{"id":27138,"date":"2016-05-03T14:51:47","date_gmt":"2016-05-03T12:51:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/27138-should-war-crimes-investigations-be-privatized.html"},"modified":"2016-05-03T14:51:47","modified_gmt":"2016-05-03T12:51:47","slug":"should-war-crimes-investigations-be-privatized","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/en\/27138-should-war-crimes-investigations-be-privatized.html","title":{"rendered":"Should war wrimes investigations be privatized?"},"content":{"rendered":"

International Criminal Court (ICC) investigations have often failed owing to poor strategy and lack of State cooperation. This has provoked a debate on what should be done. Should international crimes investigations be privatized?<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

On April 5, 2016, ICC judges dropped the case against Kenyan Deputy President William Ruto and journalist Joshua Sang. Since the Court was set up in 2002, eight accused persons have escaped conviction thanks to lack of solid evidence, and a ninth \u2013 Mathieu Ngudjolo of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)) \u2013 was acquitted for the same reason, after a three-year trial. It is common knowledge that the ICC does not have its own police force to carry out investigations and has to rely on the cooperation of States, which is very selective. C\u00f4te d\u2019Ivoire, and even its former colonial power France, have in effect only allowed it to investigate people who were on the losing side of the 2010 post-election crisis. In C\u00f4te d\u2019Ivoire, as in the DRC, Kenya or in its first investigation in the Central African Republic, the Court has not been able to identify and use the political levers that could allow it to conduct its affairs more successfully. The Court often cites difficult security conditions for its staff as an explanation for its failures. And, even if it has a very costly and bureaucratic system of witness protection, it says it was not able to protect witnesses in Kenya. So if the Prosecutor is not able to investigate in war zones, protect witnesses more effectively and get better cooperation from States, should its investigations be privatized?<\/p>\n

Privatization, a taboo subject<\/h3>\n

The ICC\u2019s Office of the Prosecutor has declined to answer questions on the issue but notes in its latest strategic plan (2016-2018): \u201cIf the Office can ensure\u2014with the assistance of partners\u2014that evidence is preserved without doing harm, it will increase the chance of having efficient and effective investigations and prosecutions\u201d. The Office of the Prosecutor says it is holding discussions with NGOs, who are in the front line when crimes are being committed, so as to improve the quality of the elements gathered. It also wants to work with intermediaries such as international forces, human rights organizations and even media. But this formula has already been widely used in investigations so far. NGOs and even UN commissions of inquiry have always insisted on the non-judicial nature of documents provided to the prosecution. \u00a0<\/p>\n

Evidence gathered in war-torn Syria<\/h3>\n

Defying the belief that you cannot conduct solid investigations in a war situation, Canadian former military prosecutor and former ICC investigator Bill Wiley set up a team of investigators in summer 2012 to gather evidence of crimes committed in Syria. In just a few months, the Commission for International Justice and Accountability (CIJA) trained Syrians in judicial investigation techniques and gathered hundreds of thousands of pieces of evidence in Syria. These include not only witness testimonies but also documents, filed securely and digitalized, that make it possible to follow the chain of command to the top \u2013 something on which the ICC has so far been weak. In spring 2015, the CIJA said it had enough evidence to indict Bashar Al Assad and 24 other officials of the regime. Wiley says he does not have any precise plan for after the war. The ICC does not have jurisdiction, because its founding treaty (Statute of Rome) has not been ratified by Syria. It would only have jurisdiction if the situation were referred by the UN Security Council but even after a Resolution was adapted to satisfy Washington, it was still opposed by Moscow and Beijing. According to Wiley, the documents could be handed over to a future Syrian government, to the ICC if it did finally get jurisdiction, or to an ad hoc tribunal. As they await an end to the war, European judicial authorities, who can prosecute foreigners for war crimes under the principle of universal jurisdiction, are already very interested in the CIJA\u2019s investigations.<\/p>\n

Repeating the experience<\/h3>\n

Wiley would like to see the initiative repeated elsewhere. Its advantages, he says, are \u201cinvestigating more quickly, more cheaply and producing better quality case files\u201d. \u201cWe are a tool to help institutions that don\u2019t have the resources and cannot take risks,\u201d explains the Canadian. \u201cWe don\u2019t try to do advocacy\u201d like NGOs, he says, \u201cor politics\u201d like UN commissions of inquiry. Professor William Schabas thinks there is nothing against such initiatives. A body such as CIJA \u201cneed not proceed according to the Rome Statute,\u201d he says, \u201cand can conduct its activities on the territory of a State without its authorization, although this might be considered illegal by the State where the investigation is being carried out.\u00a0They might be exposed to arrest and they would have no immunity, unlike those working for the Court.\u201d<\/p>\n

