International Criminal Court: Justice urgently needs the “Court of last resort”

If we want justice served in our current world of so-called “war on terror” for unspeakable crimes of brutal torture, mass murders & dispossessed, dehumanized and defenceless voiceless, the international community must speak up and demand their governments step up their financial aid and righteous respect for the rule of law in supporting the ICC. 

Researching the ICC since its inception on 1st July 2002, it’s become painfully clear that the court is persistently criticized, threatened and forced into legal face-off with guilty-as-hell rogue states in the merciless war for justice.

The International Criminal Court investigates, indicts and prosecutes individuals directly responsible for the deliberate execution of the most heinous crimes against human beings during times of war and so-called times of peace.

Frustratingly, several of the worst of imperial colonizing hegemonic expansionist War Criminals refuse to be signatories to the Rome Statute. Unsurprising as that fact is, as these capitalist fascist dictators obviously have their reasons. They know their patently immoral impunity against humanity and the rule of law as much as they know they’re incapable of remorse.

The ICC is the “court of last resort” in that its function is to enforce international rule of law for four distinctive horrific international crimes:

• Genocide
• War Crimes
• Crimes Against Humanity
• Crimes of Aggression

The problem is that the ICC is ruthlessly hampered by mainly western powers into forced compromise, politicizing its judiciary duties. It’s a strategy to bully the court into not following up any actions to investigate serious crimes committed by western nations. The court’s validity of jurisprudence and jurisdiction incessantly in dispute. Some offensively argue it’s “too expensive” and “ineffective”. Ironically these condemnations are spewed by those countries intrinsically subverting the ICC’s authority.

The reality is that the court’s budget is underfinanced for all its responsibilities. The importance of its work insolently impeded, fiercely obstructed and shamefully undermined. H4HR would like to take this opportunity to admit we’re not innocent to essentially voicing similar criticism. However, analyzing contextual facts influencing ICC’s capacity and power reversed that perspective.

“How to file a communication to the ICC-Prosecutor” – ‘Pursuant to Article 15 of the Rome Statute, any individual, group, or organization can send information on alleged or potential ICC crimes to the Office of the Prosecutor (OTP) of the ICC.’

But…another seemingly impossible hurdle to overcome is asking the ICC to investigate crimes in countries not party to the Rome Statute. A signatory country to the ICC is welcome to file a formal complaint with the court against a non-signatory country. If there is sufficient credible information, the Prosecutor, ie Fatou Bensouda, will launch further investigation. Things get tricky if the ICC is denied access to the accused country, and more than likely any investigation will be dropped.

Legal jurisdiction is the greatest issue for the ICC to determine a forthcoming investigation, and, needless to say, it’s a cruel travesty against justice when this issue cannot legally be overcome.

The United Nations Security Council is empowered to make referrals to the ICC to investigate and prosecute crimes against any countries, whether or not they’re parties to the Rome Statute. It has done just that in 2005 with Darfur, Sudan and in 2011 with Libya. Unfortunately, in May 2014, Russia and China, two of the five permanent UNSC members, vetoed the referral of Syria to the ICC.

This is a terrible complication, since three of the five permanent UNSC members refuse to be signatories to the Rome Statute, ie China, Russia and the United States. It’s little wonder that countries experiencing the most unspeakable war crimes and crimes against humanity, including genocide, will probably never have justice, because those responsible or aiding and abetting these barbaric crimes are permanent sitting members of the UNSC, who can and will veto any referral to the ICC.

The tragic truth of getting justice for numerous countries full of vulnerable people, experiencing war crimes and crimes against humanity daily, seems frankly overwhelmingly impossible. Too many ruthless warmongers running interference to ensure that justice will not prevail.

Even nations allegedly currently at peace are still carrying out crimes against humanity.

While the humanitarian crisis in Palestine is an unforgivable tragedy that is not only a burden of guilt on the ICC but, primarily and foremost, the burden of guilt on western leaderships. Palestine has waited for over 70 years to receive justice for the illegitimate state of Israel’s brutal invasion, illegal occupation, illegal settlements, illegal land confiscations, illegal imprisonments; and execution of genocide & systematic genocide, ethnic cleansing, dispossession, war crimes and crimes against humanity 24/7 of defenceless Palestinian men, women and children.

After five long years of alleged “preliminary examination”, and, disappointing wishy-washy indecisiveness assisted by Israel, Fatou Bensouda finally announces: “I am satisfied that there is a reasonable basis to proceed with an investigation into the situation in Palestine, pursuant to article 53(1) of the Statute. In brief, I am satisfied that (i) war crimes have been or are being committed in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip; (ii) potential cases arising from the situation would be admissible; and (iii) there are no substantial reasons to believe that an investigation would not serve the interests of justice.”

