REDRESS calls for victims to be given a stronger voice at the ICC From 8 to 17 December, REDRESS attended the annual session of the Assembly of States Parties (ASP) - the ICC governing body representing 122 States Parties – at the UN headquarters in New York. The session took place just three days after the ICC Prosecutor withdrew the charges against President Kenyatta for lack of evidence in the midst of claims of non-cooperation by the Government of Kenya. A timely debate on improving cooperation with the Court took place during the session and REDRESS was among those calling for stronger cooperation mechanisms. For more information, click here to see our two press releases on the Kenyatta case: one commenting on the withdrawal of charges against Kenyatta and the other on the lack of cooperation from Kenya. See also a press release from the Coalition for the ICC, of which REDRESS is a steering committee member. REDRESS also contributed to the debate on another crucial issue: how to improve the system of victim participation. Victim participation plays an important role in the ICC system of justice. It is designed to ensure that those most affected by the crimes are able to engage with the Court: so far, about 10,000 victims have participated in proceedings. A number of proposals have been put forward to improve this system. In order to contribute to the debate, REDRESS produced a special edition of the ACCESS bulletin, a publication from the Victims’ Rights Working Groups, a broad coalition of experts, victims groups and human rights organisations which advocate for victims rights before the ICC. The special edition included interviews with five former ICC judges and two ICC victims’ legal representatives, who have represented between them more than 20,000 victims in ICC proceedings. The interviewees first-hand experience of the victim participation system provides a useful lens through which the system and the proposals that have been put forward to improve it may be analysed. The special edition of ACCESS bulletin is available in English, Français, Español and عربي. REDRESS also organised a side event together with the Institute for Security Studies (ISS) on 10 December. The event focused on victim participation in national trials concerning ICC crimes (war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide). VRWG recommendations to ICC Member States at the ASP The Victims Rights Working Group made a series of recommendations to the Assembly of States Parties that meet in New York from 8 to 17 of December. Some of the recommendations to ICC Member States included: that it consults broadly during the 2015 review process of the Victims Strategy; that it also reviews with broad consultation the Guidelines on Intermediaries and that it ensures that sufficient resources are allocated for its dissemination; and that it continues to engage in discussions with victims legal representatives and civil society experts on how to improve the current system for victims participation and legal representation. The VRWG also made some recommendations to the Court, including that any review of the Courts practices on victims-related issues tries to ensure reparative, effective and meaningful procedures, not merely less costly ones, and that the adopted Guidelines on Intermediaries are made available in different languages. See the full recommendations here Français Photo: REDRESS and ISS side event at the ASP on 10 December with a full room.
Posted on: Fri, 19 Dec 2014 13:41:38 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015