Paris, 21 October
2003
As of October 2003, 92 States have acceded the Rome Statute.
Universal ratification is needed for the International Criminal
Court (ICC) to be truly effective and to have jurisdiction over
as many situations as possible. Only then will it be in a position
to strengthen the rule of law in the world.
However, it appears that the ratification rate has been stagnating
for some time. Only four States have ratified in 2003. New impetus
is thus needed. To this end, Amnesty International launched
a campaign focusing on a different country each month, with
a view to strengthening public awareness; mobilize civil society
and lobbying governments into taking the necessary steps to
ratify the Statute. This action is supported by the Coalition
for the International Criminal Court (CICC) and the International
Federation for Human Rights (FIDH). Moreover, in parallel with
Amnesty International's initiative, the FIDH has initiated a
ratification campaign on the longer run. This campaign will
last three years and will in particular focus on Asia.
The « target country of the month » in
October is Japan. This choice can easily be explained by the
fact that so far, only 12 Asian countries have ratified the
Rome Statute, namely Afghanistan, Cambodia, Cyprus, East Timor,
Fiji, Jordan, Marshall Islands, Mongolia, Nauru, Republic of
Korea, Samoa, and Tajikistan (according to UN General Assembly
Regional Groups). As a major political power in the region,
Japan's ratification would send a strong message to its neighboring
States.
Although Japan has consistently been supporting the establishment
of the ICC, and has recurrently expressed its commitment to
international justice and the rule of law, the ratification
process has significantly slowed down. Japan declared that it
was currently reviewing its legislation to check its compatibility
with the Rome Statute. Indeed, the principle of complementarity
embodied in the Statute provides that States are primarily responsible
for prosecuting perpetrators of genocide, crimes against humanity
and war crimes. The authorities nonetheless seem to consider
the legislative reform as a rather low priority.
There have however been encouraging signs in the past few months.
In December 2002, during an EU-Japan meeting, EU governments
already party to the Statute provided Japanese authorities with
advice on the modification of national legislation, and shared
experiences with their Japanese counterparts. On 1 July 2002,
the Head of the Delegation of Japan, Ms. Naoko Saiki, made the
follwing statement to the tenth session of the Preparatory Commission
of the International Criminal Court: « It is imperative
that the ICC wins the widest possible support among the members
of the international community ». Japan also reiterated
« its firm commitment » to international
justice. The FIDH also welcomes the statement of the Permanent
Representative of Japan to the United Nations, H.E. Mr. Haraguchi,
at the UN Security Council open debate on Justice and the Rule
of Law on 30 September 2003, according to which « the
most important recent development in international criminal
justice is the birth of the International Criminal Court ».
Those statements must now be followed by concrete actions.
The FIDH urges the Japanese authorities to be consistent with
their commitment to international justice and to take the necessary
measures to be able to ratify the Rome Statute as soon as possible.
The FIDH also calls on civil society to collaborate with the
Japanese Network for the International Criminal Court (JNICC)
in order to raise awareness on this fundamental issue and to
assist the Government with implementation issues. |
