The International Criminal Court and the Community of Nations
Resolved to guarantee lasting respect for and
the enforcement of international justice...
– Preamble, Rome Statute
Across the globe, resurgent nationalisms place stress on institutions designed to promote human and collective security through international cooperation. Critiques – even, at times, outright denunciations – compel such institutions to re-examine, in a process that poses challenges yet also portends opportunities for renewal. The dynamic surely affects the International Criminal Court. In the last several months alone, states as varied as Burundi, the Philippines, and the United States have levied harsh criticism against this twenty-year-old justice institution, established in recognition that “children, women and men have been victims of unimaginable atrocities” that “threaten the peace, security and well-being of the world.” In the same time frame, the ICC Prosecutor welcomed a multistate referral of alleged crimes in Venezuela and launched a preliminary examination into alleged forced deportation in Myanmar, and the Court as a whole continued complementary efforts to strengthen national and regional prevention and accountability. It did so within legal, geopolitical, and budgetary constraints imposed by a trio of stakeholder communities.
The Dean Rusk International Law Center and the Georgia Journal of International and Comparative Law at the University of Georgia School of Law will host a daylong conference to explore these developments on Friday, March 8, 2019, at the law school’s Athens campus. The conference will feature a video message from International Criminal Court Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda. Experts from academia and the practice will cast a critical eye on “The International Criminal Court and the Community of Nations”; that is, on the place of the ICC vis-à-vis communities of states parties, nonparty states, and nonstate stakeholders, as well as inherited communities. Presentations will be published in the Georgia Journal of International and Comparative Law.
Schedule
8:15-8:45 Continental Breakfast (invitees only)
8:45-9:00 Welcome
Peter B. “Bo” Rutledge University of Georgia School of Law
9:00-10:30 Community of States Parties
Diane Desierto University of Notre Dame Keogh School of Global Affairs ǀ The Philippines and the International Criminal Court: Withdrawal from the Rome Statute and the War on Drugs
Mark Kersten Wayamo Foundation, University of Toronto Munk School of Global Affairs ǀ On the Road to Compromise? African States and the International Criminal Court
Naomi Roht-Arriaza University of California Hastings College of the Law ǀ The Role of the Court in Latin America
Leila Nadya Sadat Washington University School of Law ǀ States Parties and the Shifting Sands of the Court’s Jurisprudence
David Tolbert Duke University Sanford School of Policy ǀ A Look Back, Learning from the Experiences of the Ad Hoc Tribunals: What Lessons for the ICC?
Moderator ǀ Kathleen A. Doty University of Georgia School of Law
10:30-11:00 Break
11:00-12:30 Community of Nonstate Stakeholders
Tess Davis Antiquities Coalition ǀ Cultural Heritage as an International Criminal Court Stakeholder
Christopher Engels Commission for International Justice & Accountability ǀ Private Investigations, Public Partnerships—Supporting International Criminal Prosecutions through Nongovernmental Organizations
Megan A. Fairlie Florida International University School of Law ǀ The International Criminal Court and the Community of Nonstate Stakeholders: Defense Issues
Valerie Oosterveld Western University of Ontario Faculty of Law ǀ Victims of Sexual and Gender-Based Violence as Stakeholders in the International Criminal Court: An Assessment
Peter Robinson Defense Counsel before International Criminal Court ǀ How the Defense Can Support the ICC
Moderator ǀ Melissa J. Durkee University of Georgia School of Law
12:30-1:45 Lunch
1:45-2:00 Video Remarks
Fatou Bensouda International Criminal Court Prosecutor
2:00-2:35 Inherited Communities
Diane Marie Amann University of Georgia School of Law ǀ What Would Maître Chalufour Say Today?
Mark A. Drumbl Washington & Lee University School of Law ǀ What Would Justice Pal Say Today?
2:35-2:45 Break
2:45-3:45 Community of Nonparty States
Chimène Keitner University of California Hastings College of the Law ǀ International Institutions and the “Ideology of Patriotism”
Saira Mohamed University of California Berkeley School of Law ǀ States Parties, Non-States Parties, and the Idea of International Community
Jane E. Stromseth Georgetown University Law Center ǀ The United States and the ICC: Why John Bolton’s Attack on the ICC Is Not in U.S. Interests
Moderator ǀ Harlan G. Cohen University of Georgia School of Law
3:50-4:00 Closing Remarks
Morgan Renee Thomas Editor-in-Chief, Georgia Journal of International and Comparative Law