ICC ASP 21 Side Events Notes: Countering the Global ...

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Countering the Global Crackdown on Human Rights Defenders and Civil Society: What Role for the ICC and States Parties? (co-hosted by Chile, Finland, Ireland, Sweden, Al-Haq, the Coalition for the International Criminal Court (CICC), Open Society Foundations (OSF), Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch (HRW), International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), Al Mezan Center for Human Rights, Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR), Women’s Initiatives for Gender Justice (WIGJ))

Wednesday, 7 December 2022，13:15 – 14:45 （Antarctica）

This event discussed common challenges facing human rights defenders (HRDs) worldwide, the need for support for HRDs facing increased attacks and threats, and the role that the ICC, the ASP, and the international community can play to support and protect their work to advance justice.

Virginie Amato, Coalition for the ICC

• Welcome remarks.
  

Anu Saarela, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Finland

• HRDs and civil society play a critical role in creating the ICC, in drafting the Rome Statute, and in gathering evidence on the frontline; but their space of activities is increasingly shrinking and their working environment is deteriorating in many places around the world.
  
• Finland proposed Guidelines for Civil Society, making sure the voices of HRDs are heard in multilateral settings, and providing training mechanisms to strengthen the expertise of civil society organisations in documenting human rights violations. The Guidelines are inspired by the recommendation of independent expert review, and she suggested using this strategy to promote civil society participation before the Court.
  
• Stronger voice from civil society is needed in ASP for the proper functioning of ICC. We must support not only the ICC itself, but those who collaborate with it, including members of the civil society.
  

Virginie Amato, Coalition for the ICC

• As the host of this side event, she posed several questions to the speakers:
  
  
  
  • What kind of attacks and crackdowns have you experienced as human rights defenders?
    
  • How do you react and adapt to them?
    
  • What role should the ASP and the ICC play to strengthen civil society participation?
    
  
  

Génesis Davila, Defiende Venezuela

• Génesis considered that the role of her and her colleagues are not merely defenders, advocates or freedom fighters, but also survivors in dictatorship regimes. Every day, they face great risks of being fired, losing their salary, being prisoned for political reasons, and even losing their lives just because their government does not like them.
  
• She gave several examples of her colleagues’ experience to show the repression they suffered in Venezuela: intimidation from the government, put into prison, torture, and killing. The threat from the government is not only about persecution, but about making their job uncomfortable, making them think twice every day when deciding whether to stand up to fight for justice again.
  
• She acknowledges the work of the Coalition for the ICC (‘CICC’) which opens the space for civil society in the ASP. Without the CICC’s help, their presence at the ASP is almost impossible. The ASP itself restricts the space of members of civil society by requesting them to get sponsorship from States in order to have their events published in the Journal; but it is impossible for them to get support from the government that they denounce, or to have diplomatic negotiation with other States to get their sponsorship.
  
• Sometimes when officers of the ICC have meetings with members of civil society, the former suggest not to publish the pictures in order not to put the latter at risk. Génesis commented that this is like to tell women not to dress in a provocative way to avoid sexual violence. She argued that their meetings with the ICC are not illegal and should be made public just as the ICC’s meetings with government officials.
  

Ahmed Abfoul, Al Haq

• Ahmed started with an introduction of Al Haq which is the first Palestinian human rights organization documenting Israeli violations of human rights and international law.
  
• Ahmed argued that there is growing consensus among the human rights community that Israel is an apartheid regime. The regime designates many Palestanian human rights organizations as terrorists. Israel does not permit external investigatory teams to enter its territory and the members of the civil society on the ground is the only source of evidence for the ICC, while they face intimidation and harassment because of their work for the ICC.
  
• On 18 August, the Israeli Occupying Force raided several organizations designated as ‘terrorist groups’, invaded their office, stole and destroyed their documents and evidence, including those documenting crimes against children.
  
• Ahmed calls for more support from the international community. Many States, the UN special rapporteurs, the EU have rejected Israel’s designations, but more concrete measures remain to be done.
  
• As to how they adapt and respond to the threats and repression, Ahmed did not disclose details because of security reasons, but he said that they have found innovative ways to preserve their evidence and the government’s intimidation did not stop them. For example, after the bombardment by the Israeli forces of their office, they cooperated with artists, with a view to transform the spot from a symbol of oppression into a symbol of defiance.
  
