The Arab Coalition for International Criminal Court (ACICC)- which includes 74 Arab NGO – appeals to UN Security Council to refer the report of Judge Richard Gold Stone (Head of the United Nations fact-finding on the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip) to the International Criminal Court. The UN Human Rights Council in Geneva endorsed the report on October 16, 2009 to be discussed before the Security Council.
In the opinion of the ACICC, referring this file to the ICC by the Security Council will entrench the international criminal justice and the role of the court in protecting human rights and ending the culture of impunity.
The ACICC sees that there is a kind of similarity between the situation of Darfur crisis, which were referred to the International Criminal Court according to decision No. 1593 of the Security Council in 2005 under Chapter VII of the UN Charter, after the report of the Fact-Finding Committee, just like the fact-finding committee headed by Judge Richard Gold Stone that issued the report, which was approved by the UN Human Rights Council.
On the other hand, the referral of this file by the Security Council to the ICC would indicate that the issues of justice and human rights can not tolerate handling policy of double standards and the responsibility of the Security Council to maintain international peace and security are paramount considerations.
The Coalition note that it is concerned about internal investigations that might be conducted by internal judicial authorities on the crimes monitored by the report, which may lead to going around the report, and undermine the role of the International Criminal Court.
In addition, the Coalition is calling upon the UN Security Council, to refer the Gold Stone’s report to the ICC for investigation and accountability of the perpetrators of the crimes that took place during the war in the Gaza Strip, which lasted over 22 days in December and January, and disclosed in the report. Moreover, it appealed to members of the Security Council, including that the five permanent members not to take actions that could delay the referral of the file of Gaza Strip to the ICC, especially since these countries have already taken a clear and specific position about referring Darfur’s file to the International Criminal Court.
Further more, the Coalition warns that compromising or attempting to undermining the referral to the International Criminal Court, will affect the prestige of the international organization and the Security Council, and the role of the International Criminal Court in the protection of human rights and the consolidation of international criminal justice.
