Features

April 26, 2010

Mini-documentary Series: The Role of ICC Preliminary Examinations

Skylight Pictures has created a series of mini-documentaries from the proceedings of the Consultative Conference on International Criminal Justice, held at UN Headquarters in New York in September 2009. Participants of the conference included leading international institutions, state actors and nongovernmental organizations. ICTJ was a member of the conference steering committee and President Emeritus Juan E. Mendez and Senior Fellow Cecile Aptel were key presenters.

4. The Role of ICC Preliminary Examinations

Today the International Criminal Court is examining allegations of grave crimes in Georgia, Colombia, Afghanistan, Guinea, Cote d'Ivoire and Gaza. These "preliminary examinations" are further raising the stakes in these already high-stakes areas of conflict.  In this four-minute video, leading figures in international criminal justice discuss the role of the ICC’s newly public examinations. Ken Roth, CEO of Human Rights Watch, applauds them as a useful "prod" for domestic justice as well as a way of rebutting complaints that the ICC is too focused on Africa. ICTJ Senior Fellow Cécile Aptel discusses the dilemma of local investigations when political and state security powers are involved in rights violations. ICC Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo describes his authority to conduct these inquiries and promises to provide more detailed information about the examinations going forward.

More information on the conference and documentary series can be found here.