Yet, almost immediately after this announcement, the question of “legal jurisdiction” rears its ugly head courtesy pathetic guilty-as-hell Israel. Aided and abetted by BFF US, and maddeningly by the likes of Germany and Canada, who have the brutal audacity to claim that Palestine is “not a state”, after apparent ‘pressure from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’.

Israel must be held accountable for its unrelenting illegal occupation and brutal crimes in Palestine and pay reparations to surviving Palestinians.

Because Palestine cannot continue as is. Israel is executing systematic genocide in Gaza. Palestine is a huge prison of humanitarian crisis. It must stop.

Canada is another European imperial colonizing invader of selective justice. Its immoral disregard and disrespect of its First Nations sovereignty affirms the kleptocratic capitalist nature of white man’s empire-delusional sense of entitlement.

Case in point, the First Nation of the Wet’suwet’en in so-called British Columbia, whose pristine indigenous lands are being invaded by Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) and Coastal GasLink, who apparently were given the green light by Justin Trudeau’s administration, to invade UNCEDED indigenous ancestral land to build another environment destructive gas pipeline, while RCMP arrested Wet’suwet’en peoples on land their ancestors have called home since time immemorial.

Trudeau chooses to ignore the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), which in turn should be investigated as a crime of aggression and crime against humanity, as according to international laws, which must be indicted and prosecuted by the ICC. Helpfully, Canada is signatory to the Rome Statute.

It’s way past due for imperial colonial invaders to be forced accountable for their continuing marginalizing, systematic genocide (as the murder rate of specifically young indigenous women and teenaged girls is atrociously high) and oppression of First Nations peoples. The European invaders must respect the ownership of what little sovereign ancestral lands are left to the First Nations. The European invaders must pay reparations to the indigenous First Peoples’ descendants whom they almost completely annihilated a few hundred years ago. 

The fact is the First Nations and First Peoples never were greedy. Their ancestors never wanted to “own” the lands that were their ancestral homes, and of which they believed they were given the honour of guardianship to protect the lands they called home for thousands of years.

The Wet’suwet’en Nation are fighting for a great deal more than keeping a profit-margin gas pipeline off their land.

The UNSC should be churning out a number of new referrals to the ICC:

One for India’s government, a non-signatory country, for inciting, aiding and abetting crimes against humanity of Muslims in India. Specifically, for Narendra Modi and every member of his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), including police officers, who definitely do not serve the people, unless they’re nationalist Hindus. Another referral for India’s government should be for crimes against humanity, if not also for crimes of aggression, in Kashmir, which is mostly a Muslim population.

Then there’s Pakistan’s government, who insists on breeding a culture of fanatic extremism that is no relation to Islam. It is a non-signatory majority Muslim country, perpetrating crimes against humanity in persecuting, torturing and murdering Christians.

War Crimes and crimes against humanity, even genocide, executed in Syria and Yemen. The perpetrators either sit on the UNSC as permanent members or are not party to the Rome Statute. As stated above, Russia and China previously vetoed a referral to the ICC on Syria. The same would likely be the case for Yemen, as Russia and US, if not China, will protect Saudi Arabia and the UAE. United Kingdom will jump on that bandwagon to veto since it’s protecting asset income worth billions of pounds in arms deals.

Let’s not forget Donald Trump and his administration of thugs of elitist imperial colonial mindset, and his personal henchmen, the CIA. Meddling, financing and arming regime change in different parts of the world to secure US interests.

Then there’s the border wall, unimaginable sadistic dehumanization and terrorizing abuse, barbaric cruelty in family separations of refugees and migrants, and filthy unfit-for-humans detention centres at the US/Mexico borders. Where parents are locked up, while their children are taken away to places unknown.

Trump, Pompeo and every one of the Trump family members and administration must be prosecuted for crimes against humanity of migrants, refugees and asylum seekers. Not to mention for war crimes, aiding and abetting Israel’s systematic genocide and crimes against humanity in Palestine.

Members of US governments, previous and present, the Pentagon and military must be forced to account and punished accordingly for crimes of aggression, genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity in numerous countries throughout the world.

US imperial hegemonic supremacy and their insidious so-called “war on terror”, holding the whole world hostage to incessant scaremongering since 9/11 while surrendering civil rights and human rights, must end. US governments must be held to account for annihilating countries and murdering millions of innocent people. They must be punished by international rule of law, for there to ever be a chance of world peace.

We need the International Criminal Court to succeed, to serve justice and punish the perpetrators of our world’s most unspeakable human-executed crimes, but we need the ICC to be a scrupulously professional and ethically transparent rule of law enforcing international organization. No pressure caving to intimidation from Israel. No fear of threats from the US or any other nation. It’s not how it works.