A fundamental tool to strengthen the Rule of Law and sustainable development in inclusive and peaceful societies
In the framework of its Campaign for the Rome Statute of the ICC, Parliamentarians for Global Action (PGA) convened a Sub-regional Parliamentary Seminar on the Universality and Implementation of the Rome Statute: a fundamental tool to strengthen the Rule of Law and sustainable development in inclusive and peaceful societies. This Seminar was hosted by the National Congress of Honduras on 18 and 19 October 2018, in the capital city Tegucigalpa.
This event is in the continuity of the parliamentary seminars and workshops organized by PGA in Montevideo, Uruguay. A special focus in Central America on the universality and implementation of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) was an important step to overcome the political and legal obstacles specific to each country or sub-region.
The Seminar aimed at providing legislators and other relevant stakeholders from Latin America with a forum to discuss and reflect on the role of international justice in promoting sustainable development and peace. The participants also exchanged views on the advancement of the implementation of Rome Statute provisions in their domestic legal orders, the challenges that remain to complete said implementation and the different regional avenues of justice available to victims of international crimes, including the crimes committed before the entry into force of the ICC Statute.
This year is of importance for international justice as 17 July 2018 marked the 20th anniversary of the Rome Statute, the founding treaty of the ICC. It is a historic opportunity to reflect on the progress made, as well as the challenges that it faces. The Rome Statute is an accountability system based on the principles of complementarity and cooperation. The implementation of the Statute’s dispositions in national legal orders reinforces the domestic rule of law, the protection of the fundamental human rights of civilian populations as well as the integrity of territories.
In the opening session, Dip. Carla Pitiot, member of the General Legislation Committee of the House of Deputies of Argentina and PGA Board member, reminded the distinguished audience that the ICC is an essential instrument to end impunity for the most serious crimes of international concern, namely crimes against humanity, war crimes, genocide, and the crime of aggression. PGA and its members stand firm in support of the standards and general principles of law in the Statute despite the attacks on its integrity. Dip. Gladis Aurora López Calderón, Vice-president of the National Congress of the Republic of Honduras, welcomed the participants and reiterated the commitment of her country to consolidate the national institutional framework that would ensure social progress. Such strengthening of the normative framework cannot be achieved without having legal norms that are adequate and modern.
The first day of the Seminar welcomed the commemoration of the twentieth anniversary of the Rome Statute of the ICC by remembering that the victims of international crimes are at the center of the Rome Statute system. This system of accountability for international crimes is complemented by other mechanisms that address serious violations of human rights.
In this regard, Mr. Roberto Herrera Cáceres, Ombudsman of the National Commissioner for Human Rights (CONADEH) gave an overview of different regional mechanisms of justice, including that of the inter-American system of human rights. Mr. Cáceres explained the mandate of CONADEH, which is an institution of the Honduran State that guarantees the respect and the promotion of the human dignity of all the inhabitants and migrants, assuring them an adequate protection of their human rights and fundamental freedoms. The ICC and national courts are complementary in a system of global justice.
Indeed, Ms. Michelle Reyes, Regional Coordinator for the Americas of the Coalition for the ICC, emphasized that this anniversary was an opportunity for all relevant stakeholders to renew their commitment to the inherent values underlying the provisions of the Rome Statute. The Latin American region has made a lot of progress in the implementation of the Statute in national legal orders, but States should do more to further this implementation and promote the Rome Statute system. Mr. Daniel Cahen, Heal of the Legal Department of the Delegation of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Mexico spoke specifically on war crimes and the advantages for States to ratify and implement them, while Ms. Melissa Verpile, Legal Officer of the International Law and Human Rights Program of PGA, explained the constitutive elements of the crime of aggression, its jurisdictional regime in light of the activation of the ICC’s competence over this crime and the reasons why States should ratify it.
Mr. Felipe Michelini, member of the Board of Directors of the Trust Fund for Victims of the ICC, in his intervention reiterated a central aspect of the Rome Statute system: reparations regime for the victims of international crimes. There is still a lot to do. Globalization allows for the use of the Rome Statute when national prevention and punitive responses do not work in the case of aberrant crimes, based on the principle of complementarity, so that there is no impunity. It is also an instrument to vindicate the victims of these very serious events. In short, the difference between civilization and barbarism, on the Latin American continent is the ‘Never Again’ principle.
From a national perspective, Sen. Iván Cepeda, member of the Second Committee on Constitution of the Colombian Parliament, gave testimony on the Commission on the Clarification of the Truth in Colombia. The country’s armed conflict that lasted for more than half a century has left nearly ten million victims, including dead, displaced, disappeared and kidnapped. The duration of the conflict, the constant repetition of the cycles of violence, and the failure of several peace dialogue processes indicated that a consensual solution required a minimum of social reforms and an adequate response to the immense share of suffering and impunity that the long and bloody war has left. Putting an end to it was the Final Agreement for the Termination of the Conflict and the Construction of a Stable and Lasting Peace, signed by the head of the Colombian State and the commander of the FARC. The Agreement on Victims of the Conflict includes the creation of the Integral System of Truth, Justice, Reparation and Non-Repetition. Despite the undeniable advances it made, like any peace process in the world, the Colombians face a set of challenges and dangers in its initial implementation phase. Many of these risks and problems stem from structural factors such as, for example, the ultraconservative position of the far-right political sector that still persists in the idea of preventing at all costs the consolidation of the peace process, and which attacks the gender perspective of the Agreement, presenting it as a “gender ideology”; the bureaucratic structure of the State or its insufficient social presence in the territories; the lack of adequate financing of the process; the persistence of armed groups or dissidence of the former guerrilla in the territories of the armed conflict; and the permanence of drug trafficking in large areas of the country. The international support and accompaniment are indispensable to consolidate the successful implementation of the Final Peace Agreement in Colombia.
