Reflections on the 2010 Review Conference: legacy, impact and sustainability of the Rome Statute System, January 2010

Tuesday 19 January 2010

On 19 January 2010 the IBA ICC Programme organised a roundtable discussion on ‘Reflections on the 2010 Review Conference: legacy, impact, and sustainability of the Rome Statute System’. The event featured: Judge Philippe Kirsch, Ambassador Jorge Lomonaco, Ambassador Stephen Rapp and Professor William Schabas. Prior to the Roundtable Discussion, The IBA was able to secure exclusive interviews with the US Ambassador-at-Large for War Crimes, Stephen Rapp [read interview] and the former ICC President, Philippe Kirsch [read interview] on the first ever ICC Review Conference. The roundtable was moderated by Arvinder Sambei.

Discussion focused on the Review Conference for the Rome Statute of the ICC, which took place in Kampala, Uganda, from May 31 to 11 June 2010. The panel analysed the adoption of amendments to the Statute and evaluated the progress of international justice to date. The panel explored the slow progress made by the ICC as well as deep-rooted political problems faced by the Court. Panelists also stressed the issue of how to reinforce national legal systems to make the ICC perform as a court of last resort, and how to provide an incentive for states to try their cases within their own national system.

Part 1: Head of IBA Outreach Programme (ICC), Liliana de Marco Coenen, and Moderator Arvinder Sambei, address the roundtable with opening remarks and introductions. Judge Philippe Kirsch answers the question 'What can we achieve at the Review Conference?', and His Excellency Jorge Lomónaco discusses African perceptions of the ICC and the Rome Statute:


Part 2: Panellists discuss the ICC and regional engagement, the nature of the Review Conference and its stock-taking exercise, problems the ICC faces and its development over the last seven years: 


Part 3: Panellists take questions from the audience on topics such as Article 124 and the ICC's relationship to victims and affected communities:


Part 4: Panellists discuss the ICC's credibility, the possibilities or otherwise of prosecuting 'crimes of aggression' and the ICC's relationship with the Security Council. His Excellency Stephen Rapp answers an audience question on whether the ICC can have success without the involvement of the United States, and whether we can expect the US position to change:


Part 5: The panel discuss topics including whether terrorist crimes could or should come under the Rome Statute and be prosecuted by the ICC, and IBA Programme Manager (ICC) Lorraine Smith gives closing remarks: