THE PARLIAMENTARIAN: INTERVIEW


independently of each other and how can this benefit society? Sidiki Kaba: In the separation of powers, it must be that one power regulates the other. There shouldn’t be a dominant power in a democratic society. Executive power, legislative power, judicial power – each should be able to do its work without one dominating the other. I am not saying that there should be a total and absolute separation – there should be a level of fluidity and co-operation between each power.


The executive should be able to govern – by winning a majority in an election and having the confidence of the population, it will help policies to be executed. The judiciary – the judges and lawyers - should act in a way that justice can function effectively and credibly because if citizens have a negative perception of justice and a feeling of inequality and partiality, then this creates frustrations and this can lead to people having a negative perception of justice. This can result in people, in certain countries, taking up arms and a situation where justice is undertaken outside of the courts. Justice can only play its role when it is independent and impartial.


Parliament’s role is in voting in the laws and it can create a general negative feeling when the law protects those who have a particular interest so it is important that all powers can participate for the well-being of the population and when checks and balances are in place.


The Parliamentarian: Are there particular challenges in protecting human rights in a global society? Sidiki Kaba: It is not easy to protect human rights in a global society. Globalisation has given us a huge economic opportunity.


However the world has changed especially since we adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948. Lots of progress has been made. There were few independent countries at that time – today many countries have attained their independence and colonisation has ended. There has been progress towards democracy – there had been many military states and authoritarian countries using violence – but this has been replaced more and more with democratic systems. But there is still progress to be made particularly with the rights of women and the violence that is perpetrated against women. Progress needs to be made in protecting the rights of women in conflict, where women are often targets in war and are the victims of rape as a weapon of war. Children are also targeted in these situations as are minorities – this must stop.


Even in a globalised world, even when poverty is reduced in many places in the world – many rights are not extended to women. There are still countries where people live at the lowest levels of poverty and where the hopes of life are very low. Access to medicine is a problem, access to rights and the law is a problem, access to suitable shelter – all of these things are not necessarily available to all and so the challenge of globalisation today is allow all to live and have access to food equally.


The Parliamentarian: How can Commonwealth Parliaments ensure that national jurisdictions can be in a position to prosecute egregious crimes? Sidiki Kaba: I think that Parliamentarians have a very important role in that they can help to change society and help to improve the quality of life and you have to work to ensure that these conditions are realised. The International Criminal Court in its statute – adopted in Rome in 1998 – states that to prevent crime, to prevent injustice and to prevent us from entering into war, will prevent us failing in our duty to protect human rights. It is why I say that in all countries you must enforce the judicial system. Where there is a sentiment of frustration and a feeling of injustice – this is the roots of the destabilisation of a country. A feeling of injustice is one of the elements, along with poverty, corruption and the absence of democracy, that are very important to maintaining peace in society.


This is why as President of the Assembly of States Parties of the International Criminal


Court, I have developed several actions and enhanced cooperation – especially amongst African countries to reconcile them with the ICC. 34 African countries have ratified the Rome Statute – but today Africa is dubious of the ICC and it thinks that the ICC is often against it.


We must listen to African countries and their concerns; there concerns are legitimate. For example Kenya has said that in order to have a solution, we must find a dynamic solution so that Africa doesn’t become distanced from the ICC; it is an important group of 34 countries.


However the ICC is not the police - it is individual countries that must execute their decisions. It is essential that countries engage in executing the decisions of the courts – if not then the decisions of the ICC run the risk of being left dead.


We must reinforce the work of national judicial systems. If every country does this – then the ICC will have a lesser role to play, supporting the idea that all countries will enforce their domestic law to protect human rights. There must be real and effective justice in each country, only then will it be respected by the wider population.


We need to accelerate universality. This supposes that all countries participate in, and ratify the Rome Statute.


Total democracy is not yet far-reaching. There are regions where there are huge problems of crime – against children, against women, against the vulnerable – and many victims have no hope of proper access to justice. We must remedy this. If there are judicial systems nationally that don’t respond to these crimes – then we can say that yes, the ICC continues to have a critical role to play in protecting humanity.


We have to encourage the Parliaments of the Commonwealth – a large organisation with economic, cultural and political shared values – to embed their values in all countries and notably in the countries of the south. There is a role to be played by the Commonwealth in convincing all Parliaments to ratify the Statute of Rome. This will help towards a country’s development – each country has its own sovereign interests – but together Commonwealth countries also want international solidarity.


The Commonwealth has a great role to play and Parliaments are at the heart of democracy.


Interview by Lucy Pickles and Jeffrey Hyland at the CPA Secretariat.


The Parliamentarian | 2016: Issue One | 15


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