The ACIJLP calls upon the Egyptian Authority To Ratify and access to the ICC in consolidation of criminal justice and to combat the culture of impunity

  Cairo 19^th August 2013

The ACIJLP calls upon the Egyptian Authority

To Ratify and access to the ICC in consolidation of criminal justice and to combat the culture of impunity

 

The Arab Center for the Independence of the Judiciary and the Legal Profession (ACIJLP), calls upon the Egyptian Authority to Ratify and access to the Rome Statute establishing the International Criminal Court as an independent, impartial and judicial mechanism dealing with the prosecution and accountability of those involved in the commission of the most serious crimes against humanity, crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression.

The ACIJLP points out that the  legislative vacuum in criminal legislation and national procedural in Egypt represents a supporting factor to the impunity of those involved in serious criminal offenses from judicial prosecution and accountability and punishment, despite the extreme gravity posed by these crimes as a grave violation of the rights and freedoms. Thus, the ratification and accession to international Criminal Court (ICC) is considered a solution of these legislative gaps in the national criminal and procedural legislation in Egypt.

The ACIJLP points out that many of countries witnessed transitional stage, found that the ratification of the Rome Statute is an important step to be taken to show that the new regime may open a new page, and underlines the willingness of the current government to stand by justice and the rule of law. Moreover, the ratification and accession to ICC will prevent the occurrence of more crimes against humanity in the future, and will contribute significantly to end impunity by ensuring a fair and independent judicial process.

The ACIJLP asserts that Egypt is no longer less than their counterparts from Arab countries that have ratified and acceded to the ICC, such as Jordan, Djibouti, Comoros and Tunisia. The ratification and acceded of Egypt to the ICC, will be, bearing in mind the leadership of Egypt in the Arab region, a motivation for many of the Arab countries, to take the necessary measures on ratification and accession to the international Criminal Court.

The ACIJLP calls upon the current Egyptian authorities to seize this historic opportunity experienced by the Arab Republic of Egypt, represented in the transitional phase  and confirms that the ratification and accession to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, will put Egypt in the ranks of advanced countries in the field of consolidation of international criminal justice, and in the fight against the culture of impunity, and it will also confirm the extent of respect for Egypt's international commitments and obligations and its support for the role of the International Criminal Court as a judicial mechanism aims at the prosecution and the accountability of those involved in the commission of the most serious crimes, according to trials take into account the integrity, impartiality and fair trial guarantees, in accordance with the standards contained in the relevant international covenants.

The ACIJLP points out that Egypt had previously expressed the importance of ratification and accession to the ICC, in particular the remarks made by Egyptian officials that the ratification of the International Criminal Court represents a priority such as the statement made by Dr. Nabil Al-Arabi on 6^th March 2011 in his capacity as the Egyptian Foreign Minister at this time.

It should be noted that the ACIJLP has directed numerous letters and appeals to the Egyptian authorities; since the Arab Republic of Egypt had signed the Rome Convention on the International Criminal Court on 26 December 2000. However, new procedures towards the ratification have not yet been made.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) was established under the Rome Convention in 1998, and its Statute entered into force on 17th July 2002 and by the beginning of January 2011, the number of signatories to the Rome Statute are 114 countries, 31 countries from Africa, 15 countries from Asia, 18 countries from Eastern Europe, 25 countries from Latin America and the Caribbean and 25 countries from the Western European Group (WEOG) and other countries.

It is noteworthy that (13) Arab countries had signed the Rome Statute: Jordan, UAE, Bahrain, Algeria, Djibouti, Sudan, Syria, Oman, Comoros, Kuwait, Egypt, Morocco and Yemen, however, 4 of which only ratified and acceded to the Rome Statute, namely, (Jordan, Djibouti, Comoros, and Tunisia) and 6 Arab countries did not sign the Statute including Qatar, Lebanon, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Libya, and Mauritania.