ISS Reception, The Hague: Launch of the African Guide to International Criminal Justice

ISS Reception: Launch of the African Guide to International Criminal Justice
The Hague, 19 November 2008

Hosted by the International Crime in Africa Programme (ICAP), ISS Pretoria

Africa has been supportive of the International Criminal Court’s creation: 30 of the 108 states that have ratified the Rome Statute are African. To support those states that have ratified to implement their international criminal justice obligations, the International Crime in Africa Programme at the Institute for Security Studies (ISS) has recently published the first African Guide to International Criminal Justice. As part of a new initiative to enhance the capacity of African countries to end impunity and encourage accountability, the Guide presents judges, prosecutors, defence lawyers and government officials with an African-focused manual on international criminal justice. As the leading human security organisation in Africa, the ISS aims to ensure that the ICC is better understood and that African states are equipped domestically to comply with their obligations under the Rome Statute.

Guest speakers: Fatou Bensouda, Deputy Prosecutor, ICC and Judge Kimberly Prost, ICTY

Date: Wednesday 19 November 2008
Time: 18h30–19h30
Venue: Delegates Lounge, World Forum Centre, The Hague

RSVP: By Wednesday 12 November to Antoinette Louw, Tel: +27 (0)12 3469500; Fax: +27 (0)86 6367999; Email: [email protected]

Please note that attendance at the reception will require registration to attend the Seventh Session of the International Criminal Court’s Assembly of States Parties

Event Summary

With the assistance of the local South African Embassy, the Guide was launched by the ISS at a reception in the World Forum Centre where the 7th Session of the ICC’s Assembly of State Parties was being held. Attended by more than 100 people from government delegations to the ASP, the diplomatic community, the ICC, and NGOs including the Coalition for the International Criminal Court, the event was opened by the Charge d`Affaires of the SA Embassy.

Guest speakers included Fatou Bensouda, deputy prosecutor of the ICC and Judge Kimberly Prost of the ICTY, both of whom spoke with passion and conviction about the importance of building national capacity in Africa to respond to international crime, and commended the work of the ISS in this regard. With a forward by Navi Pillay (recently appointed the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and former Judge of the ICC and ICTR) and chapters by leading African experts in the field, the Guide has been widely welcomed as unique and necessary for the continent.