Paying for justice

To British ministers, the role that the International Criminal Court played over Libya was key – it made clear that Colonel Gaddafi’s actions were unacceptable and would be subject to international law. Tory MP Dominic Raab even wrote a piece in The Times about the need for Libyans to rely on the ICC in The Hague, rather than seek retribution and revenge against Gaddafi and his loyalists.

And it wasn’t only the British government. German Chancellor Angela Merkel stated that the Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi should be tried by the ICC: ‘Gaddafi should have a trial according to the law, something he never did with his opponents,’ Merkel said when asked by the weekly Bild am Sonntag whether she was in favour of such a trial. Her UN representative followed up, by telling the Security Council of ‘Germany’s sincere appreciation for all the efforts undertaken by the ICC, and personally by you, Mr. Ocampo, to ensure implementation of Resolution 1970(2011), notably through the issuance by your court of arrest warrants against Muammar al-Gaddafi, Saif al-Islam al-Gaddafi, and Abdullah al-Senussi.’

Now, however, moves are afoot to constrain the Court’s work. Germany in particular is pushing to freeze the ICC’s budget, which Court officials have made clear will seriously compromise its ongoing work. This is particularly challenging, given that the ICC was given responsibility for Libya by the UN Security Council, which has refused to pay anything for that investigation. This task comes on top of investigations in the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan, Uganda, and Kenya.

Apparently, at a meeting on Monday in The Hague, a German diplomat stated the need for zero growth in the Court’s budget, arguing that the Court must re-consider its priorities and focus only on its core functions. The ICC is financed by its 116 member states, using the scale adopted by the UN for its regular budget, so that the main contributors are Japan, Germany and the UK. They are right to ask for efficiencies. In fact, they must. But cutting the ICC’s limited budget – €100 million a year, a third of its sister court the ICTY – seems unwise at the present time.