Executive summary

• Author: Olympia Bekou
• Pages: 6-9

Policy Department , Directorate-General for External Policies

6

Executive summary

The European Union (EU) has taken a leading role in combating impunity for core international crimes and

has supported international and domestic accountability efforts. Together with the Member States, the EU

has consistently invested in the necessary political, financial and technical capital beginning with the

revival of international criminal justice with the ad hoc Tribunals for Rwanda and the Former Yugoslavia in

the 1990s. The EU has shown political leadership and been a staunch supporter of the permanent

International Criminal Court (ICC). It continues to work towards universal ratification of the Rome Statute,

which would provide the Court with a global reach. Acknowledging the importance of addressing crimes

in the countries where they have taken place, the EU has also supported and continues to support hybrid

courts and specialised chambers in domestic cour ts. Examples span the globe, including: the Special Court

for Sierra Leone, the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, the Special Criminal Court for the

Central African Republic, the Kosovo Specialised Chambers and the Specialist Prosecutor’s Office, and the

Jurisdiction for Justice and Peace and the Special Jurisdiction for Peace in Colombia. The EU has also

encouraged its Member States in their efforts as leaders in providing accountability by applying the

principle of universal jurisdiction. Under this principle, a State exercises jurisdiction over an offence which

occurred outside its territory, based on the nature of the offence. Recognising the importance of new

solutions to situations that are currently beyond the reach of international criminal justice, the EU has been

among the biggest supporters of the UN Evidentiary Mech anisms for Syria, Iraq and Myanmar.

In this context of staunch EU support for accountabili ty, the role of the EU and its contribution to the fight

against impunity for core international crimes is explored. Firstly, by analysing the EU policy framework for

accountability and its operationalisation in practise. Secondly, by considering in-depth the EU’s

engagement in six country situations: Rwanda, Colombia, Venezuela, Myanmar, Syria and Iraq. The primary

research method was desktop research, enriched with seventeen semi-structured elite interviews with

participants selected for their experience and past or current role, in order to gain essential insights into

EU institutions, accountability mechanisms and related work fighting impunity for core international

crimes. Drawing on both the desktop research and data analysis, the study concludes with a set of

recommendations for future EU policies which include targeted recommendations to the European

Parliament.

The EU has a wealth of tools at its disposal and through several of its bodies, such as the Genocide Network,

is fully engaged in the fight against impunity. Whilst coordinating the EU response remains a challenge,

consistent informal liaising between delegations and headquarters could be a solution. Amid staff

turnover, it is necessary to enhance measures which preserve institutional memory and ensure a coherent

and consistent approach to accountability issu es. Improving inter-institutional coordination should be

considered, possibly through the establishment of a dedicated accountability unit within the EEAS.

Additionally, to meet both the changing and long-term demands of delivering transitional justice, it would

be prudent to provide an inter-institutional link between the Service for Foreign Policy Instruments (FPI)

facility on transitional justice and the programmes of the Commission's Directorate-General for

International Cooperation and Development (DG DEVCO) and the Directorate-General for Neighbourhood

and Enlargement Negotiations (DG NEAR). A welcome step would be to enhance the internal promotion

of EU instruments at headquarter and delegation level. An essential step is arguably to increase the

capacity of EU bodies involved in accountability efforts, both in terms of resources and of personnel so that

they can deliver the EU’s ambitions for accountability.

The EU has promoted the universal reach of accountability mechanisms through a campaign for

universality of the Rome Statute, and by supporting other instruments which aim to address situations

falling outside the jurisdiction of the ICC. The EU conducts important initiatives on ICC universality

including diplomatic demarches, with offers for technical assistance, Human Rights Dialogues and ICC