Arabs Urged To Join International Court

by Nabil Sultan

(IPS) SANA'A, Yemen -- Civil society organizations agreed last week to launch a campaign to pressure Arab states to join the International Criminal Court.

Several Arab states such as Egypt, Sudan, Syria, Yemen and the United Arab Emirates have signed up to the International Criminal Court (ICC) but not ratified their membership. So far 99 countries have ratified membership, with the United States the most significant exception.

Countries that accept the ICC accept its right to act when their own national institutions fail to deal with genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. The court has begun proceedings in cases of such crime in Sudan, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo. The ICC has been set up at The Hague in the Netherlands.

The Coalition for the International Criminal Court (CICC), a network of more than 2,000 non-governmental organizations working in support of the court led the campaign launched in Sana'a last week to bring more Arab countries into the ICC.

A two-day meeting was organized by the CICC together with the Arab Sisters Forum for Human Rights and the International Federation for Human Rights (IFHR). Representatives from 12 Arab countries attended the event, including mostly lawyers, political leaders and human rights activists.

They agreed to push institutions, particularly the Arab League, the African Horn Union and the Gulf Cooperation Council to call for ratification of the ICC. They said such efforts should be persistent, and not feeble and periodical.

They agreed to organize workshops, training courses for media and awareness campaigns in support of the international court. The CICC is also beginning to lobby governments directly, Anjali Kamat from the coalition announced.

Kamat and William Pace from the International Federation for Human Rights met with Yemeni officials. There was, however, no immediate indication from Yemeni officials that they will consider ratification.

Arab regimes are afraid of ratifying the Rome statute on the basis of which the ICC was set up because "they are not in harmony with their people," lawyer Naji Alaw said. Disappearances, torture and arbitrary detentions without charge or trial are common in the Arab world, he said. The situation had worsened in the course of the 'war on terror,' he said.

Many of the delegates pointed to discriminatory laws in the Arab world, particularly in relation to women's rights, freedom of expression and the right to set up political parties. "The judicial systems in the region are corrupt, and the bureaucracy is disturbing," chair of the Arab sisters forum Amal al-Basha told the meeting.

"We have to do the best to make the Middle East, North Africa and the Gulf countries places for peaceful living and co-existence," al-Basha said. "The region's countries are the most in need to ratify the International Criminal Court because they are universally undemocratic."

Several delegates said there is little support among people for human rights. "People are ready to support any charitable society, but they are not aware of the importance of donations for human rights organizations," activist Entisar Mohammed Ali told IPS. But others pointed out that human and legal rights groups themselves lack a unified approach on the ICC.

The activists backing the ICC found support from Yemeni minister for human rights Amat al-Alim al-Soswa. The establishment of the ICC in 1998 was "a turning point towards enhancing justice, changing words about respecting human rights and scarcity of human dignity into deeds, and finding effective international legal mechanisms which guarantee the respecting of mankind all over the world," she told the meeting.

"The International Criminal Court is one of the most important mechanisms," she said. "We hope it will achieve its goals."

Shawki al-Qadhi, member of the human rights committee in the Parliament criticized Arab countries who had signed the ICC agreement, and then not ratified the treaty.

"In Yemen, the constitutional committee in charge of discussing the ratification blames the delay on the difficult situation in the country," al-Qadhi told IPS. "They just waste time and look for excuses."