The President of the Assembly of States Parties (“the Assembly”), Ambassador Tiina Intelmann, visited Addis Ababa from 15 to 18 April 2013. During her visit, President Intelmann met with the Chairperson of the African Union Commission, Ms. Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, with whom she discussed, inter alia, the advancement of the ability of the International Criminal Court (“the Court”) to address sexual and gender based crimes. The President also met with Ms. Aisha Laraba Abdullahi, African Union Commissioner for Political Affairs, to highlight some of the issues considered by the Assembly of States Parties. The President used her presence in Addis Ababa to meet with representatives of African States Parties to the Rome Statute.
In Addis Ababa, President Intelmann also participated at the Seminar “ICC complementarity in practice: Challenges, progress and prospects in Africa”, hosted by the Institute for Security Studies. The seminar focused on how to develop domestic capacity to investigate and prosecute atrocity crimes. President Intelmann stated: “Ultimately, our long-term goal is to prevent crimes from happening. Part of the prevention is the domestication of the atrocity crimes which contributes undoubtedly to the strengthening of the Rule of Law, one of the most important elements to achieve true justice and accountability.”
On 19 April President Intelmann visited The Hague to open the first meeting of the Advisory Committee on Nominations of Judges, a subsidiary body of the Assembly, established to facilitate that the highest-qualified individuals are appointed as judges of the ICC.