Download joint open letter here.
Dear Madam Prosecutor,
As your term as prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) draws to a close, we are writing to thank you for your longstanding service and significant contributions to the ICC, as well as to acknowledge the progress that the Office of the Prosecutor has made during your tenure.
While civil society organizations have identified areas for improvement and will continue to advocate for changes to ensure effective investigations and prosecutions, the office has made considerable advances in a number of situations and preliminary examinations under your leadership.
We especially admire the high degree of independence you have exhibited during your mandate. Your office has opened investigations in the face of immense pressure and politicized opposition. You have done this work at great personal and institutional cost. Developments on the ground in Myanmar, Afghanistan, and Palestine over the last few months have confirmed that accountability in those and other situations is essential, especially when the ICC is the only remaining option for justice. We will call on the next prosecutor to build on this legacy and continue to ensure that the court fulfils its mandate, regardless of the nationality or position of alleged perpetrators.
Finally, we thank you for your office’s—and your personal—constructive engagement and collaboration with civil society over the past eighteen years. As the office ransitions into new leadership, civil society cooperation will be critical to the court’s success, and we will continue to work hard to support the ICC.
We wish you the very best with your future endeavors.
Sincerely,
Action des chrétiens pour l’abolition de la torture au Burundi
African Centre for Democracy and Human Rights
Al-Haq
Al Mezan Center for Human Rights
All Survivors Project
Amnesty International
Asia Justice and Rights
Asian Legal Resource Centre
Asociación Civil Democracia Global
Asociación Feminista La Cuerda, Guatemala
Australian Centre for International Justice
Bureau d’études et de réflexions pour le bien-être des communautés, DRC
Center for Accountability and Rule of Law – Sierra Leone
Center for Peace and Justice, BRAC University
Centre for African Justice, Peace and Human Rights
Centre for Democracy and Development
Centre marocain de la loi et la paix
Children Education Society, Tanzania
CLEEN Foundation, Nigeria
Club des amis du droit du Congo
Coalition burundaise pour la Cour pénale internationale
Coalition guinéenne pour la Cour pénale internationale
Coalition ivoirienne pour la Cour pénale internationale
Coalition malienne pour la Cour pénale internationale
Coalitions d’Afrique francophone pour la Cour pénale internationale
Comisión Mexicana de Defensa y Promoción de los Derechos Humanos
Congo Peace Initiative
Dr. Denis Mukwege FoundationEconomic Justice Network-Sierra Leone
Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect
Global Justice Center
HEDA Resource Centre, Nigeria
Human Rights Watch
Impact: Center against Human Trafficking and Sexual Violence in Conflict
Informal Venezuelan NGO Network
Institute for Human Rights and Development in Africa
Institute for Security Studies
International Center for MultiGenerational Legacies of Trauma
International Commission of Jurists
International Federation for Human Rights
International Platform of Jurists for East Timor
Iranian Center for International Criminal Law
Justice and Reconciliation Project, Uganda
Justice International
Kenya Human Rights Commission
Kurdish Organizations Network Coalition for the International Criminal Court
Lawyers Committee on Nuclear Policy
Ligue burundaise des droits de l’homme Iteka
MADRE
MARUAH, Singapore
Naripokkho, Bangladesh
Nigerian Coalition for the International Criminal Court
No Peace Without Justice
Observatoire ivoirien des droits de l’homme
Odhikar, Bangladesh
Open Society Justice InitiativePalestinian Centre for Human Rights
Parliamentarians for Global Action
Philippine Coalition for the International Criminal Court
Reporters Without Borders
Réseau Equitas, Côte d’Ivoire
Rohingya Women Welfare Society
Sexual Violence Research Initiative
Society for Threatened People, Switzerland
SOS-Burundi
Students for Global Democracy-Uganda
Sudanese Women Rights Action
Swedish Foundation for Human Rights
Transitional Justice Coordination Group, Afghanistan
Ukrainian Legal Advisory Group
United Nations Association – Greater Philadelphia
United Nations Association of Sweden
Vision GRAM-International
Women’s Initiatives for Gender Justice
Women’s Rights Advancement and Protection Alternative, Nigeria
World Federalist Movement-Canada
World Federalist Movement/Institute for Global Policy
World Renewers Organization
World Without Genocide