Photo credits from left to right: Lynchpics/Alamy - Clive Gee/Alamy - Zuma Press/Alamy
Today marks the launch of FIDH briefing paper, co-published with REDRESS and drafted in collaboration with students from The Hague University of Applied Sciences, entitled “Ending Immunity, Ending Impunity: Advancing Accountability for Heads of State at the International Criminal Court”. Alexis Deswaef, President of FIDH, presented the briefing paper, prepared as part of the Global Initiative Against Impunity: Making Justice Work (GIAI), at a side event in the margins of ASP24 on “Arresting suspects of international crimes - States Parties legal obligations to cooperate and civil society contributions”.
The Rome Statute affirms that even the most powerful individuals can be held to account when national systems fail. For millions denied justice at home, the International Criminal Court (ICC or the Court) offers a vital source of hope. That hope diminishes each time a State Party declines to arrest a sitting head of state wanted by the Court on grounds of personal immunity. Such failures erode the collective commitment underpinning the Rome Statute and risk turning a clear legal framework into political selectivity. This paper explains why personal immunities do not apply before the ICC and therefore do not bar cooperation with it. It is essential that States reaffirm this principle to preserve equality before the law and ensure the Court remains a credible avenue for accountability.
This paper identifies four priority areas where action by States Parties is essential to maintain the integrity of the Rome Statute framework:
– Actively reaffirm their commitment to the Court and the cooperation regime.
– Adhere to the Court’s jurisprudence and its consistent rejection of immunities.
– Follow the ICC Chambers’ coherent interpretation of Articles 27 and 98 of the Rome Statute.
– Affirm, per customary international law, that immunities are no bar to the execution of ICC arrest warrants.