• As to the role of ASP, ICC, and States, Ahmed called for more States to adopt Guidelines to support civil society like Finland. He noted that  the ICC Presidency proposed some steps to strengthen the participation of civil society, but none of the concrete steps have taken place. He calls on the ASP to adopt its own proposal and carry out the concrete steps.
  

Rosemary Tollo, Journalists for Justice

• Rosemary introduced the experience of HRDs in Kenya after the post-election crisis in 2007. HRDs suffer from not only physical but also verbal threats (e.g. the civil society is labelled as ‘evil society’, suffer from cyber bullying and a series of disinformation campaigns). There is also formal repression from State machinery which intimidates their foreign donors to stop funding their work.
  
• Rosemary expressed her thanks to the support from the international community, including fellow colleagues working in NGOs nationally and internationally, the participants attending the event, and the ASP which gives a window for truth telling to hear views from Kenyan civil society. She said that the most important thing is that we work with solidarity. She also gave the example of the Netherlands HRDs shelter program which is important in improving the welfare of HRDs and in motivating them to keep fighting.
  

Ehsan Qaane, Transitional Justice Coordination Group (TJCG)

• The persecution of human right defenders in Afghanistan has a long history, and the situation became worse when the Taliban came to power.
  
• Afghanistan HRDs are forced to flee their country. Some fled to neighboring countries such as Pakistan and Iran, but have the risk of being deported back; Some sought refuge in Europe but might not easily go back to Afghanistan in the near future; Those remaining in Afghanistan are hiding, and suffering from the risk of being tortured and killed. Those working for women, LGBTQ, religious rights, and some other minority groups are in the worst situation.
  
• Ehsan explains two reasons why they are targeted by the Taliban. The first is the incompatibility between human rights values and the Taliban regime politically and ideologically. Human rights groups are seen as part of western occupation by the Taliban. The second is security reasons. For example, a Taliban military commander was identified and bombed, after local civil society assisting the OTP’s investigation documented evidence from victims of human rights abuses.
  
• Many of those who left the country have received support from the international community (e.g. financial support); and some countries also help them to leave the danger. However, a lot of HRDs are left behind. The international community should do better to support those left in Afghanistan, and also those in Pakistan and Iran who might be deported back. HRDs in provinces far from the capital are in particular danger, as they unfortunately do not have the capacity to connect with the international community.
  
• As for the role of the ICC, they received some informal support from the VPRS at the beginning, but the support does not continue. He argues that it is the HRDs who do the job that the ICC should have done on the ground, thus the ICC has the obligation to support them who are at risk. The complicated bureaucracy at the Court makes it complex for them to seek support, and the Court should have specific personnel in charge of such situations.
  

Q&A  

• A question was asked about the the interaction between the ICC Prosecutor and Civil Society
  
• Genesis: in general, the OTP has shown the desire to support and have meetings with them.
  
• Ahmed: OTP made no statements when some human rights violations occurred in Palestine; better communication with civil society is needed, and a lot of work remains to be done .
  
• Ehsan: Transparency in the OTP is an issue. Victims need to read what is happening in the OTP and ICC in their native language.
  

• Comments from Palestinian Ambassador to the ASP
  
• Palestine offers unconditional support for the work of civil society. The Court cannot succeed by only working with the government; it must work with civil society. Sometimes, victims have more trust with civil society than with their government.
  
• The efforts to be done should not be limited to ASP and ICC, but should be reflected everywhere, such as the UN human rights council.
  
• It is recommended to form the unity of civil society to come up with mechanisms to allow members of civil society to express themselves. It is important that civil society keeps unity and solidarity.
  
• He criticised some governments who supported the occupying regimes, and even sanctioned civil societies.
  
• Protection is an extremely important aspect, including providing safe refuge for the HRDs.
  

Yassir Khdayri, Open Society Foundations

• Yassir expressed welcome to Finland’s Guidelines, and hoped it can inspire States to do the same.
  
• He commented that the speakers today are not asking for much, but just ask for simple things that the international community can do. Members of civil society are not just NGOs but citizens of the international community. Many of the HRDs stand up for the Court and OTP. The court needs and benefits from civil society more than the other way around. Their lack of support is highly concerning, and much more can be done. This is not an issue that is facing one country. Oppression knows no boundaries.
  

Further material of the side event:
https://www.alhaq.org/cached_uploads/download/2022/11/30/concept-note-hrds-side-event-asp21-1669819867.pdf