Arab states called to ratify international penal court statute
Participants to the 3rd regional seminar of the international human rights federation on international justice called here Monday states in the region to speedy ratification of the international penal court statute.
The "Casablanca Appeal" crowning their works Jan.5-8 says they would mobilize Euro-Mediterranean partnership bodies for the ratification and urge states to endorse international instruments protecting human rights and harmonize national legislation with these instruments.
NGOs and victims' associations should use national legal systems while states are required to make legal action easier for international serious crimes such as genocide and war-crimes. Truth, justice and reparation, as well as the right to know, are pre-requisites for national reconciliation, the document says insisting no amnesty should include international crimes.
Participants also decided to enlarge the legal action group of the federation to the south and east Mediterranean organizations affiliated to the federation as well as to lawyers and magistrates of organizations which attended the Casablanca regional seminar.
The Casablanca event, staged by the international human rights federation in collaboration with the Moroccan human rights organization and association OMDH and AMDH, was attended by activists from Morocco, Senegal, Egypt, Palestine, Chad, Chile, Lebanon, Turkey, Cambodia, Peru, Spain, Colombia, Algeria, the USA and South-Africa.
