Clause 49 - Power to make provision for enforcement of other orders
International Criminal Court Bill [Lords]
11:00 am
Mrs Cheryl Gillan (Chesham and Amersham, Conservative)
I beg to move amendment No. 59, in page 25, line 14, at end insert
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(c) orders relating to the payment of reparations to victims of crimes within the jurisdiction of the Court and from the Trust Fund established under Article 79'.
In speaking briefly to the amendment, I take the opportunity to pay tribute to some of the organisations that have taken the time and trouble to take a great interest in the passage of the Bill—Simon Burrell at the One World Trust, Clare Crawford at Save the Children and Christopher Hall at Amnesty International, as well as Christian Mitchell, who has been very instrumental in helping to prepare for the scrutiny of the Bill. I particularly pay tribute to Sherman Carroll of the Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture, who has been pressing for the amendment and has been the inspiration behind it.
Clause 49 empowers the Secretary of State to make regulations to enforce fines, forfeitures or reparation orders issued by the ICC against a convicted individual. The Foreign Secretary takes credit for the stand that he supported taken by the British delegation at the Rome conference in 1998, especially on article 75 of the statute, which covers reparations to victims. However, article 79 envisages the establishment of a trust fund by decision of the assembly of states parties for the benefit of victims of crimes within the jurisdiction of the court and of the families of such victims.
Article 79 provides that the trust fund will be established by a decision-making process, and that the court may order money or other property to be collected through the fines or forfeiture, which will be transferred by order of the court to the trust fund. The trust fund itself was to be managed according to criteria that are eventually to be determined by the assembly of states parties. Given that the Foreign Secretary was keen to claim credit for the British stance over reparations, it is surprising that clause 49 should be silent on the United Nations trust fund as laid out in article 79.
Clause 49 will lead to a number of regulations, most being related to the fines and forfeitures to be levied against convicted perpetrators, and others making provision for reparations to victims. I know that the Medical Foundation and other bodies would welcome the opportunity to comment on the regulations. I may not be in the Room when the Minister responds to the amendment, but I hope that he will offer such an opportunity to the Medical Foundation and its representatives.
The foundation has examined and treated about 25,000 survivors of torture and organised violence since 1986, and last year 5,026 new patients from 96 countries sought its help. It hopes that the regulations will reflect the long-term need for rehabilitation of the many thousands of survivors of torture and other gross violations of human rights who reside within the jurisdiction of our courts.