To:
Ms Fatou Bensouda,
The Prosecutor,
International Criminal Court
Den Haag
Netherlands
Open Letter: Supporting the Cambodian Land Grabbing Case
Dear Madam Prosecutor,
In your 17 February 2021 speech to the Institute of International and European Affairs, you confirmed that your Office will soon take a decision on the pending Cambodian land grabbing situation, which you already referred to in your December 2020 report on preliminary examinations activities. This is extremely welcome news. We offer our strong support for positive action on this case.
The Cambodia situation offers a unique opportunity for the ICC to engage with the single greatest threat facing humankind – the climate and environmental emergency. Land grabbing is not only about the violent forced evictions of residents, or the beatings, murders, or unlawful imprisonment of land activists. In many countries around the world, land grabbing is the harbinger for illegal resource exploitation, persecution of indigenous people, and environmental destruction. Putting the brakes on illegal land grabbing will help protect the environment and combat climate change.
As demonstrated in Article 15 Communications, filed in 2014 and 2015 by Richard J Rogers of Global Diligence LLP with the support of FIDH and Global Witness, evidence suggests that the mass crimes associated with land grabbing in Cambodia amount to a widespread or systematic attack against poor Cambodians. Hundreds of thousands of people have been forcibly displaced, including a significant proportion of the minority indigenous population. This has laid the ground for an environmental catastrophe – over a quarter of Cambodia’s ancient rainforests have been destroyed during the ICC’s short lifetime.
Pursuing the Cambodia situation would send a crucial message to would-be violators globally that, in the most extreme cases, the crimes associated with land grabbing may amount to crimes against humanity. Politicians and businesspeople alike would have to re-think practices that cause mass human harm and environmental degradation.
Madam Prosecutor, merely by opening a full examination into the situation in Cambodia, your Office can start to play a meaningful role in tackling the climate and environmental crisis, consistent with your 2016 policy on case selection and prioritization. This is your chance to support the rights of future generations.
Patrick Alley, Co-Founder, Global Witness
Eléonore Morel, CEO, FIDH
Richard J Rogers, Executive Director, Climate Counsel
This Open Letter is supported by the following UN Experts, civil society organisations, and individuals. (For security reasons, we have not included Cambodian-based organisations).
United Nations Experts:
- UN Working Group on the use of mercenaries, Ms. Jelena Aparac (ChairRapporteur), Ms. Lilian Bobea, Mr. Chris Kwaja, Mr. Ravindran Daniel, and Ms. Sorcha MacLeod.
Organisations: - Africa Europe Faith Justice Network (AEFJN), Belgium
- Alternative ASEAN Network on Burma, Burma
- Al-Haq, Palestine
- Amazon Frontlines, Ecuador, Mitchell Anderson, Executive Director
- ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights, Southeast Asia, (HQ: Jakarta)
- Association Marocaine des Droits Humains (AMDH), Morocco
- Australian Earth Laws Alliance, Australia, Dr Michelle Maloney, National Convenor
- Avocats sans frontières (ASF)
- Cambodia Democratic Council, USA, Vibol Touch, Founder
- Center for International Environmental Law, USA, Carroll Muffett, President & CEO
- Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), USA
- Centro de Políticas Públicas y Derechos (Equidad), Peru
- Comisiόn De Derechos Humanos De El Salvador, El Salvador
- Corporate Responsibility Coalition (CORE), UK
- Diakonia, Sweden
- Earth Law Center, United States, Canada and Mexico, Grant Wilson, Executive Director
- Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, Egypt
- FIAN International, Switzerland
- Finnish League for Human Rights, Finland
- Focus on the Global South
- Forum-Asia
- Greenpeace International, Netherlands, Charlie Holt, Legal Counsel (Campaigns
and Action) - Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, Pakistan
- Indigenous People’s Rights International, Philippines, Joan Carling, Co-Founder
- International Partnership for Human Rights, Belgium, Simon Papuashvili, Program Director
- INTERPRT, Norway, Nabil Ahmed, Founder and Director
- Justice for Iran, Iran
- Latvian Human Rights Committee, Latvia
- Ligue des Droits de l’Homme et du Citoyen, France
- Ligue des Droits de l’Homme en Iran, Iran
- Maldivian Democracy Network, Maldives
- Mouvement Laotien pour les Droits de l’Homme, Laos
- Narasha Community Development Group, Kenya
- Not1More, UK, Fran Lambrick, Co-Founder
- Odhikar, Bangladesh
- Programa Venezolano de Educación – Acción en Derechos Humanos (PROVEA), Venezuela
- Promise Institute for Human Rights, UCLA School of Law, USA, Kate Mackintosh, Executive Director
- Sisters’ Arabic Forum for Human Rights (SAF), Yeman
- Stop Ecocide Foundation, Netherlands, Jojo Mehta, Chair & International Director
- Vietnam Committee on Human Rights & Que Me: Action for Democracy in Vietnam, Vietnam
- Wild and Legal, France, Marine Calmet, President
- Women’s Initiatives for Gender Justice (WIGJ), Netherlands
- Women’s Rights Action Watch Asia Pacific
Individuals: - Barrett, Nicole, Director, International Justice and Human Rights Clinic, Allard
School of Law, University of British Columbia and former UN Prosecutor (ICTY) - Batesmith, Alex, Law Lecturer, University of Leeds, UK, and former UN Prosecutor
(ECCC) - Robinson, Darryl, Professor at Queens University, Canada, and former Advisor to
ICC Prosecutor - Heather Ryan, Former court monitor (OSJI) at ECCC, USA
- Schromen-Wawrin, Lindsey, City Council Member, Port Angeles, Washington,
USA - Toussaint, Marie, MEP, Green Member of the European Parliament, France
- Work, Courtney, Assistant Professor, National Chengchi University, Taiwan
