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Interview with Wangari Maathai; Op Ed and Related News Articles

23 June 2010

Dear all,

Please find below latest information related to the recent decision by the International Criminal Court (ICC) to open an investigation into the Kenya situation

This message includes an interview with Nobel Peace Prize winner Wangari Maathai (I), Opinion Editorial by Wangari Maathai for OSI blog and other news articles highlighting the situation in Kenya (III)

Please also take note of the Coalition's policy on situations before the ICC (below), which explicitly states that the CICC will not take a position on potential and current situations before the Court or situations under analysis. The Coalition, however, will continue to provide the most up-to-date information about the ICC.

Best regards,

CICC Secretariat
www.coalitionfortheicc.org

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I. INTEVIEW

i "True African Leaders Have Nothing to Fear From ICC", Evelyn Kiapi and Wangari Maathai, IPS News, 10 June 2010, http://www.ipsnews.net/africa/nota.asp?idnews=51780

"As the first Review Conference of the Rome Statute that established the International Criminal Court takes stock of the ICC's achievements and considers amendments to strengthen the pursuit of justice around the world, the first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize is one of its strongest defenders.

Wangari Maathai is internationally recognised for her persistent struggle for democracy, human rights and environmental conservation...

...Q: Why is the ICC being accused of focusing and targeting only Africa?

A: That's an excuse for Africa. The mandate of the ICC is to target people who commit crimes against humanity and to come in where national mechanisms fail to punish perpetrators.
In Kenya, we failed to handle the situation; Sudan was referred by the Security Council for crimes in Darfur. Uganda, DR Congo and Sierra Leone invited the ICC because they could not do anything at the national level.
It is not that Africa is being targeted. Perhaps, this is a reflection that there are a lot of conflicts and gross violations of human rights in Africa and African countries are not able to deal with them at the national level.

What Africa needs to do is learn to deal with these issues honestly and fairly. True African leaders have nothing to fear from the ICC.

Q: What are your views on the ICC's involvement in Kenya?

A: The ICC came to Kenya because Kenyans failed to create a tribunal that can punish the perpetrators. It is true that the ICC will only be able to punish the few; the most responsible.
But there will be thousands who were involved in killing, robbing and displacement of people that will have to be tried by some form of tribunal in Kenya. So in some ways we are complementing and in others, cooperating with the ICC. (...)

Q: You hold the view that the ICC is strengthening national justice systems. What evidence is there to show that this is true?

A: Kenya is a very good example. We will now have to domesticate some aspects of the ICC in order to punish the many thousands of people who committed crimes during the post election violence. That in many ways is helping us to improve our own system of justice." (...)

II. EDITORIAL

i. "International Criminal Court's Daunting Challenges", Wairagala Wakabi, OSI, 9 June 2010,
http://blog.soros.org/2010/06/international-criminal-courts-daunting-challenges/

"At the review conference for the International Criminal Court (ICC) in Kampala, the Open Society Justice Initiative, together with several partners, has taken the opportunity to address some of the challenges the court faces...

...James Goldston, the Open Society Justice Initiative executive director, made reference to three case studies: Uganda, Kenya, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. These cases, he said, showed that neither donor states nor countries that had experienced atrocities have given sufficient priority to complementarity or to domestic law reform.

Goldston offered specific proposals, among them that the Assembly of States Parties could create a special working group to capitalize on synergies between the work on the ICC and that of groups promoting the rule of law. The working group would include nonstates parties and rule of law experts who would provide intellectual leadership for donor and recipient states.

Some of the speakers suggested that one of the keys to achieving the principle of complementarity would be to build the capacity of judicial authorities in developing countries to enable them handle serious crimes. Conference plenary discussions on complementarity focused on possible actions that states could undertake to strengthen and enable other states' capabilities to conduct investigations and trials of international crimes.

Addressing the plenary session at the conference, the president of the ICC, Judge Sang-Hyun Song, stated that integrating ICC crimes in national codes offered a first measure of states' commitment to the principle of complementarity. According to him, developing national capacities was primarily the responsibility of States, and the Court only had a limited role as a catalyst or facilitator of information sharing.

A second side panel organized by the Justice Initiative, together with the Human Rights Center at the University of California at Berkeley, highlighted approaches to outreach and ideas for overcoming common challenges.

Panelists at this event shared outreach experiences from the ICC, the Special Court for Sierra Leone, and the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia. The panel also featured a presentation from Interactive Radio for Justice, whose work engages communities in the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Central African Republic in discussions on justice issues via local radio programs...."

ii. "A hopeful future for Kenya", Victor Peskin and Eric Stover, LA Times, http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-stoverandpeskin-kenya-20100607,0,5969617,print.story

"Two recent events marked a potential turning point in Kenya's troubled political history. The first was the unveiling of a proposed new constitution, which would limit the power of the president and provide for an independent judiciary. The second was a visit to Nairobi by Luis Moreno-Ocampo, the International Criminal Court's chief prosecutor, who announced he would seek indictments and convictions of up to six masterminds of Kenya's postelection violence that left more than 1,100 people dead and displaced hundreds of thousands in 2008.

