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The International Criminal Court: Finding Justice for Victims, Ending Impunity for Perpetrators
Partnership Report
25 Aug 2004
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| Status: | Partnership |
| Keywords: | All "Peace & Conflict" reports |
In Rwanda, Bosnia, Uganda, Cambodia, Chile and elsewhere, perpetrators of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide have acted with impunity. Innocent civilians, most appallingly children, have been counted among, and even targeted as, their victims. In 2002 an International Criminal Court (ICC), able to try those responsible for such atrocities, was finally born. The ICC took solid shape in 1998 when governments from around the world came together in Rome to draft a statute for the workings of the Court.
But this 1998 conference, and the resulting Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, have been merely the latest steps in an historical evolution that began much earlier. The World War II trials in Nuremberg and Tokyo, and the ad hoc tribunals of Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia, were also part of the equation.
For World Vision, the establishment of the International Criminal Court is welcome. Too often, our staff have worked directly with the survivors of war crimes and crimes against humanity? in camps for refugees and internally displaced people, with former child soldiers and children who have been sexually abused, raped and exploited. Too often, we have witnessed the long and painful recovery processes that many such survivors must undergo.
World Vision supports the ICC and urges national governments to work to sustain an effective, well-funded and just court. Certainly flaws exist within the Rome Statute; some of these limitations are highlighted here. However, future opportunities to strengthen the Court must be grasped.
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