ICC President Presented the Annual Report to the UNGA without mentioning the Investigation on the Situation in Afghanistan

12-10-2021

Idil Aydinoglu

International Justice and Human Rights Team,

Global Human Rights Defense.

On 10 November 2021, The President of the International Criminal Court Judge Piotr Hofmański addressed the United Nations General Assembly to present the annual report of the Court.  The President underscored the achievements of the Court, dealing with a wide scope of work in protecting international peace, justice, and the rule of law with “far lower cost than what the creation, running and closing of multiple tribunals would involve.” [1] 

Hofmański listed the record of the Court as; the confirming judgments of acquittal of Gbagbo, the former leader of Ivory Coast, and the politician Blé Goudé, both accused of crimes against humanity; the confirming conviction of Ntaganda, the former militia leader; the first trial judgments on the situation in Uganda convicting the former child soldier and militia leader Ongwen to 25 years for war crimes and crimes against humanity, and the ongoing trials regarding the situations in Mali, Central African Republic and Darfur. He further noted the initiation of investigations on the situation in the State of Palestine, Venezuela, and the Philippines.

In his speech, the President opted out to address March 5, 2020, the Appeal Chamber decision authorizing investigation regarding the situation in Afghanistan, in which he sat as the Presiding Judge.[2] The decision was the result of former ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda’s request back in November 2017, seeking an investigation on the crimes against humanity and war crimes claims of Taliban, Afghan National Security Forces, and members of the US military forces, including the US Central Intelligence Agency ("CIA") [3]. Due to this investigation, Fatou Bensouda faced an unprecedented backlash from the US blacklisting and banning her from entering the country. [4] Upon his appointment, in September 2021, the successor ICC Prosecutor, Karim Khan, requested an investigation to prioritise the crimes committed by Taliban and the Islamic State, “and to deprioritize other aspects of the investigation”.[5] The decision was criticized for shadowing the accountability efforts and creating “grave questions on the ICC-OTP’s future legitimacy and purpose”.[6] 

Sources and further reading:

[1] “Presentation of the Court’s annual report to the UN General Assembly”, 10 November 2021 United Nations, New York, https://www.icc-cpi.int/itemsDocuments/211110-ICC-President-UNGA-speech.pdf

[2]  “Afghanistan: ICC Appeals Chamber authorises the opening of an investigation”, 5 March 2020, https://www.icc-cpi.int/Pages/item.aspx?name=pr1516

[3] ‘The Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Fatou Bensouda, requests judicial authorisation to commence an investigation into the Situation in the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan”, 20 November 2017, https://www.icc-cpi.int/pages/item.aspx?name=171120-otp-stat-afgh

[4] Reuters, “U.S. blacklists ICC prosecutor over Afghanistan war crimes probe”, 15 September 2020, https://www.reuters.com/article/usa-icc-sanctions-int-idUSKBN25T2EB

[5] “Statement of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Karim A. A. Khan QC, following the application for an expedited order under article 18(2) seeking authorisation to resume investigations in the Situation in Afghanistan”, 21 September 2021, https://www.icc-cpi.int/Pages/item.aspx?name=2021-09-27-otp-statement-afghanistan

[6] Amnesty International, “Afghanistan: ICC Prosecutor’s statement on Afghanistan jeopardises his Office’s legitimacy and future”, 5 October 2021, https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/ior53/4842/2021/en/