Complaints to the International Criminal Court
[2] The Office of the Prosecutor carried out and closed preliminary investigations in Bolivia; Colombia; Congo II; Gabon; Guinea; Honduras; Iraq/the United Kingdom; registered vessels of Comoros, Greece, and Cambodia; and South Korea.
[10] Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have both accused the Taliban of deliberately targeting civilians in Afghanistan, including teachers and aid workers.
[6] In May 2014 immigration lawyer Tracie Aylmer lodged a complaint against Australian Prime Minister, Tony Abbott and others, in relation to Australia's treatment of asylum seekers.
[15] These claims are arguably supported by United Nations special rapporteur on torture Juan Mendez who found that "Australia has violated the right of the asylum seekers, including children, to be free from torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment"[16] Over the course of 2015 a review into offshore detention and a Senate inquiry provided additional evidence of abuse.
[23] The Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative stated in September 2007 that they would make a complaint to the court concerning 44 Ghanaians who were allegedly executed in 2005 on the orders of the President of the Gambia, Yahya Jammeh after being accused of planning a coup against him.
The Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court reported in February 2006 that it had received 240 communications in connection with the invasion of Iraq in March 2003 which alleged that various war crimes had been committed.
[28] A complaint has been submitted to the court accusing the government of Italy of crimes against humanity in connection to the expulsion of Romani immigrants in Rome in October 2007.
[30] Sixteen foreign NGOs have called for an investigation into the killing of civilians as part of the Conflict in the Niger Delta, including the prosecution of Nigerian Army General Sarkin Yarkin-Bello.
[31] The "Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project" wrote to the International Criminal Court in 2010, asking them to investigate the 2010 Jos riots for potential crimes against humanity.
[34] In November 2012 the prosecutor's office said that there were reasonable grounds to suspect that Boko Haram, a militant jihadist organisation based in Northern Nigeria, had committed crimes against humanity, specifically murder and persecution, since 2009.
[35] Lawyers representing Khalid Rashid have made a complaint to the court regarding his arrest in South Africa and alleged extraordinary rendition.
[45] In July 2020, the East Turkistan Government in Exile (ETGIE) and the East Turkistan National Awakening Movement (ETNAM) filed a complaint against the leadership of the People's Republic of China (PRC), including Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leader Xi Jinping, alleging that it had committed genocide and crimes against humanity in its treatment of the Uighur minority.
The report cited the fact that all available evidence for alleged crimes originate from within China, meaning the Court has no territorial jurisdiction over the acts in question.
In November 2006, the government of Yemen called on the UN Security Council to refer Israel to the court "to look into barbarian crimes and inhuman acts committed by Israeli forces in Beit Hanoun and Jeneen of Gaza."
[53] Amnesty International has also characterized the allegedly deliberate attacks by Israeli forces against civilian property and infrastructure in the Gaza Strip as "war crimes".
[43] In 2015, The Palestinian National Authority officially became a member state of the International Criminal Court, opening a new front in its self-declared "diplomatic war" against Israel.
Israel has charged that the militant Islamist movement Hamas and its militia are guilty of both indiscriminate targeting of Israeli cities and civilians, as well as the exposure of its own residents as human shields – they are violations of international law and internationally accepted humanitarian norms, specifically, the violation of the rule of distinction, which requires combatants to limit attacks to legitimate military targets.
Amnesty International also concluded that Palestinians are guilty of war crimes for the indiscriminate rocket fire at civilian population centers in Israel.
[58][59] In August 2022, the family of murdered journalist Shireen Abu Akleh filed a formal complaint about her death with the International Criminal Court (ICC).
On May 11, the journalist was shot in the head while covering a gunfight between Israeli soldiers and Palestinian terrorists during an IDF raid near the northern West Bank city of Jenin.
The family's new information, which it claimed demonstrates that Israeli soldiers "deliberately targeted" the Palestinian-American Al Jazeera correspondent, was included in the case.
He accused Israelis of committing a war crime with the bombing of Qana.,[62] and this was repeated by the Interior Minister, Ahmad Fatfat on 2 August 2006, who said "a file was being prepared".
[63][64] On 3 August Justice Minister Charles Rizk said that he would be submitting a file to the Security Council asking them to create a special court, similar to the Rwanda Tribunal, as neither Lebanon nor Israel are members of the ICC.
[65] On 2 September Rizk formed a committee of legal and media personnel to gather evidence of war crimes for possible submission to the court.
[74] The European Parliament called in May 2008 for leaders of the Myanmar State Peace and Development Council to be referred to the court for crimes against humanity, for blocking relief aid following Cyclone Nargis.
[78] In May 2006 a Somali warlord, Musa Sudi Yalahow was reported to have ordered his militiamen to take over Keysaney Hospital in northern Mogadishu, a move that may contravene the laws against war crimes.
Former Senator Kraisak Choonhavan called in November 2006 for former premier Thaksin Shinawatra to be investigated for crimes against humanity connected to 2,500 alleged extrajudicial killings carried out in 2003 against suspected drug dealers.
[84] In response, the Justice Minister, Charnchai Likhitjitta, said that ratification had been discussed by the cabinet but needed "careful deliberation" as any decision would affect all Thais.
