Law events
Ratify International Criminal Court
Nazma Begum
The International Criminal Court is, in today's world order, a much-needed institution for the protection of human rights and promotion of justice. A total of 139 countries have, to date signed the Rome Statute for the International Criminal Court and 97 have ratified it. ICC is a permanent independent judicial body created by the international community of states, through the Rome Statute to prosecute the gravest crimes under international law including genocide, other crimes against humanity, war crimes and the crime of aggression. To make the law professionals, media, civil society, students and teachers from the University of Rajshahi, Odhikar organized an advocacy workshop in Rajshahi Tennis Complex Auditorium, with assistance from the Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (Forum-Asia).
The opening session was presided over by Adilur Rahman Khan, Advocate Bangladesh Supreme Court. In the opening speech he briefed Odhikar's activities regarding ICC and informed that as part of Odhikar's ICC awareness campaign, this workshop has been organized in Rajshahi. A. F. Hassan Ariff, Member, Executive Committee, Odhikar was the Chief Guest. In his speech he narrated the importance of the ICC. He said Bangladesh government and members of civil societies took active interest in the process that led to the signing of a historic international treaty, the Statue of the International Criminal Court in Rome in July 1998. The Court will have jurisdiction over individuals who commit most serious crimes of universal concern; namely, genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and aggression. In 1971, the people of Bangladesh had to endure all of these international crimes. He also added that in 1999 the Government of Bangladesh signed the Statute of the ICC, which was the first country in South Asia to have signed the treaty. However, ratification of the Statute has yet to be done. Odhikar was one of the human rights organizations that became involved with the issue of the ICC and the Rome Statute, since it was introduced.
Special Guest, Advocate Zillur Rahman pointed out the audience about the Bangladesh War Crime Tribunal Act-1973, which was passed but it was not effective. He said in the present world war crimes and genocide are taking place in some parts of the world and the ICC could be a safeguard for this. "Parliament should take necessary initiatives for the ratification of the Rome Statute and for that members of the parliament should raise their voice," he added.
Dr. Asma Siddiqua, Dean and Chairman, Department of Law and Justice, University of Rajshahi was present as the Guest of Honor. She said normally International laws, treaties and conventions have no independent enforcement mechanism, these have to depend on the state parties for enforcement but the ICC can be a strong example on how state parties could help in enforcement of the provision of an international treaty. It would strengthen the claws of the enforceable measures of International treaties.
Dr. Asif Nazrul as a resource person briefed the participants about the ICC and elaborated the ICC mechanism and the Rome Statute in a very simple language. He expressed his views on International Criminal Justice system and the role of the ICC. Role of the United States and the legal status of the Bilateral Immunity Agreement signed between the UDA and a number of States were also discussed.
Second working session was chaired by, Adilur Rahman Khan. In this session, Sultana Razia, from Law Desk, The Daily Star, briefed the participants about the victims and witnesses protection under ICC. Md. Hamidul Huq, Secretary, District Bar Association, Rajshahi was present in this session as discussant. In the discussion he made some points on aggression and said for a small country like Bangladesh, security is a vital concern.
In the closing session, Guest of Honor, Kamrul Monir, Public Prosecutor District and Sessions Judge's Court, Rajshahi, said we are living in a global village. People of the world are regularly becoming victims of war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity. There is no bar and limitation in our legal system on ratification of the ICC Statute. He concluded that more people should be made aware about the ICC and raise voice for ratification.
A.F. Hassan Ariff, Member, Executive Committee, Odhikar summed up the workshop proceedings. He compared our victims' protection in Bangladesh legal regime with that of the ICC and narrated the ratification process under Constitution of Bangladesh.
In his closing speech Masood Alam Ragib Ahsan, Director, Odhikar thanked the participants for being present in the workshop and said, Odhikar was devoted in ratification campaign and after a couple of workshops in Dhaka it went to Chittagong and now in Rajshahi to disseminate information on the ICC. He thanked Forum Asia, for financial assistance and participants of the Rajshahi for their active participation.
The author is working as a documentation officer, Odhikar.
