Human Rights First and International Justice

Human Rights First’s work on International Justice is organized under three objectives:

1. To ensure that strong and effective International Justice Mechanisms, including the International Criminal Court, are established

Human Rights First has been a leading voice in the creation of the International Criminal Court (ICC). In so doing, Human Rights First’s approach has focused on building coalitions and consensus to solve complex problems of international justice.

Human Rights First was deeply involved in the three-year process that led up to the 1998 Rome Conference, when the world’s governments met to adopt a treaty to establish the ICC. Human Rights First published a series of briefing papers analyzing the most problematic issues confronting negotiators, which were widely distributed to government delegates around the world. It actively participated in the UN Preparatory Committee meetings preceding Rome, consulting with key delegates on a wide range of issues relating to the Court and its composition. Human Rights First’s goal throughout was to mobilize support for a strong and credible Court capable of breaking the cycle of impunity and deterring future atrocities.

After the Rome Conference, Human Rights First participated actively in the successive ICC Preparatory Commissions sessions that drafted the Rules of Procedure and Evidence and the Elements of Crimes and a range of other key documents relating to the functioning of the court, which were approved by the ASP in September 2002. With the objective of working to ensure that a strong and effective ICC is established, the IJ Program is currently working for the nomination and election of the best possible first bench of judges and a Prosecutor for the court Click here to learn more about elections and nominations, to contribute to the development of an effective ICC criminal bar and a workable Code of Conduct for counsel before the court Click here to learn more about lawyers before the ICC,and to help to secure an appropriate role for victims in the court process.

Human Rights First views working together with other civil society groups around the world as extremely important, and is an active member of the steering committee of the NGO Coalition for an International Criminal Court (CICC) that has effectively worked with participating governments to preserve the integrity of the Rome Statute.

2. To ensure that national courts are able to fulfill their obligations both to hold perpetrators to account themselves and to cooperate with the ICC

The ICC will be the cornerstone of a global system of international justice. Building this new system will require that both national and international systems undergo changes if they are work together credibly and effectively. Having spent the last several years steeped in these debates, Human Rights First believes that justice is best served when it is carried out at the national level, with national courts, truth commissions and other mechanisms, dispensing the most expeditious justice and the most meaningful redress for victims. That said, the international system must be prepared to play an active role in this regard when national systems are unwilling or unable to do so.

The drafters of the ICC Statute envisioned that national courts would prosecute a majority of these cases. Yet many national justice systems are not equipped for this task, with national laws lagging behind international standards. The ratification process provides a unique opportunity to incorporate international crimes into their national criminal codes, to strengthen human rights protections at the national level, and to develop the capacity to make their courts available as a venue for the exercise of universal jurisdiction. Human Rights First’s International Justice Program works to move forward implementing legislation under the Rome Statute in many countries, with a particular focus on West and Central Africa. This work includes building civil society coalitions, analyzing domestic legislation, engaging with governments to create political will and working with local partners to organize workshops and push forward the process of drafting and adopting legislation. Click here to learn more about our implementation work.

3. To build support for international justice in the United States

Human Rights First believes that it is in the interest of both the United States and the International Criminal Court to have the United States play an active and positive role in global justice within the framework of the treaty drafted in Rome. This is why the IJ Program works to build support for international justice, including the ICC, in the United States. Click here to learn more about the U.S. role in relation to the ICC The U.S. has posed challenges to the principle of impartial accountability that the ICC is designed to establish. On the other hand, the U.S. has also played a positive role in other aspects of the international justice system, notably its support for the ad hoc international criminal tribunals for former Yugoslavia and Rwanda. Human Rights First has worked to increase awareness of concerns about the U.S. stance on the Court, to engage the Administration and a wider constituency within the U.S. on the ICC and wider international justice issues.

Drawing on its extensive experience and record of achievement in this area, Human Rights First is dedicated to overcoming the obstacles – whether political, legal, or practical – to creating a workable international justice system. It is engaged in a multi-year effort to lay the foundations, nationally and internationally, for a system to hold dictators and other perpetrators of gross violations accountable for their crimes. Human Rights First is calling on governments to ratify the ICC treaty, to adopt effective legislation to implement the ICC Statute, and to ensure that the International Criminal Court has the resources necessary to carry out its mission.