El Día de la Justicia Internacional, Más que la Justicia Penal

Durante la primera Conferencia de Revisión del Estatuto de Roma, llevada a cabo en Kampala, Uganda, en Junio de 2011, los Estados partes decidieron unánimemente reconocer la fecha del 17 de julio como el Día de la Justicia Internacional. Esta fecha conmemora la adopción del Estatuto de Roma, tratado por medio del cual se creó la Corte Penal Internacional, y pretende impulsar el compromiso de los Estados en la lucha contra la impunidad de los crímenes internacionales.

La investigación y sanción de los responsables de graves violaciones de los derechos humanos y del derecho internacional humanitario es importante por razones éticas, jurídicas, políticas e institucionales. La sanción penal contribuye asimismo al restablecimiento del derecho a la justicia y de la dignidad de las víctimas.

Universal Jurisdiction Revisited: An alternative to the International Criminal Court?

On July 1, the International Criminal Court (ICC) turned ten years old. This milestone prompted much analysis and some mixed reviews of the court's performance. The ICC recorded its first verdict in March 2012, but there are serious concerns about its procedure and efficiency, patchy international endorsement, and perceived bias. These challenges will be compounded by funding issues and an increased workload as the court faces an uncertain role in the legal fallout from a slew of recent internal conflicts—especially Syria. (Click here to see the Ethics & International Affairs interview with Antonio Franceschet on the ICC's ten-year anniversary).

The International Court of Justice and the UN Human Rights Commission have called for Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad to face trial at the ICC. The New York Bar Association recently wrote a letter to the UN Security Council urging it to refer Syria to the ICC: "Because Syria is not a signatory to the Rome Statute, any crimes committed by the Syrian government…threaten to go unpunished absent Security Council action."  There must be a Security Council mandate to refer a case to the ICC, as was the case with Gaddafi and Libya, but Russia and China continue to block this route.

Reflexiones sobre le impacto del Estatuto de Roma en su 10° aniversario

3/7/2012 El 1 de Julio se cumple el décimo aniversario de la Corte Penal Internacional (CPI). En tal día en 2002, el Estatuto de Roma entró en vigor para establecer el primer tribunal penal permanente e internacional.

Para conmemorar este hito, repasamos la primera década de existencia de la CPI y analizamos cuál es el futuro de la primera gran institución internacional del siglo XXI. Para conocer la realidad de la corte desde dentro, el ICTJ entrevistó a la juez Silvia Fernández de Gurmendi. Jurista y diplomática argentina, Fernández de Gurmendi es también profesora visitante en la Academia de Derechos Humanos y Derecho Humanitario de la Facultad de Leyes de la American University de Washington.

Ceremony for the solemn undertaking of the ICC Prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda

Today, 15 June 2012, Fatou Bensouda made her solemn undertaking and formally took office as the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) during a ceremony held at the seat of the Court in The Hague. Ms Bensouda (the Gambia) was elected at the latest session of the Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute (ASP) in December 2011 for a nine-year term.

In accordance with article 45 of the Rome Statute, founding treaty of the ICC, the ceremony was held in open court. The ceremony was presided over by ICC President Sang-Hyun Song. Referring to Ms Bensouda’s wealth of prosecutorial experience and staunch international support, ICC President Song stated, “I am confident that her strong independent voice, legal expertise and genuine concern for human rights issues will contribute greatly to the continued fight against impunity”.

About the Rio+20 Conference, 20-22 June 2012

At the Rio+20 Conference, world leaders, along with thousands of participants from governments, the private sector, NGOs and other groups, will come together to shape how we can reduce poverty, advance social equity and ensure environmental protection on an ever more crowded planet to get to the future we want.

The United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD) is being organized in pursuance of General Assembly Resolution 64/236 (A/RES/64/236), and will take place in Brazil on 20-22 June 2012 to mark the 20th anniversary of the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), in Rio de Janeiro, and the 10th anniversary of the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) in Johannesburg.

Gender Justice and the Charles Taylor Judgement

At 11 a.m. on Apr. 26, the long-awaited trial judgment in the case of Charles Taylor, former president of Liberia, was announced at the Special Court for Sierra Leone. Taylor faced an 11-count indictment with charges covering a wide variety of atrocities: murder, rape, sexual slavery, enslavement, and other inhumane acts as crimes against humanity, and the war crimes of committing acts of terror, murder, outrages upon personal dignity, cruel treatment, pillage, and conscripting or using child soldiers. Taylor was convicted on all counts in a unanimous judgment.

