Amnesty International today submitted a legal filing to the Pre-Trial Judges of the International Criminal Court (ICC) on behalf of several victims' networks, to request an end to the ICC Prosecutor's indefinite and unfathomable delay to the start of the court's investigation into war crimes and crimes against humanity in Nigeria.
In December 2020, the ICC Prosecutor concluded that all the criteria had been fulfilled for the opening of an investigation into atrocities committed since 2010 in the country's north-east, including amid the ongoing conflict between Boko Haram and the Nigerian army. Following that conclusion, the clear next step should have been to submit a request to Pre-Trial judges to open the investigation, and then if authorized by the judges, start investigating. Four years on, the ICC Prosecutor's Office has yet to even issue the initial request.
Isa Sanusi, Director of Amnesty International Nigeria, said: "Victims of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Nigeria are as entitled to justice as victims of crimes under international law elsewhere. They have already waited too long. Nigeria should not be forgotten by the International Criminal Court."
Victims of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Nigeria are as entitled to justice as victims of crimes under international law elsewhere. They have already waited too long. Nigeria should not be forgotten by the International Criminal Court."Isa Sanusi, Director of Amnesty International Nigeria
"Amnesty International has called for an ICC investigation in Nigeria for years. The Office of the Prosecutor continues to delay, despite its clear legal obligation and its promise to open an investigation. We urge the ICC judges to exercise their oversight power to ensure the Prosecutor acts in conformity with the Rome Statute's provisions."
"The Prosecutor has also failed to justify the deprioritization of the Nigeria situation, leaving victims and survivors of the conflict waiting with no explanation, nor any certainty, about the Prosecutor's intended next steps. When is it going to be Nigeria's turn?" asked Isa Sanusi.
The legal filing argues that the Office of the Prosecutor is failing in its legal duty under article 15(3) of the Rome Statute to request the authorization of the opening of the investigation in Nigeria. The complaint also describes how the Prosecutor has created an unprecedented situation in which Nigeria is now neither a preliminary examination nor an investigation, leaving it in legal 'limbo' between these two stages of the ICC judicial process. In doing so, the Prosecutor has bypassed due process and he has put victims' rights to truth, justice and reparations on indefinite hold.
"As the ICC's member states commence their annual Assembly session, we call on them to recognize that all ICC situations, including in Nigeria, must receive the same standard of treatment and attention as others before the Court."
Background
The complaint has been brought by Amnesty International on behalf of thousands of victims from several networks in north-east Nigeria, including the Jire Dole Mothers and the Knifar Movement networks. The complaint was drafted with substantial contribution and legal advice from UpRights.
Since 2009, north-east Nigeria has been the scene of egregious crimes committed by Boko Haram and the Nigerian army. Boko Haram has killed thousands of civilians, attacked schools, abducted women as well as girls and boys, many of whom have been forcibly recruited as child soldiers or forcibly married and turned into sex slaves. Nigerian forces have killed or forcibly disappeared civilians, conducted mass arbitrary arrests and detentions, and countless acts of sexual violence and torture, leading to thousands of deaths in military custody. This armed conflict is still ongoing today, and crimes continue to be perpetrated by both parties against civilians year after year.
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The first ICC Prosecutor Ocampo opened a preliminary examination into the situation in Nigeria in November 2010. Ten years later, in December 2020, the then ICC Prosecutor Bensouda announced that the preliminary examination was completed; and that they had concluded that crimes against humanity and war crimes had been committed by Boko Haram and the Nigerian military and that the Nigerian authorities had failed to genuinely investigate and prosecute these crimes. Since then, there has been no concrete progress.
