Odhikar, a human rights organisation in Bangladesh, has been campaigning for the International Criminal Court (ICC) for last few years. This publication is an attempt to compile campaign reports, speeches made by distinguished personalities and articles on the ICC. The objective of this publication is to give relevant people an idea about the ICC campaign in Bangladesh.
The way the Rome Statute of the Court was adopted by the community of nations though intense negotiations during 1995-1998 was an astounding success of multilateral diplomacy. It was also great learning experience for lawyers and researchers on how international law can be developed through strategic cooperation of governments, international organisations and civil society NGOs.
The setting up of the ICC in 2002 is a historic event in the new millennium. The Court is now in full operation with all judges and prosecutors appointed and several cases under its consideration. Two cases have already been referred by States (Rwanda and Democratic Republic of Congo) and the UN Security Council has referred the Darfur Case (Sudan) to the Court, which are signs of recognition and acceptance of the Court as functional forum of international criminal jurisdiction.
During the pre-1998 global campaign for the adoption of the Statute, Odhikar, along with Bangladesh Coalition for the ICC, was in the forefront of campaign for its adoption. Currently Odhikar is actively engaged in disseminating information on the ICC in Bangladesh, organizing awareness raising workshops and seminars, lobbying meetings and publishing write-ups in the newspapers. Odhikar is also working to build up a constituency of informed people in support of the ratification of the Statute by Bangladesh, which signed it in 1999 but is yet to ratify it. Odhikar is in touch with the Coalition for the International Criminal Court (CICC), Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (Forum-Asia) and other international human rights networks on various human rights campaigns relevant to the ICC.
ICC Campaign Activity Report Publication 2006 (full text in English, PDF)