On the second day, the discussions were centered on the advances and challenges faced by countries in the region regarding the implementation of the Rome Statute and cooperation with the ICC.
Dip. Marcela Aguiñaga Vallejo, President of the Justice and State Structure Commission of the National Assembly of Ecuador and PGA member, informed the audience on the progress of the implementation of the Rome Statute in her country. In January 2014, legislators had completed their task with the Organic and Integral Penal Code (COIP), in which the crimes were expanded to include inter alia extermination, slavery, forced displacement, extrajudicial execution or aggression. These crimes have now been criminalized, ahead of the ratification of the Kampala Amendments. These amendments already have a favorable opinion from the Constitutional Court and it is now up to the International Relations Commission of the National Assembly to deliver a report to the Plenary. Despite these great advances, some errors have been detected in the classification of some behaviors that are currently being analyzed in the process of reform of the Comprehensive Criminal Organic Code, in order to make our legislation accurately compatible with international instruments.
Dip. Oswaldo Ramos, President of the Constitutional Affairs Committee of the National Congress of Honduras and PGA member, explained the process of the implementation of the Kampala Amendment on the crime of aggression in the Honduran criminal code and reiterated his country’s commitment to international justice, while expressing that Honduran legislators will work together to further the implementation of the Rome Statute and the ratification of the Kampala Amendments.
Dip. Juan Sebastián Villarejo Velilla, Vice-president of the Legislation and Codification Commission of the House of Deputies of Paraguay, reiterated the commitment of his country to the Rome Statute system, illustrated by the adoption of a full implementing legislation of the dispositions of the Rome Statute. Additionally, Dip. Villarejo shared the idea that since the creation of the Rome Statute of the ICC, technology, political and socio-economic contexts, and the tools used to commit crimes have evolved. The Rome Statute is an important tool to fight impunity. States should ensure that it remains relevant and adapted to the realities that the world faces today.
Dip. Gabriel Ascencio, former president of the House of Deputies of Chile and longstanding PGA member, shared the experience of his country. In 2014, the Executive informed that a Working group had been created, with representatives of the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to prepare a draft law on cooperation with the International Criminal Court. As of May 2018, it was reported that such a bill was under study and final review. The Parliament has insisted through two separate resolutions by the Chamber of Deputies, asking the Government for an early fulfillment of its commitment to send the draft law of cooperation with the ICC to Parliament.
Dip. Karine Niño, President of the Committee on International Affairs of the House of Deputies of Costa Rica and PGA member, reiterated Costa Rica’s commitment to the Rome Statute system. In fact, the Legislative Assembly approved on 4 April 2018 the Law for the Promotion of Cooperation and Relationship with the International Criminal Court, composed of more than one hundred articles regulating the general procedures and the many facets of cooperation, assistance measures, and judicial channels between Costa Rican institutions, such as the Supreme Court of Justice and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Worship with the Court.
Dip. Henry Merán, President of the Justice Committee of the Dominican Republic and PGA member, acknowledged that the Latin American countries play a significant role in promoting a strong participation in accountability mechanisms and instruments, which seek to guarantee respect for the fundamental rights of people. In response to that commitment, a series of international instruments were developed that have become the basis for a regional system of promotion and protection of human rights, known as the Inter-American System for the Protection of Human Rights. The new Dominican Law on Cooperation and Relationship with the ICC consists of 164 articles, divided into XVI chapters and sections based on PGA’s Cooperation reference law and the framework of cooperation agreements with the ICC. This result is the consequence of the advocacy and work of the PGA Dominican National Group: sensitizing parliamentary colleagues, other relevant national actors, and the general public on human values, the importance of democratic institutions, and the necessity to legislate and domesticate provisions from international instruments that the country has ratified.
Ms. Antônia Pereira de Sousa, External Relations and Cooperation Officer of the Registry of the ICC, spoke about what cooperation with the Court entails and the signature and conclusion of bilateral cooperation agreements between States and the Court on the relocation of witnesses, enforcement of sentences, interim release and the release of persons. Latin American countries can play a significant role in ensuring that the Rome Statute system functions efficiently. In this regard, Dip. Carla Pitiot, gave the example of Argentina, who is the only country in the region to have signed all four aforementioned bilateral cooperation agreements.
Latin America has contributed substantially to the consolidation of an international criminal justice system based on the Rome Statute system. Many parliamentarians from the region have played fundamental roles in promoting the universality of the Rome Statute, which led to its ratification by a vast majority of countries in the region, except for Nicaragua in the sub-region. Despite all these efforts, many challenges remain for the effective implementation of the Statute. States have committed themselves to push legislation that define and punish the most serious international crimes, namely, crimes against humanity, genocide, war crimes and the crime of aggression, as well as establishing the necessary mechanisms for cooperation with the ICC. Today, we continue to witness these atrocious crimes and attempts of alleged perpetrators of said crimes to remain immune. There is much to be done in the region and in the world. PGA will continue working with its members and all relevant stakeholders so that they stay informed, invested and take action to build together a rules-based international order for a safer, more democratic, and more inclusive world.
