NGO Engagement with the ICC: Opportunities and pitfalls
NGO staff are often the first people to witness massive violations of human rights and humanitarian law through their work with affected populations on the ground. This gives NGOs privileged access to information and testimonies from victims and witnesses and has led the International Criminal Court (ICC) to call upon them to provide vital evidence and to raise awareness about the ICC’s activities among people on the ground.
However, while many NGOs support the ICC’s aims and remit, engagement with the Court raises some challenges:
- If ICC investigations are undertaken during ongoing conflict, association with the investigation can potentially put children and their families in danger.
- The ICC is a political body; engaging with it can erode NGOs’ impartial stance, which can affect the security of the people they work with and that of staff members, as well as access to communities where they want to work.
- Its political nature also means locally-led peace processes that may be ongoing could be disrupted.
- In practical terms, collecting evidence can be difficult because most NGO staff are not trained investigators.
- NGOs’ first priority is to protect the confidentiality of their beneficiaries.
- NGOs may not have the capacity to appropriately document cited violations.
These dynamics must be monitored carefully by the ICC to ensure that it achieves what it set out to do: address the most egregious violations against humanity, including children.
[Source: Save the Children UK]
Further information
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