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STORY: UN / ACCOUNTABILITY PEACE AND SECURITY
TRT: 03:02
SOURCE: UNIFEED
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGES: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 01 JUNE 2022, NEW YORK CITY / FILE
FILE - NEW YORK CITY
1. Aerial shot, exterior UN Headquarters
01 JUNE 2022, NEW YORK CITY
2. Wide shot, Security Council
3. Med shot, Council President, Albania’s Prime Minister Edi Rama
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Michelle Bachelet, High Commissioner for Human Rights, United Nations:
“The adoption of a Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Crimes against Humanity would, in my view, fill a significant gap in the current international framework, and facilitate international cooperation in this area. Relevant treaties providing jurisdictional basis for accountability, including the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, deserve universal adherence and should be ratified by all States, and I equally encourage all States to accept the compulsory jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice, in the common interest of the entire international community.”
5. Med shot, delegates
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Michelle Bachelet, High Commissioner for Human Rights, United Nations:
“Placing victims at the centre of accountability strategies will contribute to the sustainability of accountability and justice efforts. This is not only the right thing to do, in acknowledgment of the victims in whose names these processes were created. But it also helps to identify and address the conditions that have led to the serious violations in the first place. And most importantly, this means providing the space for the full participation of victims and affected communities, in all their diversity, to ensure that their voices are heard, including - wherever possible - in this Council itself.”
7. Wide shot delegates
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Judge Joan E. Donoghue, President, the International Court of Justice (ICJ):
“Today, when armed conflicts and mass atrocities continue to drive human suffering in various parts of the world. I take this opportunity to remind member states that the Court can promote accountability only to the extent that member states accorded the jurisdiction to do so. Adoption of a convention on crimes against humanity would be one way to promote accountability for the violations of some of the most fundamental obligations found in international law. The court stands ready to decide any disputes over which it would have jurisdiction on the basis of such a convention.”
9. Wide shot, Council
10. Pan right, Albania’s Prime Minister Edi Rama walks up to podium
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Edi Rama, Prime Minister, Albania:
“We live in times, where conflicts and their devastating consequences for civilians and civilian infrastructure have become pervasive and deadlier. The devastating toll on civilians including the alarming levels of food insecurity, potentially leading to unprecedented hunger in our lifetime, make the need for more effective accountability, a very key issue for the United Nations and its member states. Further, as we have all seen, Russia's war in Ukraine, which poses multiple challenges and threats worldwide, has only reinforced this necessity.”
12. Pan right, Prime Minister Rama walks away
The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, today (2 Jun) told the Security Council that the adoption of a Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Crimes against Humanity would “fill a significant gap in the current international framework.”
Briefing an open debate on Strengthening Accountability and Justice for Serious Violations of International Law via video teleconference, Bachelet said, “relevant treaties providing jurisdictional basis for accountability, including the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, deserve universal adherence and should be ratified by all States”
She encouraged all States “to accept the compulsory jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice, in the common interest of the entire international community.”
The High Commissioner said, “placing victims at the centre of accountability strategies will contribute to the sustainability of accountability and justice efforts,” adding that “this is not only the right thing to do, in acknowledgment of the victims in whose names these processes were created. But it also helps to identify and address the conditions that have led to the serious violations in the first place. And most importantly, this means providing the space for the full participation of victims and affected communities, in all their diversity, to ensure that their voices are heard, including - wherever possible - in this Council itself.”
Bachelet called for the Council’s support for independent and impartial investigation, justice and accountability efforts, encouraging further reflection on how the Security Council can systematically and consistently support appropriate justice and accountability measures.
In her briefing to the Council, the President of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), Judge Joan E. Donoghue, said the Court “can promote accountability only to the extent that member states accorded the jurisdiction to do so.”
Donoghue said, “adoption of a convention on crimes against humanity would be one way to promote accountability for the violations of some of the most fundamental obligations found in international law.”
Speaking to reporters outside the Council, the Prime Minister of Albania, Edi Rama, who presided the meeting, said,
“we live in times, where conflicts and their devastating consequences for civilians and civilian infrastructure have become pervasive and deadlier. The devastating toll on civilians including the alarming levels of food insecurity, potentially leading to unprecedented hunger in our lifetime, make the need for more effective accountability, a very key issue for the United Nations and its member states. Further, as we have all seen, Russia's war in Ukraine, which poses multiple challenges and threats worldwide, has only reinforced this necessity.”
