5th Preparatory Commission for the International Criminal Court (ICC Prepcom), NGO Coalition meeting
Title | Título:
5th Preparatory Commission for the International Criminal Court (ICC Prepcom), NGO Coalition meeting
Description | Descripción:
The Women's Caucus was formed in February 1997, to intervene in the ongoing Preparatory Committee meetings for the establishment of an International Criminal Court at the United Nations. Women realized that without an organized caucus, women's concerns would not be actively defended in the documents and process of creation of an International Criminal Court. The legal issues in the ICC are complex and sensitive. They require people from different legal systems and cultures to arrive at a consensus on specific issues that may challenge local traditions or beliefs. The gender-related issues are particularly sensitive, as they are not as well understood. Gender-related crimes are often perceived to be private or individual crimes that do not rise to the level of international human rights law, or that are perceived to be taken care of by a "neutral" statute. However, the experience of women has been that neutrality usually results in leaving out crimes against women and the ways that women, because of their socially constructed roles in society, are disproportionately affected. It was these concerns that the Women""s Caucus sought to address in the process of creation of an International Criminal Court. By advocating the codification of crimes of sexual, reproductive and gender violence, and inclusion of gender sensitive processes and criteria for personnel, the Caucus tried to ensure that the Court has capacity to implement justice for women. | Footage from a meeting of the NGO Coalition, an umbrella group of some 800 organizations from around the world, at the 5th Preparatory Commission for the International Criminal Court in June 2000. There are short interviews with participants prior to the start of the meeting. The audio is very poor. Dr. Ahmed Ziauddin from Brussels Catholic University, and Director of the Bangladesh Center for Genocide Studies, and the Convener of the Asian Network for the International Criminal Court (ANICC) explains the work he does for the ICC in relation to genocide. He discusses his concerns with the new statute, especially the American position on the ICC. He also talks about the Bangladesh government's support of the ICC; it is likely to ratify it soon. He also discusses the responses of various countries to the ICC, including the need to strengthen the Indian coalition. He talks about the work of the NGO Coalition. Next there is an interview with Dorothea Beane, a professor of law at Stetson University and a non-governmental observer from the National Bar Association. One of their purposes is to analyze the issues and inform the bar association membership about the ICC process. She discusses the American response to the ICC, stating that the coalition is working to educate the professional bar associations so that people can make their own decisions, which may differ from the government's position. She states that there needs to be more internal debate, and different approaches may also be needed to help end brutality across the world. She concludes that the US military influences the government too much and that more voices need to be heard. The next interview is with Felix Ronkes Agerbeek, a member of European Law Student Association (ELSA). ELSA has been involved in the ICC and the CICC since the beginning of the negotiations in 1995. He explains that they are monitoring the Prepcom sessions and provide legal assistance to the CICC. He states that he is impressed with the coalition and feels that they are making progress. He describes the future plans of ELSA. People begin to the enter the room for the start of the meeting. An unnamed person asks about the status of recent legislative decisions and voicing disappointment. Discussion begins about voting. A woman then talks about a ruling. After more discussion, the tape skips to later in the meeting, where questions about voting continue. A man comments that the coalition needs to approach delegations to ascertain how they will vote. More members voice their confusion and disappointment of the ruling. Plans to continue conversations in the NGO coalition are discussed, and there is a call for people to continue working toward their goals and not to give up. The meeting closes with some administrative messages.
Contributor | Contribuidor:
WITNESS (Creator) and Women's Caucus for Gender Justice (Creator)
unedited footage, metraje sin editar, moving image, meetings, and reuniones
Extent | Alcance:
58 minutes, 53 seconds
Rights - Use & Reproduction | Derechos - uso & reproducción:
http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
Language | Idioma:
English
Place of publication | Lugar de publicación:
Brooklyn (N.Y.)
Topic | Tema:
Advocacy, activism, and responses to persecution--Conferences, Defensa, activismo y respuestas a la persecución--Conferencias, Advocacy, activism, and responses to persecution--Activists, and Defensa, activismo y respuestas a la persecución--Activistas
General Note | Notas generales:
A/D flag: physDigital; Generation: original; Signal format: NTSC; Carrier number 1 of 1.
UTL DAMS PID:
hrdi:6b971cdb-30f4-42e9-909a-313c47ec1e0d
Local Identifier| Identificador local :
B01573-0_00_00_01 and witness_ihwe_3229
Related Resource – Host | Recursos relacionados:
Women's Caucus for Gender Justice's Footage for "If Hope Were Enough" Documentary (title) and https://txarchives.org/hrdi/finding_aids/00005.xml (uri)