CIJA investigators have already paid a heavy price. One of them has been killed, several were arrested by Islamist groups but later released, and several have been wounded. However, it might all be worth it one day. So long as evidence is authentic, there is no reason ICC judges would not admit it. \u201cIf they gather evidence it could well be admissible because the Court can consider any relevant evidence,\u201d says Schabas. \u201cIt doesn't matter who brings it to the Court. Defence counsel use 'private' investigators.\u201d The same applies for war crimes units set up by some European countries under the universal jurisdiction principle and which, like the ICC, must investigate crimes committed thousands of kilometres away with hardly any resources. Nevertheless, the CIJA experience raises some fears and suspicions. \u201cThere is of course a concern that private investigation aimed at assisting the Prosecutor would reflect the political agendas of those who pay for the investigation,\u201d says Professor Schabas.<\/p>\n

The Syrian investigation was funded first by the British, then the Americans and finally the European Union, but Bill Wiley says he does \u201cnot take private money but only money coming from democratic States, and certainly not from intelligence agencies\u201d. \u201cNobody tells us what to do,\u201d he says. \u201cWe come with our projects, and they decide whether to fund them or not.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although resistant for a long time, the Europeans have been supporting the project since the emergence of the Foreign Fighters and the migration crisis. \u201cWere the Prosecutor to become dependent upon such private sources, it would mean that the funder of the investigation would determine the priorities of the Office of the Prosecutor,\u201d says William Schabas. \u201cThis could be a serious problem. How would we react if we learned that Putin was also funding professional investigators to develop cases in Syria against Assad's opponents? Or if Saudi Arabia was funding its own investigators, to build cases against the opponents of IS?\u201d<\/p>\n

Over time the CIJA has managed to establish its authority with regard to the crimes in Syria. But it remains to be seen if the initiative could be repeated for other investigations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

