{"id":9586,"date":"2018-07-18T05:01:33","date_gmt":"2018-07-18T03:01:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/?p=9586"},"modified":"2018-07-18T05:01:33","modified_gmt":"2018-07-18T03:01:33","slug":"interview-the-future-of-international-justice-amid-boundless-cruelty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/2018\/07\/interview-the-future-of-international-justice-amid-boundless-cruelty\/","title":{"rendered":"Interview: The Future of International Justice Amid Boundless Cruelty"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Human Rights Watch<\/a> – The ICC, the world\u2019s only permanent international court designed to try war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide, marks the 20th<\/sup>\u00a0anniversary of its founding treaty on July 17, 2018. The court is on the brink of unprecedented moves, including a possible investigation in Afghanistan, while operating on a dangerously lean budget. Richard Dicker, International Justice director for Human Rights Watch, played a role in the court\u2019s founding. He speaks with Amy Braunschweiger about the court\u2019s \u00a0challenges, its future, and why the world needs international justice.<\/p>\n

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You were there when the treaty establishing the ICC was completed 20 years ago. What was that like?<\/strong><\/p>\n

It was a six-week rollercoaster ride of intense negotiations, preceded \u00a0by three years of negotiations at United Nations headquarters in New York to create a draft treaty. There were ministers and lawyers from probably 150 countries around the world, and nongovernmental organizations from around the world, too.<\/p>\n

I got to Rome filled with excitement. Really, we were looking at accomplishing a task that was so urgently needed. You have to remember, this was directly after the horrific conflict in the former Yugoslavia, where there was genocide in the\u00a0mass execution of 8,000 Muslim men and boys<\/a>\u00a0in Srebrenica. It also followed on the\u00a0Rwandan genocide<\/a>, when in a three-month period about 800,000 Tutsis were slaughtered. The world was reeling and it needed a permanent criminal court that could deal with these kinds of horrors wherever they occurred.<\/p>\n

All of us felt we were there in a history-making event and moment.<\/p>\n

And there was also the uncertainly of whether at the end of the five weeks \u2013 it was going to end on July 17 come hell or high water \u2013 there would be a treaty establishing a court worth having. Were we going to succeed? Fail?<\/p>\n