27 May 2024
On 27 May 2024, the Australian Centre for International Justice, the Human Rights Law Centre and Amnesty International Australia wrote to the Prime Minister, the Attorney-General and the Foreign Minister calling on the Australian Government to confirm Australia’s support to the International Criminal Court and the Rome Statute system of international justice. The organisations are alarmed by a rise in public comments in Australia and abroad threatening the independence of the ICC. In particular the organisations recall recent remarks made by the Leader of the Opposition which encourage political interreference against the ICC and promote a culture of impunity in response to Office of the Prosecutor’s applications for arrest warrants against Israeli leaders. The organisations request the government strongly condemn such remarks.
The organisations note sections 268.111 and 268.112 of the Commonwealth Criminal Code which prohibit both conduct constituting reprisals against officials of the ICC and conduct which intentionally perverts the course of justice in respect of the Court’s functions. The legislation is unambiguous in criminalising conduct that causes or threatens to cause any detriment to an official of the Court, and conduct that intentionally perverts, obstructs or prevents the course of justice, with each offence carrying a penalty of five years imprisonment.
The organisations write that Australia must uphold the integrity of the Court’s processes through concrete expressions of support and defend it by unequivocally condemning any form of political interference.
