From the 8^th to the 11^th of March 2020, Parliamentarians for Global Action (PGA) organised a visit of members of parliament (MPs) from the Republic of Zimbabwe to The Hague to foster greater understanding and awareness of the modalities for ending impunity, ensuring accountability, and achieving justice for the most severe crimes of concern to the international community. Through fruitful exchanges with principals and senior officials at the International Criminal Court (ICC), consultations with representatives of international organisations based in The Hague, and bilateral interactions with Dutch parliamentarians, the bipartisan delegation firmly committed to the cause of international justice and the rule of law, and took a significant step in Zimbabwe’s road to ratification of the Rome Statute of the ICC.

The delegation of the MPs to the “City of Peace and Justice” came at a critical juncture for Zimbabwe, as the country navigates a new era following the end of the 30-year administration of former President Robert Mugabe. The milestone presents new opportunities for Zimbabwe’s engagement with international institutions and the composition of the delegation from both government [the ruling party of Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF)] and opposition [the main opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC)], affirmed the shared resolve across party lines to the pursuit of justice.

The delegation of four parliamentarians was composed of PGA Members Hon. Innocent Gonese, Member of the Committees of Justice, Legal, and Parliamentary Affairs and Public Service Labour & Social Welfare, and a practicing attorney with 20 years of legislative experience; Hon. Kallisto Gwanetsa, Member of the Defense, Home Affairs, and Security Services Committee, and a retired Brigadier General and recipient of the Order of Merit with decades of experience in peace-keeping operations; Hon. Cuthbert Mpame, Member of the Committees on Justice, Legal, and Parliamentary Affairs and Local Government, Public Works and National Housing, and a Legal Practitioner admitted to The High Court of Zimbabwe; and Hon. Dorcas Sibanda, Chair of the Zimbabwe PGA National Group, Member of the Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee, and human rights activist.

Coming here to the International Criminal Court as legislators from the government and opposition, it is of critical importance that we speak with one voice. It is a milestone for Zimbabwe’s history that we come here together as legislators. It is history in the making in terms of the law-making of our countryHon. Kalisto Gwanetsa, MP
Member of the National Assembly of the Republic of Zimbabwe
Member of the Defense, Home Affairs, and Security Services Committee

The four parliamentarians were warmly welcomed by ICC President, Judge Chile Eboe-Osuji (Nigeria). President Eboe-Osuji shared insight into the evolution of international criminal law and the origins and paramount necessity of the ICC, including dispelling some commonly held misconceptions about the Court and its jurisdiction. A senior representative of The Office of the Prosecutor, a fellow national of the South African Development Community (SADC), recalled the critical contributions of Zimbabwe to the negotiations and drafting of the Rome Statute of the ICC, while representatives of the Registry explored modalities for cooperation and discussed in-depth the principle of complementarity based on respect for the primary jurisdiction of States. Informal discussions allowed for further exploration of these topics over a luncheon with four ICC Judges Reine Alapini-Gansou (Benin), Solomy Balungi Bossa (Uganda), Péter Kovács (Hungary), and Howard Morrison (United Kingdom).

The parliamentarians had the opportunity to view for themselves two Court proceedings at different stages of the judicial process: the Appeals Chamber ruling on admissibility in the case of Saif Al-Islam Gaddafi, over which Judge Eboe-Osuji presided (9 March 2020) and the Prosecution’s closing statements in the case of Dominic Ongwen (10 March 2020).

The Zimbabwean parliamentarians also visited the United Nations International Residual Mechanisms for Criminal Tribunals (MICT) – an interaction that had special resonance for for Hon. Kallisto Gwanetsa, who served in the peace-keeping operations in Bosnia-Herzegovina and was able to observe the culmination of justice for victims of the atrocities committed in the conflict in the former Yugoslavia.

In the spirit of PGA’s model of connecting likeminded parliamentarians worldwide, the delegation met with representatives of both chambers of the bicameral Parliament of The Netherlands. The Chair of the Dutch PGA National Group, Senator Boris Dittrich, generously arranged a unique visit to the beautiful Senate building and offered his support to encourage legislative initiatives to move forward with the Rome Statute ratification. Mr. Mr. Sjoerd Sjoerdsma, Member of the Tweede Kamer (House of Representatives) and PGA Member, also arranged a visit to the Tweede Kamer, one of the oldest Parliaments in the world still in use. In a moving exchange that culminated the visit, Mr. Sjoerdsma pledged his solidarity with the Zimbabwean delegation and stressed the importance of working bilaterally and multilaterally with parliamentary peers to not only raise awareness of the Court’s work but also will strengthen the international justice as a whole. He culminated his presentation by demonstrating his unwavering support to both the delegation and PGA. Mr. Sjoerdsma expressed his hope to see the members of the delegation at PGA’s Annual Forum in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in November 2020.

I joined PGA to help end impunity because of my personal experience as a diplomat with victims in Afghanistan, Sudan, Palestine . . . It is so important for MPs to come together to discuss the ICC.Mr. Sjoerd Sjoerdsma, Member of the Tweede Kamer
PGA Member

As next steps, the delegation invited ICC President Judge Chile Eboe-Osuji to address committees of the National Assembly of Zimbabwe and will move forward with the steps toward ratification.