Parliament of Jakarta, Indonesia
On 26 May 2016, Parliamentarians for Global Action (PGA) and the Committee for Inter-parliamentary Cooperation of the House of Representatives of Indonesia co-organized a Seminar on the ICC & Gender Justice, highlighting the importance of national mechanisms in fighting Sexual and Gender Based Crimes. PGA Member Hon. Dr. Nurhayati Ali Assegaf, MP, welcomed the high-level participants and underlined in her opening remarks the importance of making justice accessible to all, without any discrimination.
The Seminar was supported by the Coalition for the International Criminal Court (CICC) and held in the framework of a series of PGA’s South-East Asia Sub-Regional Seminars on the ICC.
The Roundtable discussions provided for an opportunity of vibrant exchanges between Parliamentarians from Indonesia, Malaysia, Maldives and The Philippines as well as government representatives, scholars, a representative from the International Criminal Court (ICC) and civil society. Participants discussed the role of Parliamentarians in creating the conditions for the adoption of necessary legislation to promote gender justice nationally and internationally. Everyone agreed that MPs have an important role to play in implementing those instruments nationally.
The Seminar was opened by PGA Members Hon. Mr. Tantowi Yahya, MP (Indonesia), Vice-Chairperson of Committee on Inter-Parliamentary Cooperation and Hon. Dr. M. Azis Syamsuddin, MP (Indonesia) Member of Commission III on Legal Affairs and Laws, Human Rights and Security.
During the first panel, the International Criminal Court was presented by Chair of the Drafting Committee Team of the Sexual and Gender based crimes Policy Paper of the OTP, Ms. Shamila Batohi, who enlighten the high-level participants about the work of the ICC regarding accountability for sexual and gender based crimes mentioning the first ICC conviction for the commission of those crimes in the case of Bemba Gombo and explained how the Rome Statute has contributed to setting the international precedent of the illegality of sexual and gender-based violence.
Hon. Kula Segaran, MP (Malaysia), Deputy-Convener of the PGA International Law and Human Rights Program highlighted the importance of the ICC in fighting sexual and gender based crimes:
Many of us are uncomfortable to speak about these issues [SGBC]. In times of conflict, other crimes committed such as murder, torture, are being addressed. However, the fact that rape is being used as a weapon of war to eliminate societies is often being undermined. An important and timely tool to address those crimes is the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. It contains various provisions designed to ensure the effective investigation and prosecution of sexual and gender-based crimes. Malaysia is therefore very close to ratify the Rome Statute of the ICC and we are looking forwards to hereby joining our colleagues from Maldives and Philippines as ICC Member States.
In this panel, Dra. Eva Kusuma Sundari, MA, MDE, MP (Indonesia), PGA Member, Ms. Roichatul Aswidah, Commissioner and Head of Research, National Human Rights Commission of Indonesia (KOMNAS HAM) and Dr. Indraswari, Commissioner of Komnas Perempuan (National Commission on Violence Against Women),explained the importance of streamlining Gender Justice in all national instruments and highlighted the efforts Indonesia has already made in this direction, including important policies such as the National Human Rights Action Plan. Several Panelists addressed their concerns about the Asia Pacific region being strongly underrepresented among ICC Member states. Some Indonesian MP’s suggested that the Women’s caucus should take a strong stand towards joining the ICC and hereby guaranteeing gender justice.
In this context, Hon. Francisco Ashley Acedillo, MP (Philippines), Member of PGA, illustrated the advantages of Ratifying the Rome Statute to help advance gender justice and laid an emphasis on the principle of complementarity under which the ICC can only intervene when States are unable or unwilling to prosecute crimes of international concern including those with a sexual and gender component as they are used as a tool of war:
The ICC complements domestic tribunals that also contribute to deter and punish these crimes. In addition, the independent judicial process offered by the ICC seeks to ensure that victims are recognized and that defendants receive the highest standards of due process by the law (…). To ensure that no individual is truly above the law, the Rome Statute must be ratified universally.
Hon. Ahmed Malhoof, MP (Maldives), Member of PGA, highlighted that the lack of accountability in comprehensively addressing sexual and gender-based crimes, through adequate legislation and its enforcement is a significant obstacle to preventing and terminating these crimes and additionally aggravates the pervasive impunity when he rightly pointed out that:
As an insufficient response to commission of sexual and gender based violence might on many occasions derive from an inadequate treatment of these crimes under domestic legal instruments, the recognition of the sexual and gender based crimes is a key to ending impunity for these crimes. Ratifying and implementing the Rome Statute increases the level of protection as these sexual crimes these become a part of the domestic criminal legislation (…).
In bilateral meetings carried out by the PGA delegation to Indonesia, Indonesian MPs reported that the Rome Statute’s definitions of crimes against humanity, genocide and war crimes have been incorporated in new draft Penal Code of Indonesia, which has been submitted by the Government for consideration by the relevant Committee (III) and it is currently under discussion. This is a pivotal step towards Indonesia's membership in the Rome Statute system based on the principle of complementarity.
The discussions provided for a momentous opportunity to explain any misconceptions that national legislators had about the Court and underline the advantages of being part of the Rome statute system in the fight against impunity. The seminar provided a welcomed platform for legislators and local actors to voice their concerns and exchange points of view especially considering the issue of Gender Justice. The discussions culminated with the report of PGA Senior Program Officer, Ms. Leyla Nikjou in which she summarized the presentations, questions and exchanges among participants including the importance of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) as a tool for accountability and deterrence of sexual and gender based crimes.
This Seminar fulfilled its goals in sensitizing Members of the Indonesian and Malaysian Parliament on the Rome Statute ratification and implementation as well as Parliamentarians from The Philippines and Maldives on the full implementation of the Rome Statute.
Most of the MPs that participated in the Seminar decided to become Members of PGA and agreed with PGA´s mission of a word in which justice, Rule of Law and gender equality are core values.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs represented by the Director of Cultural and International Organizations of Developing Countries highlighted the efforts that the government is carrying out in the advancement for Gender Justice as well as the role of the parliamentarians to make those initiatives possible.
