Richard Dicker
Director, International Justice Program, Human Rights Watch
Lecture Topic beginning January 15, 2013
UN Security Council Lecture Question
How should the relationship between the International Criminal Court and the United Nations Security Council be changed, if at all, to advance international justice?
Comment on the Security Council Lecture Question: “How should the relationship between the International Criminal Court and the United Nations Security Council be changed, if at all, to advance international justice?”
I think the relationship of these two bodies has to change. The Security Council has to respect and support the Court’s work independently of its members. The Council has to understand that by doing so –respecting and supporting the International Court while avoiding selectivity-, it could advance its own cause, which is to promote international peace and security. A way to achieve this is by increasing cooperation, as it has occurred before, (for example when the two international bodies made common efforts to bring to justice Joseph Kony). Also, to strengthen the role of the International Court, the Council’s decision to execute arrest warrants should be independent to its members and their political individual concerns. In that sense one idea could be that a warrant veto could only be performed if all the Council’s permanent members agree or at least the 80% of them (4 of 5). This with the objective to assure that the decision is not a political one.
Comment on the Security Council Lecture Question: “How should the relationship between the International Criminal Court and the United Nations Security Council be changed, if at all, to advance international justice?”
I think the relationship of these two bodies has to change. The Security Council has to respect and support the Court’s work independently of its members. The Council has to understand that by doing so –respecting and supporting the International Court while avoiding selectivity-, it could advance its own cause, which is to promote international peace and security. A way to achieve this is by increasing cooperation, as it has occurred before, (for example when the two international bodies made common efforts to bring to justice Joseph Kony). Also, to strengthen the role of the International Court, the Council’s decision to execute arrest warrants should be independent to its members and their political individual concerns. In that sense one idea could be that a warrant veto could only be performed if all the Council’s permanent members agree or at least the 80% of them (4 of 5). This with the objective to assure that the decision is not a political one.