Many Kenyans hope that ICC indictments and the proposed constitution, which they will vote on in August, will forestall ethnic violence in the lead up to the 2012 presidential election. Indeed, several factors suggest this optimism may be well-founded.

To begin with, a new constitution "will send a very strong signal that things are changing," a foreign ambassador told us. The charter, though flawed, aims to address long-standing grievances such as land grabbing and an unrestrained security apparatus implicated in thousands of extrajudicial killings. But the real test will be in implementation, which may take years.

As for the ICC, one recent poll found that the majority of Kenyans back international prosecutions. Moreno-Ocampo is fortunate that Kenyan human rights organizations were on the ground documenting the crimes not long after they happened. He still faces the formidable challenge of securing "insider witnesses" who can link atrocities to high-level politicians. He must also prove the offenses rise to the level of crimes against humanity.

And he will need leverage to persuade Kenyan leaders to send suspects to The Hague-based court. Kenyans' support for the proceedings will help, but bringing the indicted into custody will also depend on the international community's applying pressure on Kenya. The government's dependence on foreign aid renders it vulnerable to arm-twisting, particularly by Britain and the United States. (Although the U.S. is not a party to the ICC treaty, it backs the court's pursuit of accountability in Kenya.)

Significant hurdles will remain. Kenyan leaders are legendary for obstructing justice. As one Western diplomat told us, those indicted by the ICC "will use every dirty trick in the book" to prevent their transfer to The Hague. Already, civil society groups that operate their own witness protection programs have reported increased witness intimidation. Some Kenyan government officials tried at the last minute to block Moreno-Ocampo's visit to Nairobi.

To avoid more violence, Moreno-Ocampo must act evenhandedly, without singling out one political party or ethnic group for blame for the widespread violence in 2008. Kenyan rights activists report that some rival groups, particularly in the volatile Rift Valley, are preparing for renewed bloodshed. 'The likelihood of another explosion is significant unless things go well,' said a foreign ambassador. The prosecutor is expected, at the very least, to indict officials from both of the two main political parties, whose members are drawn from Kenya's two largest ethnic groups. Some activists and diplomats hope that Moreno-Ocampo will go further by indicting high-level police and security officials who allegedly ordered postelection killings.

Ideally, the ICC will be the harbinger of a new culture of accountability. Many in Kenya - and Moreno-Ocampo himself - hope indictments will rekindle interest in creating a domestic tribunal to adjudicate the violence, which the Kenyan parliament failed to establish last year. Such a tribunal could bring to justice scores of mid- and low-level suspects...."

I. OTHER NEWS

i. "Kenya washes its dirty linen at ICC", Patrick Mathangani, Standard, 3 June 2010, http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/InsidePage.php?id=2000010847&cid=4&ttl=Kenya washes its dirty linen at ICC

"Kenya shamed itself at the ongoing conference reviewing operations of International Criminal Court in Kampala following a public spat in its official delegation.
Two wings of the Grand Coalition's official delegation called separate news conferences to claw at each other after differing on what took them to the conference...

...The spat was mainly between Attorney General Amos Wako, whom Prime Minister Raila Odinga's side of the coalition perceives as leaning towards President Kibaki's party, and the PM's special advisor on coalition matters Miguna Miguna." (...)

ii. "UN official urges Kenya on local tribunal", Sammy Cheboi, Daily Nation, 7 June 2010,
http://www.nation.co.ke/News/-/1056/933700/-/w8s2yg/-/

"Kenya should consider establishing a local tribunal to try post election suspects, a United Nations official has said.

Although the Government has invited the International Criminal Court to pursue those bearing the greatest responsibility over the violence, victims are not likely to get justice as majority of those who committed crimes will go unpunished, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said on Monday.

Citing the cries of the violence victims as a reason for pursuing a local mechanism to punish perpetrators, Ms Navanethem Pillay called on Kenya's Parliament to reconsider the issue as part of a process to end impunity." (...)

iii. "UN rights chief calls for special tribunal for Kenya's post-election violence", UN News, 8 June 2010, http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=34959&Cr=kenya&Cr1=

"The United Nations human rights chief today urged the Kenyan Government to reconsider setting up a special tribunal to pursue accountability for the crimes committed during the violence that followed the disputed December 2007 elections.

'I have been assured that this option is still open,' High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said in a statement issued at the end of a three-day visit to Kenya." (...)

iv."ICC, must determine crime of aggression, African states insist", Alfred Nyongesa Wandera, Daily Monitor, 10 June 2010, http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/-/688334/935826/-/x0t47c/-/

"The 3O Africa states that are parties to the Rome Statute have unanimously agreed that it is the International Criminal Court and not the UN Security Council that shall determine whether crime of aggression has been committed...

