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UN Excerpts: ICC references, 1 January – 28 February 2007

07 Mar 2007

Dear All:
In addition to excerpts previously distributed from UN reports, meetings and resolutions, including news reports of the visit of Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon to the International Criminal Court and UNMIS reactions to the Prosecutor's Darfur announcement, please find below additional references to the ICC publicly available from 1 January – 28 February 2007. These include:  

(1) Report of the Secretary-General on Chad and the Central African Republic pursuant to paragraphs 9(d) and 13 of Security Council resolution 1706 (2006), 22 December 2006, S/2006/1019, http://www.un.org/docs/sc/sgrep06.htm

(2) United Nations Security Council Meeting, Threats to International Peace and Security, 8 January 2007, S/PV.5615, http://www.un.org/Depts/dhl/resguide/scact2006.htm

(3) Transcript of Daily Press Briefing by the Office of the Spokesman for the Secretary-General of the United Nations, 10 January 2007, http://www.un.org/News/briefings/docs/2007/db070110.doc.htm

(4) Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, The ICC’s first trial will be a milestone in the issue of child soldiers, 29 January 2007, Press Release, http://www.un.org/children/conflict/pr/2007-01-29theiccsfirsttria141.html

(5) Press Conference By United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Louise Arbour, 28 February 2007, http://www.un.org/News/briefings/docs/2007/070228_Arbour.doc.htm

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(1) Report of the Secretary-General on Chad and the Central African Republic pursuant to paragraphs 9(d) and 13 of Security Council resolution 1706 (2006), 22 December 2006, S/2006/1019, http://www.un.org/docs/sc/sgrep06.htm

IV. Human rights situation
[...]

B. Central African Republic
[...]

49. Sexual violence against women, but also men, seems to be a lasting legacy of the 2002 and 2003 rebellions, during which it was committed on a large scale by all parties, to an extent that has justified the submission of a case to the International Criminal Court. There are alarming reports of witnesses for the Court being harassed by perpetrators who now wear State uniforms. One reliable source reported tens of cases of sexual violence perpetrated in 2006.

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(2) United Nations Security Council Meeting, Threats to International Peace and Security, 8 January 2007
Mr. Jean-Pierre Lacroix, Deputy Permanent Representative of France to the UN:

“Those are several avenues for action that we should pursue together. We must also not forget that peace and security also entail combating poverty, pandemics and corruption, as well as protecting human rights and fighting impunity. For justice is a precondition for peace. In that regard, the International Criminal Court will be an essential tool in the future.”

H.E. Ambassador Jorge Voto-Bernales, Permanent Representative of Peru to the UN:

“The threat of the recurrence of genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity has sharpened our resolve to recognize that we have a responsibility to protect peoples from such scourges.  Thus States Members of the United Nations, including Council members, must be vigilant in order to fulfill our mandate to protect peoples when the State concerned is unable to do so or unwilling to comply with its obligations.”

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(3) Transcript of Daily Press Briefing by the Office of the Spokesman for the Secretary-General of the United Nations, 10 January 2007, http://www.un.org/News/briefings/docs/2007/db070110.doc.htm

"Q: Also, the Secretary-General's Special Envoy Chissano -- is he headed to Uganda to look into the Lord's Resistance Army and the conflict in northern Uganda? The Government of Uganda has said that it would like the indictments of the International Criminal Court dropped. And Judge Goldstone, who was on the Volcker Commission as a UN kind of character, has said that would fatally harm the ICC. Does Ban Ki-moon have any view on whether these first indictments of the International Criminal Court should definitely be enforced, prosecuted, or whether they should be dropped?

MICHELE MONTAS: Well, the process is a judicial process. It's taking place, it's going to continue to take place, and the Secretary- General will not interfere with the process of the Court. So we should not expect the Secretary-General to get involved in the proceedings of the Court."

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(4) Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, The ICC’s first trial will be a milestone in the issue of child soldiers, 29 January 2007, Press Release, http://www.un.org/children/conflict/pr/2007-01-29theiccsfirsttria141.html

“This case is considered a major milestone in international attempts to fight against impunity in order to eradicate the practice of using child soldiers. It will be the first trial of the ICC and, importantly, focuses exclusively on child soldiers,” said a statement from the Office of UN Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict Radhika Coomaraswamy.

“The former militia leader from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is charged with war crimes for enlisting, recruiting and using children under fifteen in hostilities. The Office of the Special Representative reiterates its supports to the ICC and will follow closely the different steps of the proceedings and due process of the Court,” it added.

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(5) Press Conference By United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Louise Arbour, 28 February 2007, http://www.un.org/News/briefings/docs/2007/070228_Arbour.doc.htm

“As for the International Criminal Court’s indictments against senior members of Uganda’s Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), she pointed out that the rebel group had been active for about 20 years and those who now said the indictments were an impediment to peace had short memories.  It was not as though the International Criminal Court had derailed a robust and very promising peace process.  There was cause for skepticism about peace negotiations with a group that seemed to lack any kind of political agenda.  It was very important not to romanticize the LRA as the political champion of the Acholi people, who it had terrorized for 20 years by killing, mutilating and abducting their children.

She said there was a certain amount of revisionism in transforming what was essentially a well organized, very well armed criminal enterprise into a political interlocutor with whom a peace settlement could be negotiated.  Judicial initiatives, and the process of the International Criminal Court, should take their course and negotiations should be about the terms and circumstances of surrender.  However, that did not mean international interlocutors should not engage with the LRA, but it should be made clear that its commanders had been indicted by a credible body that had the support of 104 Member States.  The indictees should answer the serious charges facing them.”

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