Namibia on establishing a permanent war-crimes court told IRIN on Tuesday that regional support for the initiative was growing. "Southern African nations were a driving force toward getting the International Criminal Court (ICC) treaty on paper," said Joanne Lee, one of the conference organisers. The ICC would, once created, be able to prosecute individuals for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.

Organisers hope that establishing the ICC would be crucial toward ensuring that international law was upheld around the world. "A functioning ICC with wide international support would make it much harder for war crimes suspects to hide, plus it would act as deterrent," John Makubele of South Africa's department of justice told IRIN. The ICC would have much wider powers and jurisdiction than international courts currently at work. "Unlike the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague, whose jurisdiction is restricted to trying nation states, the ICC will have the capacity to indict individuals," Tu Van Trieu of the Coalition for an ICC told IRIN. Unlike the Rwandan and Yugoslavian War Crimes Tribunals, the ICC's jurisdiction would not be chronologically or geographically limited.

Although once the ICC took effect, jurisdiction would not be retroactive, the coalition pointed out. Government ministers and top civil society representatives were among about 100 delegates from across Southern Africa gathered in the Namibian capital Windhoek for the three-day conference.

The meeting has been examining the progress being made by countries in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) toward ratifying the treaty and implementing it in national law. Although more than a hundred nations have signed the ICC treaty, at least sixty nations must ratify the treaty before it can become a reality: so far, 32 nations have done so. Among them are Lesotho, Botswana and South Africa. Another 10 SADC nations have signed the ICC treaty, the first step on the road to ratification. "We're looking at another seven SADC countries moving towards ratification soon, and this conference is certainly facilitating that process," Makubele said. Both Mauritius and Seychelles were about to consider cabinet-level ratification of the treaty, Makubele added.

Ministers of justice from the SADC nations and their representatives have been discussing the status of the ratification process in their respective countries. By the end of the event, government delegates are to be asked to endorse the "Windhoek Plan of Action on ICC Ratification and Implementation in the SADC." Human rights activists pointed out to IRIN that regional ratification of such an important and far-reaching treaty needed deliberation. "Nations have to be sure that the treaty can mesh with their legal and constitutional frameworks, and that takes time," Wilder Tayler of Human Right's Watch (HRW) told IRIN. The ICC would be based in the Netherlands and funded by proportional contributions from member states after an initial period of UN funding.

The ICC could also work in countries that have lost their judicial capacity, as Rwanda did following the 1994 genocide. It's estimated that the court could start functioning in 3-4 years time, depending on ratification. "This is one of the most important treaties since the (Second World) war, and nations are likely to be bound by it for a century or more, bringing it into existence is therefore a complex business," Tayler said.