Withdrawing from ICC undermines international justice: UN expert

Although the International Criminal Court (ICC) is investigating cases involving African countries, this doesn’t mean that it is targeting the continent. That’s the opinion of the UN Special Advisor on the Prevention of Genocide, Adama Dieng, addressing the announcement that some countries plan to pull out of the ICC, which tries individuals responsible for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. They are among 124 nations that are party to the Rome Statute, the 2002 treaty that established the court, and Mr Dieng has written an op-ed explaining why withdrawing from the treaty undermines international justice for everyone. He spoke to Jérôme Longué about the need for dialogue between the ICC, countries, civil society and victims of atrocities.

2017 “must be a year of decisions” for Libyan national solidarity

2017 “must be a year of decisions”, where political deadlock in Libya is broken in order to restore “basic services” to the people. That’s one of the key messages being delivered to the Security Council by the head of the UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL), Martin Kobler. The UN brokered the signing of the Libyan Political Agreement (LPA) in December 2015, which aimed to establish a single Government of National Accord, after several years of fighting between rival factions. Mr Kobler said views were converging between different political groups, but there needed to be a breakthrough this year, with the unified support of the international community. Basma Baghal asked him if the 2015 agreement had led to any meaningful progress.

Building a bridge with the African diaspora to end FGM

Encouraging the African diaspora to advocate for the rights of women and girls on the continent was among the goals of this year’s commemoration of the International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), observed annually on 6 February. FGM or “cutting” is practiced in nearly 30 African countries but can also be found in places such as Colombia, India, Indonesia, Jordan, Pakistan and Russia. Cristina Silveiro  has been speaking to Nafissatou Diop, Coordinator of a UN programme to accelerate the abandonment of the practice, which is recognized as a human rights violation.

Presenter: Dianne Penn

Production Assistant: Ana Carmo

Duration: 10'00″