...The Kenyan ambassador and permanent representative of Kenya mission to UN Zachary Muburi-Muita said by ICC wielding powers to determine whether crime of aggression has been committed is democratising international political system." (...)

v. "Court keeps Kenya minister's name in violence probe", Reuters, 11 June 2010,
http://af.reuters.com/article/topNews/idAFJOE65A0LE20100611

"Kenyan judges on Friday blocked a bid by the country's finance minister to remove his name from a report linking him to 2007-08 post-election violence, which killed hundreds and has led to international criminal probes.

A report by the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights, a state-funded human rights body, implicated several businessmen and senior politicians, including Finance Minister Uhuru Kenyatta, in post-election violence that killed over 1,300 people in 2008." (...)

vi. "Political violence takes several lives in Nairobi", Wolfgang H. Thome, eTurbo News, 13 June 2010, http://www.eturbonews.com/16681/political-violence-takes-several-lives-nairobi

"...The violent end to this rally brought up instant memories of the nasty post election violence, when ethnic groups and political opponents settled scores in the streets over allegedly stolen election results, a matter now receiving due attention by the International Criminal Court in The Hague, where indictments are expected to be filed soon against key ringleaders, whose bloody handiwork cost well over a thousand lives at the time." (...)

vii. "Kenyan churches blame gov't for blasts at rally", Tom Odula and Tom Maliti, AP, 14 June 2010,
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5j6kjNKtAwyeNpbE2Zt8JSOIPISFgD9GB5EU80

"The National Council of Churches accused Kenya's government on Monday of involvement in a grenade attack on a rally against a draft constitution that would allow abortions in life-threatening pregnancies and recognize Islamic courts.
The accusation over Sunday evening's attack, which killed six people, could set a contentious tone between the groups supporting and opposing the draft constitution, which the country votes on Aug. 4. Political analysts said leaders of the groups needed to tamp down emotions or violence could flare...
... More than 1,000 people died in the postelection violence of 2007-08. No leaders of that violence have been held to account, but the attacks are being investigated by the International Criminal Court." (...)

viii. "Election violence ghost returns", Sam Kiplagat and Lucas Barasa, Daily Nation, 13 June 2010, http://www.nation.co.ke/News/politics/Election violence ghost returns/-/1064/937570/-/4nsff4/-/index.html

"The ghost of post-election violence has returned to haunt top political leaders and prominent businessmen accused of funding and fanning the violence that nearly brought the country to its knees.

This time, the ghost returned from the corridors of justice where Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta had sought to have his name removed from a report of the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights." (...)

ix. "Kenya: Fear of ICC trials fuels Kenya's constitutional rift", Afrique en ligne, 18 June 2010,
http://www.afriquejet.com/news/africa-news/kenya:-fear-of-icc-trials-fuels-kenya's-constitutional-rift-2010061851273.html

"Kenya's governing coalition is yet to come to terms with a failed attempt to rally the African Union member states to force the International Criminal Court (ICC) to defer investigations into the masterminds and financiers of the 2008 post-election violence, PANA reported Thursday.

As a result, the two main parties, the Party of National Unity and Orange Democratic Movement are battling hard to either defeat or pass, respectively, the proposed constitution that has elicited strong reactions in the 'Yes' and 'No' camps,as the country heads to a referendum 4 August.
The strong positions taken on the draft are believed to have been informed by the looming ICC indictments. The differences on how to treat ICC are also perceived to be a possible cause of last weekend's twin grenade attacks in central Nairobi's Uhuru Park.

The heightening of political tension is tied to a section of the coalition's inability to muster support during last month's ICC Review conference in Kampala, Uganda, which leaves Kenyan suspects in 2008 election violence at the mercy of the international criminal justice." (...)

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CICC's policy on the referral and prosecution of situations before the ICC:
The Coalition for the ICC is not an organ of the court. The CICC is an independent NGO movement dedicated to the establishment of the International Criminal Court as a fair, effective, and independent international organization. The Coalition will continue to provide the most up-to-date information about the ICC and to help coordinate global action to effectively implement the Rome Statute of the ICC. The Coalition will also endeavor to respond to basic queries and to raise awareness about the ICC's trigger mechanisms and procedures, as they develop. The Coalition as a whole, and its secretariat, do not endorse or promote specific investigations or prosecutions or take a position on situations before the ICC. However, individual CICC members may endorse referrals, provide legal and other support on investigations, or develop partnerships with local and other organizations in the course of their efforts.
Communications to the ICC can be sent to:
ICC
P.O. box 19519
2500 CM the Hague
The Netherlands