The ICC Review Mechanism
In early 2021 States Parties appointed Ambassador Paul Van Den Ijssel (Netherlands), based in The Hague, and Ambassador Michael Kanu (Sierra Leone), based in New York, as the State party representatives heading the ICC Review Mechanism. States parties also appointed three regional country focal points: Bangladesh, Chile, and Poland.
The Mechanism is mandated to:
- Submit a proposal for the categorization of the IER recommendations by 30 April, to the ASP Bureau.
- Submit a proposed action plan to the Bureau by 30 June. The proposed action plan should:
– Allocate the IER recommendations to the relevant court organs and ASP thematic focal points, facilitations, and working groups for their considerations. The Mechanism is expected to deal with the rest of the recommendations;
– Prioritize the IER recommendations; and
– Set deadlines for the consideration of the IER recommendations.
- Regularly brief States Parties on its progress and submit a report on the review process to the ASP ahead of the 20th session of the Assembly of States Parties.
Proposal for the categorization of the IER recommendations
On 29 April 2021, the ICC Review Mechanism submitted its “Proposal for the categorization of the IER recommendations and remaining review issues” to the ASP Bureau, together with an Introductory note.
The Review Mechanism also published the Comments on categorization submitted by:
- States Parties (Argentina, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Colombia, France, Germany, Japan, Kenya, Mexico, Spain, Switzerland, United Kingdom, Joint submission by the Nordic countries -Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden-, and Study Group on Governance (SGG) Co-Chairs and focal points)
- The Court (by the Court, Office of Public Counsel for the Defence (OPCD), Staff Union Council)
- Civil society (Human Rights Watch, Maruah, Philippines-CICC, SALC)
- And the International Criminal Court Bar Association
Background
A review of the ICC’s performance for a strengthened Court and Rome Statute System
In 2018 the Rome Statute celebrated its 20th anniversary. States Parties, Court officials, civil society and other key stakeholders reflected then on the achievements and the challenges of the ICC and the Rome Statute system. The ICC’s own shortcomings had become evident: limited success of the Prosecution in the courtroom, with a low conviction rate, taking into account the number of cases investigated; limited impact in the countries concerned; lack of an adequate level of cooperation; among others.That triggered discussions on steps to strengthen the Courtand the Rome Statute system.
In 2019, this led to the launch of a review of the functioning of the court’s and the Rome Statute system.
For more information, please visit https://www.coalitionfortheicc.org/review-icc-and-rome-statute-system.
MARUAH Singapore 