October 13-14, 2011 | National Assembly, Bangui, CAR

In the context of the ongoing peace consolidation efforts in the Central African Republic, this parliamentary conference provided a platform to discuss the role of international justice and the Rule of Law in the peace-building process, including the strengthening of the national justice system. It offered an opportunity to underscore the contribution of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) to the fight against impunity and the promotion of peace, democracy and human rights, as well as law-reforms.

The discussions brought together over 85 Legislators from the recently elected parliament of the Central African Republic (CAR), a selected number of parliamentarians from the sub-region (Chad, DRC, Mali and Tanzania) and Europe (The Netherlands) and members of the Executive branches of the government, as well as leaders from International Organizations, other relevant stakeholders and representatives of the civil society.

The conference, chaired by the Speaker of the Assembly, Hon. H.E. Hon. Célestin Leroy Gaombalet, MP, was opened by Hon. Raphael Nyabirungu mwene Songa, MP (Democratic Republic of the Congo), on behalf of PGA. In her address, Ms. Hawa Ahmed Youssouf, Special Representative of the African Union (AU) in Bangui, reaffirmed the AU's commitment to promote peace, democracy and the fight against impunity in Africa, and called upon national authorities to ratify all AU instruments relating to the strengthening of democracy and the rule of law.

Only if the population can have redress through a legitimate access to justice, it is possible to consolidate peace in the period following the end of conflicts, emphasized Ms. Margaret Vogt, Special Representative of the UN Secretary General and Head of the Integrated Office of the UN in CAR (BINUCA). The increased vulnerability of women, children, prisoners and detainees, displaced persons, refugees and other minorities make the restoration of the rule of law an urgent imperative in a post-conflict situation such as in CAR. H.E. Ambassador Guy Samzun, Head of the European Union delegation in CAR, underlined the EU's commitment to the fight against impunity and support for the ICC, welcoming the PGA conference as an excellent opportunity not only to take stock of CAR's progress in that field, but also to discuss further steps.

With a key-note speech, H.E. Ambassador Jan Grauls, Permanent Representative of Belgium to the UN and Chair of the CAR Configuration of the UN Peace Building Commission (PBC) informed the participants that in agreement with the Central African Government, the rule of law and good governance were identified as priorities for the consolidation of peace in CAR. He underscored that a competent and efficient independent judiciary and the rule of law are basic elements for the stability and the consolidation of peace and must be supported by well trained and equipped security forces to deploy full efficiency. He indicated that the Parliament has an important role to play in this endeavor and should use its prerogatives to monitor the government's action in that sense.

The opening session was concluded by the statement of H.E. Hon. Célestin Leroy Gaombalet, MP, Speaker of the National Assembly. Referring to the principle of complementarity of the Rome Statute, he emphasized the importance of strengthening national courts in order to allow them to pursue alleged perpetrators of international crimes. He further stressed the importance to fight impunity and to take into account victims' rights to participate in the proceedings and obtain reparations.

On behalf of the Central-African government, the Minister of Justice and Morality, H.E.M. Firmin Findiro (represented by his Chief of Staff, Mr Flamarien Goba), indicated that the Ministry intends to implement several projects between 2011 and 2015 to strengthen the judicial system and facilitate the access to justice through different activities such as prison reform and improving the presence of judicial institutions in the countries' provinces. Those projects aim to achieve a more coherent, independent and efficient system as well as to foster cooperation with the ICC.

Mr. Alain Tolmo, Prosecutor General before the High Court in Bangui, completed this intervention by recalling the importance to strengthen the enforcement of national legislation through Court decisions. H.E. Mr. Jean-Serge Bokassa, Minister of Youth, Sports, Arts and Culture, addressed the audience as former PGA member. In that capacity, he played an essential role during the process of the revision of the Penal Code and Procedural Penal Code in September 2009, when core Rome Statute provisions have been included in these legislative text thanks to the multi-partisan mobilization of the PGA CAR Group. He underscored the key role that Parliamentarians play is the legislative process.

The invited MPs from the above mentioned countries shared with their Central African colleagues their respective experience and expertise on various aspects of the topic, ranging from a call to integrating appropriate allocations to rule of law and justice mechanisms in the national budget, as stressed by Dutch MP Mr. Harry van Bommel, to national efforts to domesticate the Rome Statute of the ICC as outlined by Ms. Pindi Chana, MP (Tanzania), Hon. Mountaga Tall, MP (Mali) and Hon. Raphael Nyabirungu mwene Songa, MP (DRC).

The latter, co-author of the implementing legislation in the DRC, especially highlighted the core principle of complementarity and the importance to pay more attention to victims' rights (to protection, participation and reparations). Hon. Saleh Makki, MP (Chad), stressed the significance of international cooperation in order to arrest rebel leaders who continue to represent a major threat to the civil population in the Central Afrian-Chadian border region.

The consultations were enriched by a presentation delivered by Ms. Fabienne Chassagneux, Field Outreach Coordinator of the ICC outreach office in Bangui. She gave a comprehensive overview of the guiding principles of the Rome Statute and the activities of the ICC since the entry into force of the Statute, whilst focusing her intervention on activities in CAR, related to the case of Jean-Pierre Bemba, and the outreach to affected populations, including victims.

Members of the civil society (Central African League for Human Rights) as well as the University of Bangui also participated actively during the two day conference to address different aspects from an activist and academic perspective, discussing the merits of the principle of universal jurisdiction as an example. Participants heard from another important actor, the International Organization of Francophonie (OIF), represented by Mr. Michel Carrier, Delegation for Peace, Democracy and Human Rights: Since 1989, the OIF developed programmes in support of the rule of law focusing in essence on logistical support and the training of personnel, the organization of local seminars and the dissemination of information.

During the entire two days, the Consultations saw the extremely active and intense interaction by Central African MPs. Several Legislators insisted on the need to reinforce State presence in the countries' provinces, where the security situation is still very instable and the threat of armed groups against the civilian population must be eradicated, including through an international operation for the arrest of Joseph Kony and the other leaders of the Lord's Resistance Army wanted by the ICC.

Without that precondition, reinforcing domestic justice as such in those regions will be hard to attain. Therefore, the need to effectively integrate the provisions on international crimes and international cooperation for the fight against impunity as reflected in the revised CAR Penal Code into the Security Sector Reform was one of the demands expressed by the MPs. At the same token, a sufficient allocation of resources for the justice sector was identified as a core action to be undertaken by the Government and the Parliament. Those and other key outcomes were captured in a comprehensive Declaration EN FR, which was adopted at the end of the conference by the MPs.