The Taylor judgment made headlines all over the world. Taylor was the first former head of state to be convicted by an international criminal tribunal since the post-Second World War Nuremberg trials. As well, he was convicted for crimes committed in Sierra Leone from 1996-2002, despite not having set foot in the country during that time. The judges found that he had aided and abetted the infamous Revolutionary United Front (RUF) and Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) rebels while across the border in Liberia. He was also convicted of planning attacks with rebel leader Sam Bockarie (who was also indicted by the Special Court, but died in unclear circumstances in Liberia in 2003).

No todo el Estatuto de Roma hace parte del bloque de constitucionalidad

La aplicación del Estatuto de Roma como parámetro de control de constitucionalidad no es absoluta, reiteró la Corte Constitucional. El alto tribunal explicó que el instrumento internacional se circunscribe a los crímenes de competencia de la Corte Penal Internacional.

El preámbulo del Estatuto y los artículos referidos a los crímenes de genocidio, lesa humanidad y de guerra; la relativización del principio de cosa juzgada y los relacionados con los derechos de las víctimas han sido tenidos en cuenta como parámetros para ejercer dicho control.

ICC Prosecutor goes to Libya on Gaddafi son case

War crimes prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo arrived in Tripoli on Wednesday (18 April) as part of an investigation into charges against Muammar Gaddafi's detained son, Saif al-Islam, sought for trial by the International Criminal Court (ICC).

The Hague-based court issued an arrest warrant for Saif al-Islam last year, after prosecutors accused him and others of involvement in the killing of protesters during the revolt that eventually toppled his father.
Libya says he will be tried in his home country but it has been unable to prize him out of the hands of the militia fighters who caught him in the southern desert in November.

La Corte Penal Internacional dicta su primer fallo

Today, 14 March 2012, Trial Chamber I of the International Criminal Court (ICC) decided unanimously that Thomas Lubanga Dyilo is guilty, as a co-perpetrator, of the war crimes of conscripting and enlisting children under the age of 15 and using them to participate actively in hostilities from 1 September 2002 to 13 August 2003. It is the first verdict issued by an ICC Trial Chamber. At present, 14 other cases are before the Court, three of which are at the stage of trial.
The present war crimes of enlisting and conscripting children under the age of 15 and using them to participate actively in hostilities were committed in the context of an internal armed conflict that took place in the Ituri (the Democratic Republic of the Congo) and involved the Force patriotique pour la libération du Congo (Patriotic Force for the Liberation of the Congo) (FPLC), led by Thomas Lubanga Dyilo, against the Armée Populaire Congolaise and other militias, including the Force de résistance patriotique en Ituri. A common plan was agreed by Mr Lubanga Dyilo and his co-perpetrators to build an army for the purpose of establishing and maintaining political and military control over Ituri. This resulted in boys and girls under the age of 15 being conscripted and enlisted, and used to participate actively in hostilities.

Colombia es el primer país latinoamericano que firma Acuerdo de Ejecución de Sentencias con la CPI

¨Bogotá (May.17/11) (SIG). El Presidente Juan Manuel Santos destacó este martes que Colombia es el primer país latinoamericano en suscribir el Acuerdo de Ejecución de Sentencias con la Corte Penal Internacional, que permitirá que los condenados por el tribunal paguen sus condenas en el país.

Durante la suscripción de esta iniciativa, que se cumplió en el Salón Gobelinos de la Casa de Nariño, con la presencia del Presidente de la Corte Penal Internacional Sang-Hyun Song, el Mandatario destacó la labor que desarrolla el organismo internacional.

CPI carece de jurisdicción en Libia

"El fiscal de la Corte Penal Internacional (CPI) aclaró (...)que como Libia no es uno de los Estados parte del Estatuto de Roma, la intervención de la alta instancia sólo es posible si las autoridades de ese país aceptan su jurisdicción.
Luis Moreno Ocampo añadió que en ausencia de esa medida, el Consejo de Seguridad de la ONU puede referir el caso a la Corte".

Tomado de:Centro de noticias ONU