ICC Swears in New Top Prosecutor

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (CN) — British lawyer Karim Khan was sworn in Wednesday as the International Criminal Court’s third prosecutor in its nearly 20-year history. 

“This magnificent courtroom, this building and this office that I now lead can be viewed through two different prisms. First, it is an awful testament to the horrors of mankind...but through the other prism, through the other lens, this court and the whole Rome Statute architecture represents, in my view, a promise to the future that tomorrow need not be as bleak, as sorrowful as yesterday,” the 51-year old told the judges, diplomats and media gathered before the world’s only permanent international war crimes court. 

Khan left his post as head of a United Nations investigate time for crimes committed by the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant, where he worked towards accountability for victims of the militant jihadist group, to take the top job in international criminal prosecution.

“Mr. Khan comes to this demanding job with outstanding credentials in international criminal law,” the court's president, Judge Piotr Hofmański, said while introducing Khan, who will serve as chief prosecutor for the next nine years.

Khan began his career at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia. He is no stranger to the ICC, having previously served as defense counsel before the court for clients like Kenyan Vice President William Ruto; Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, the son of former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi; and Congolese Vice President Jean Pierre Bemba Gombo.

His time as a defense lawyer drew much criticism during the selection process, especially from African states that were unhappy with his history of defending alleged war criminals from the continent. After repeated delays caused by by arguments over the procedure, the process concluded in February when Khan became the first prosecutor to be elected by secret ballot rather than chosen by consensus.

His work begins immediately and he’s been left with a very full plate. On Monday, the outgoing prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, announced the opening of a new investigation into the Philippines, focusing on President Rodrigo Duterte’s drug crackdown.

“The available information indicates that members of the Philippine national police, and others acting in concert with them, have unlawfully killed between several thousand and tens of thousands of civilians,” Bensouda said in a statement. 

Her office also announced in March it was moving forward with a controversial investigation into the Israel-Palestine conflict, a move then-Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described as “pure anti-Semitism.” 

And then there’s the investigation in Afghanistan, where the ICC is looking into crimes committed by the Taliban, the Afghan government and the United States' armed forces.

The U.S. isn’t a party to the Rome Statute, which created the court in 2002, and it so deeply opposed the investigation into its own military personnel that former President Donald Trump issued sanctions against Bensouda and one of her deputies. President Joe Biden ended them in April, but human rights advocates say he hasn’t gone far enough in endorsing the court’s work.  

In her final policy assessment, the outgoing prosecutor noted the lack of adequate resources to pursue investigations as one problem the court is facing, something Khan addressed in his opening speech.

“I stand steady and willing to engage with states in novel and innovative ways,” he said, noting that he wanted to see more trials held in the countries where crimes have occurred. Based in The Hague, the ICC has been long criticized for being too far removed from the crimes that it’s prosecuting. 

Liz Evenson, associate international justice director at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement that countries must shift their approach to the ICC, "or financial and political pressure could severely limit the court’s reach and cut off victims’ access to justice."

“Khan should urge member countries to scale-up the budget to meet the court’s pressing needs while providing a vision for the prosecutor’s office that ensures meaningful delivery of the court’s mandate in its various country situations," she said.

In his swearing-in speech Wednesday, Khan also addressed a problem that has plagued the court for years: workplace harassment.  A 2018 survey of court staff found that nearly half of employees said they had been the victim of discrimination, bullying or harassment while working at the ICC.

“You have a right to work in a harassment-free working environment,” Khan told his new colleagues. 

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