Excellencies, Distinguished delegates,
It is an honour for me to participate in this event. I sincerely thank the International Centre for Transitional Justice for organising this event and bringing together a distinguished panel and participants to discuss “Making Complementarity Work: The Way Forward”.
As always, it is an honour for me to share the podium with our co-focal point from Denmark. I acknowledge the presence of Ambassador Staur.
South Africa and Denmark have acted as Focal Point for the Stocktaking exercise on Complementarity and it is indeed very encouraging to note that six months since we all graced the shores of Lake Victoria, the issue of complementarity has gained substantial momentum.
Allow me to share a few reflections on the Kampala Review Conference. I am of the considered view that the Kampala Review conference process was a watershed moment in many respects-
- It signaled the importance of re-focusing on the national jurisdiction to prosecute serious crimes, emphasising that the fight against impunity has to be fought and won at domestic level.
- There was recognition of the need for additional measures to be taken at the national level in combating impunity and also of the desirability of States assisting each other in this regard - thereby giving effect to the Rome Statute preambular paragraph:
”Affirming that the most serious crimes of concern to the International Community as a whole must not go unpunished and that their effective prosecution must be ensured by taking measures at the national level and by enhancing international cooperation.” - Furthermore, the Review Conference, took a step forward in a positive direction by encouraging States Parties and other stakeholders, including international organisations and civil society, to further explore ways in which to enhance the capacity of national jurisdictions to investigate and prosecute serious crimes of international concern.
We are pleased to note the responsiveness to the topic of complementarity since Kampala. While recalling that the court has a limited role due to very real financial and institutional challenges we are encouraged by the court’s consistent supportive statements on complementarity and the role that the court is playing in acting as a catalyst for activities and initiatives relating to complementarity. One very real example of this is the meeting today between the Secretary General of the United Nations, Ban Ki Moon and President Song and in particular their discussions on the potential role for the UN to play in strengthening national jurisdictions by increasing focus on Rome Statute issues within rule of law programming and development aid.
This heightened attention and focus by the UN and other regional organisations is positive and should be encouraged. So, already distinguished delegates, we can see that the conceptual discussions in Kampala have already been translated into practical implementation - Tangible activities and actions are being taken by international and regional organisations to strengthen national jurisdictions to investigate and prosecute Rome Statute crimes.
In this regard, excellencies, distinguished delegates, we are whole heartedly encouraged by the initiative taken by the ICTJ and we commend the ICTJ for the well organised and fruitful high level retreat which they convened in October and also thank the UN Rule of Law Unit for their supportive role. It served as a welcome opportunity of bringing different role players together to explore synergies between States, civil society and international organisations in building capacity for Rome Statute crimes. Importantly, this retreat brought together actors from the United Nations, Sates, civil society- from both the rule of law development area and actors from the international criminal law sector.
This momentum and commitment to achieve tangible results is encouraging.
Excellencies and distinguished delegates,
South Africa attended the retreat and one of the excellent outcomes was that the right people from the relevant sectors in strengthening national capacity for international crimes sitting around a table and finding synergies that could be further pursued as well as acknowledging certain challenges.
From our perspective there is an increasing awareness that building national capacity with regard to Rome Statute Crimes requires a targeted approach providing the necessary expertise required in this area. It is also conceivable that over time and as experience grows, it may be possible to identify best practices with regard to investigations and prosecutions at the national level and how States and other actors could assist each other in building capacity in this area.
It is also worth noting that States Parties requested the Secretariat of the Assembly of States Parties to ‘within existing resources facilitate the exchange of information between the Court, States Parties and other stakeholders, including international organisations and civil society, aimed at strengthening domestic jurisdictions’.
More work and thought will need to be given to take this matter forward so as to ensure that we give practical effect to our decisions in Kampala in the most practical and realistic way.
More thought also needs to be given how we focus our efforts in certain national jurisdictions and which of these national jurisdictions should be prioritised so as to ensure that we get maximal results but also remain realistic on what can be achieved.
Excellencies,
I will conclude by saying that much progress has been made but we should not lose the momentum achieved since Kampala. Stakeholders from States civil society and the regional organisations, coming together with a common goal in mind can only make substantial progress in this important initiative.
The topic of today’s discussion is “Making Complementarity Work: The Way Forward” and I look forward from hearing from our speakers today on how they view these issues form a practical perspective.
We will hear presentations from 3 speakers: David Tolbert, Stephen Mathias, Djordje Djordjevic, for 10 minutes each.
Allow me to introduce our distinguished speakers today, who clearly do not require introductions.
It is my pleasure to thank:
- Mr David Tolbert, is currently the President of the International Centre for Transitional Justice which in October 2010 who was responsible for convening a meeting on complementarity to follow up on the discussions from Kampala. He will provide a briefing on the discussions and outcome of that meeting.
- Mr Stephen Mathias, is United Nations Assistant Secretary-General for Legal Affairs, and he will provide us with perspectives from the United Nations and how the UN system envisages initiatives on complementarity.
- Mr Djordje Djordjevic, is a ” Rule of Law, Justice and Security Advisor” in the Bureau for Crisis Prevention and Recovery, in the United Nations Development Programme. He will make remarks on the relationship between complementarity and the role of development agencies.