International Criminal Court (ICC) investigations have often failed owing to poor strategy and lack of State cooperation. This has provoked a debate on what should be done. Should international crimes investigations be privatized?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":64,"featured_media":64325,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[542],"tags":[],"ji_location":[2499],"class_list":["post-27138","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-truth-commissions","ji_location-syria"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nShould war wrimes investigations be privatized? - JusticeInfo.net<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/en\/27138-should-war-crimes-investigations-be-privatized.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Should war wrimes investigations be privatized?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"International Criminal Court (ICC) investigations have often failed owing to poor strategy and lack of State cooperation. This has provoked a debate on what should be done. Should international crimes investigations be privatized?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/en\/27138-should-war-crimes-investigations-be-privatized.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"JusticeInfo.net\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/JusticeInfo\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-05-03T12:51:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/e54ea7975974cdd03994a46190a144bd.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"400\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"St\u00e9phanie Maupas\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@justiceinfonet\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@justiceinfonet\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"St\u00e9phanie Maupas\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"NewsArticle\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/en\/27138-should-war-crimes-investigations-be-privatized.html#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/en\/27138-should-war-crimes-investigations-be-privatized.html\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"solivri\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/6e53cba1629e2e66f3fc1821d3091865\"},\"headline\":\"Should war wrimes investigations be privatized?\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-05-03T12:51:47+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/en\/27138-should-war-crimes-investigations-be-privatized.html\"},\"wordCount\":1160,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/en\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/en\/27138-should-war-crimes-investigations-be-privatized.html#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/e54ea7975974cdd03994a46190a144bd.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Truth Commissions\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/en\/27138-should-war-crimes-investigations-be-privatized.html#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/en\/27138-should-war-crimes-investigations-be-privatized.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/en\/27138-should-war-crimes-investigations-be-privatized.html\",\"name\":\"Should war wrimes investigations be privatized? - JusticeInfo.net\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/en\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/en\/27138-should-war-crimes-investigations-be-privatized.html#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/en\/27138-should-war-crimes-investigations-be-privatized.html#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/e54ea7975974cdd03994a46190a144bd.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-05-03T12:51:47+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/en\/27138-should-war-crimes-investigations-be-privatized.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/en\/27138-should-war-crimes-investigations-be-privatized.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/en\/27138-should-war-crimes-investigations-be-privatized.html#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/e54ea7975974cdd03994a46190a144bd.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/e54ea7975974cdd03994a46190a144bd.jpg\",\"width\":600,\"height\":400},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/en\/27138-should-war-crimes-investigations-be-privatized.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/en\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Should war wrimes investigations be privatized?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/en\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/en\/\",\"name\":\"JusticeInfo.net\",\"description\":\"For justice to be done, it must be seen\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/en\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/en\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/en\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Justice Info\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/en\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/justiceinfo_logo-trans_1200x1200px.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/justiceinfo_logo-trans_1200x1200px.png\",\"width\":1199,\"height\":1200,\"caption\":\"Justice Info\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/JusticeInfo\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/justiceinfonet\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/justice-info\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCyCEsARodyuWtkWyhn-e7pA\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"name\":\"St\u00e9phanie Maupas\",\"url\":\"\/en\/?s=St\u00e9phanie Maupas\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Should war wrimes investigations be privatized? - JusticeInfo.net","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/en\/27138-should-war-crimes-investigations-be-privatized.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Should war wrimes investigations be privatized?","og_description":"International Criminal Court (ICC) investigations have often failed owing to poor strategy and lack of State cooperation. This has provoked a debate on what should be done. Should international crimes investigations be privatized?","og_url":"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/en\/27138-should-war-crimes-investigations-be-privatized.html","og_site_name":"JusticeInfo.net","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/JusticeInfo\/","article_published_time":"2016-05-03T12:51:47+00:00","og_image":[{"width":600,"height":400,"url":"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/e54ea7975974cdd03994a46190a144bd.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"St\u00e9phanie Maupas","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@justiceinfonet","twitter_site":"@justiceinfonet","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"St\u00e9phanie Maupas","Est. reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/en\/27138-should-war-crimes-investigations-be-privatized.html#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/en\/27138-should-war-crimes-investigations-be-privatized.html"},"author":{"name":"solivri","@id":"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/6e53cba1629e2e66f3fc1821d3091865"},"headline":"Should war wrimes investigations be privatized?","datePublished":"2016-05-03T12:51:47+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/en\/27138-should-war-crimes-investigations-be-privatized.html"},"wordCount":1160,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/en\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/en\/27138-should-war-crimes-investigations-be-privatized.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/e54ea7975974cdd03994a46190a144bd.jpg","articleSection":["Truth Commissions"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/en\/27138-should-war-crimes-investigations-be-privatized.html#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/en\/27138-should-war-crimes-investigations-be-privatized.html","url":"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/en\/27138-should-war-crimes-investigations-be-privatized.html","name":"Should war wrimes investigations be privatized? - JusticeInfo.net","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/en\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/en\/27138-should-war-crimes-investigations-be-privatized.html#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/en\/27138-should-war-crimes-investigations-be-privatized.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/e54ea7975974cdd03994a46190a144bd.jpg","datePublished":"2016-05-03T12:51:47+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/en\/27138-should-war-crimes-investigations-be-privatized.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/en\/27138-should-war-crimes-investigations-be-privatized.html"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/en\/27138-should-war-crimes-investigations-be-privatized.html#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/e54ea7975974cdd03994a46190a144bd.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/e54ea7975974cdd03994a46190a144bd.jpg","width":600,"height":400},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/en\/27138-should-war-crimes-investigations-be-privatized.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/en"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Should war wrimes investigations be privatized?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/en\/","name":"JusticeInfo.net","description":"For justice to be done, it must be seen","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/en\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/en\/#organization","name":"Justice Info","url":"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/en\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/justiceinfo_logo-trans_1200x1200px.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/justiceinfo_logo-trans_1200x1200px.png","width":1199,"height":1200,"caption":"Justice Info"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/JusticeInfo\/","https:\/\/x.com\/justiceinfonet","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/justice-info","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCyCEsARodyuWtkWyhn-e7pA"]},{"@type":"Person","name":"St\u00e9phanie Maupas","url":"\/en\/?s=St\u00e9phanie Maupas"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27138","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/64"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27138"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27138\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/64325"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27138"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27138"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27138"},{"taxonomy":"ji_location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ji_location?post=27138"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}