Resilient ICC launches social media photo competition

The International Criminal Court (ICC), that has come under persistent attack by the African Heads of State, is launching a new Justice Matters social media campaign from July 1 to July 17, the Day of International Criminal Justice, including a Facebook photo contest.

Over the past three years the ICC has come under criticism mainly from African Heads of State including Uganda’s Yoweri Museveni, who claim that the international court was set up to try Africans.

Currently, the ICC has indicted 32 persons, most of them of African origin, in the process prompting reprisal attacks and on May 12, during his swearing in at Kololo Ceremonial Grounds, President Museveni described the ICC as ‘a bunch of useless people’.

African leaders who have appeared before the court include Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy William Ruto, both of who were indicted for crimes against humanity for their alleged participation in the 2007/8 post-election violence in their country, but have since been cleared.

Other notable African leaders on the ICC list of indictees include Laurent Gbagbo of Cote D’Ivoire, Jean Pierre Bemba, a former Vice President of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Sudan President Omar Bashir, who was indicted for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Darfur region.

Meanwhile, Justice Matters competition participants have been invited to submit photos, to ask their networks to like and share them, and to challenge their friends to add a little justice to their world view.
Photos of the scales of justice will be submitted on the ICC 17 July Facebook page, transforming a monument, city skyline or a natural landscape into a symbol of justice. The three photos to receive the most ‘likes’ and ‘shares’ will win a Justice Matters photo book. The campaign aims to raise awareness of the ICC, its goals, and the importance of international criminal justice on a global scale.
‘The Day of International Criminal Justice marks the anniversary of the adoption on July 17 1998 of the Rome Statute, the founding treaty of the ICC, which seeks to deter people from genocide, crimes against humanity and war crime. July 17 unites all those who wish to support justice, promote victims’ rights, and help prevent crimes that threaten the peace and security of the world,’ a July 4 release by the Africa Press Organisation (APO) on behalf of the ICC states.