On 17 July, the international community commemorates International Justice Day, this year marking the 22nd anniversary of the adoption of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC). The importance of this historical development cannot be understated: it established the first permanent international court to bring justice to victims of the gravest crimes of concern to the international community: genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression.
Today also commemorates the 6th year since the downing over the skies of Ukraine of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 which serves as a tragic reminder of the cruelty of an armed conflict which can affect any civilian at any time and place.
This tragic event also demonstrated the significance of having in place mechanisms to bring to justice those accountable. In this respect, to emphasise the importance of the existence of effective jurisdictions, which is at the global level represented by the ICC, PGA co-organised a web-seminar with its partner, Centre for Civil Liberties, and experts in Ukraine, one of the PGA’s main targets for ratification and implementation of the Rome Statute.
Later in the afternoon, PGA's Executive Committee met to monitor and assess, among others, the developments and impact of PGA's Rome Statute campaign and strategise methods to effectively advance its objectives even in these challenging times.
Afterwards, PGA participated in an event co-organized by the Permanent Mission of Lichtenstein to the UN and like-minded States: Standing up for International Justice: "Law not War"which was honoured to include closing remarks by Mr. Benjamin Ferencz, the last living Nuremberg Trial Prosecutor.
This year has brought many challenges the world had not envisaged before. The current COVID-19 emergency has led to significant shifts in the priorities of Legislatures worldwide, diverting the attention from many pending legislative processes relating to the fight against impunity. However, the health emergency did not lead to the halt of the atrocities in on-going armed conflicts and the commission of the human rights violations worldwide. Men-made disasters continue to cause humanitarian emergencies and should not be forgotten when the world is confronting a pandemic, which could be qualified as a natural disaster.
PGA calls upon all States that are not Parties to the Rome Statute to join the system against impunity set up on 17 July 1998 and urges all domestic legal systems to fully implement the definitions of international crimes, the general principles of law and the procedure for effective international cooperation contained in the Rome Statute.
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PARLIAMENTARIANS FOR GLOBAL ACTION (PGA), the largest non-governmental, cross-party, international network of individual legislators, mobilizes parliamentarians as human rights champions committed to promoting the rule of law, democracy, human security, gender equality and inclusion. The organization’s vision is to contribute to the creation of a rules-based international order for a more equitable, safe, and democratic world.
PGA’s Campaign for the Rome Statute of the ICC aims to promote the universalization of the Rome Statute and the effective exercise of primary jurisdiction by States and of complementary jurisdiction by the International Criminal Court (ICC). It seeks to contribute to ending impunity by advancing access to justice for victims through the universal ratification and effective implementation of the Rome Statute and Kampala Amendments in national jurisdictions. PGA has contributed to the ratification of 78 out of 123 State Parties to the Rome Statute and its domestic implementation in 36 countries. PGA’s Consultative Assembly of Parliamentarians for the International Criminal Court and the Rule of Law (CAP-ICC) is the largest gathering of parliamentarians on this issue. Due to this campaign, PGA is widely recognized as the parliamentary network that works in international justice. The PGA Rome Statute Campaign receives the support of the European Union, the Oak Foundation and the Governments of The Netherlands, Switzerland, and Liechtenstein.
