On December 11, 2024, in its first public discussion following its launch on December 2nd, PJI facilitated and co-sponsored a webinar entitled “A New Policy on Slavery Crimes at the ICC: What Difference Will it Make?”
The webinar was designed to examine the promise and potential impact of the new Slavery Crimes Policy (the Policy) adopted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) Office of the Prosecutor.
The Policy presents slavery as one of the oldest and most persistent atrocity crimes, universally reviled yet continuing both in war and in peacetime. It acknowledges that historic institutions of slavery were “constructed and maintained through interplays of racial discrimination and asserted racial superiority, religion, ethno-centrism, commerce and empire, traditions and customs, military forays and patriarchal norms as well as raw political prowess.” It asserts that the effects of these institutions have been deeply rooted, running through generations, and have been and continue to be extremely difficult to dismantle.
The Policy presents slavery crimes as a set of atrocities that hide in plain sight, cloaked in misconceptions that derive from these same roots, effects of the violence that maintained historic institutions of slavery. According to the policy, “[i]t is necessary to acknowledge this reality with self-awareness and emotional intelligence, to recognize power and privilege and to overcome barriers to work and success.” While in principle all agree that this crime should be prosecuted and eradicated, to seek accountability for it requires the ability to hear past the noise of the self-regard instilled by privilege, or, as the Policy puts it, to confront “these issues with a measure of introspection, humility, and urgency.”
The Policy helpfully distinguishes the international crime of enslavement from other crimes and violations such as human trafficking, forced labor, and servile status. The Policy also notes the shortcomings of the Rome Statute: that it codifies enslavement as a crime against humanity but not as a war crime, and that it does not yet codify the crime of slave trading. In addition, the Policy provides guiding principles and specific steps for implementation at each stage of the investigation and litigation process. It is a remarkable set of commitments by the Office of the Prosecutor and a hopeful roadmap for practitioners outside the Court.
This policy represents the first-ever commitment by an international judicial institution to formally address slavery crimes. It is hoped that the Slavery Crimes Policy will guide justice actors at the ICC and around the world to take a survivor-centered, trauma-informed, and gender-competent approach to such crimes, increasing the effectiveness of their investigation and prosecution, and thus providing greater opportunities for justice for more victims.
The event was sponsored by the Women in International Law and International Criminal Law Interest Groups of the American Society of International Law and by Partners in Justice International, and it was streamed in English and Spanish.
Panelists included Patricia Viseur Sellers, Special Adviser to the ICC Prosecutor and co-author of the new policy; Valerie Oosterveld, Professor and Chair in International Criminal Justice at Western University and Special Adviser on Crimes Against Humanity to the ICC Prosecutor; Hilda Pineda, the Guatemalan human rights prosecutor who led the Sepur Zarco case; and Judy Mionki, ICC Counsel for Dominic Ongwen’s defence. PJI’s own Kathleen Roberts moderated.
An untranslated recording of the event can be found here: https://youtu.be/ZQFvUrWcnXA
The ICC Office of the Prosecutor’s Slavery Crime Policy can be found here. – https://www.icc-cpi.int/news/policy-slavery-crimes