Plateau Killings: ICC Prosecutor Asked To Seek Justice For Victims

A civil rights group, Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), has asked the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Mr Karim A. A. Khan, to issue a formal ‘preventative statement’ in relation to the killings in Plateau State of Nigeria.

Recall that over 190 people were reportedly killed and hundreds injured with many missing after an attack by terrorists in Bokkos and Barkin-Ladi Local Government Areas of the state on Christmas Eve.

SERAP urged Khan to undertake a preliminary examination into the situation in the state and to open an investigation or extend any current investigations to cover the ongoing situation in the state.

SERAP also urged Khan to visit the state to show the commitment by his office to deliver meaningful accountability and justice for the victims of the Plateau attacks and to deploy resources from the Trust Fund that his office has established in order to ensure access of victims to effective remedies including reparations.

In a letter dated December 30, 2023 and signed by SERAP Deputy Director Kolawole Oluwadare, the organisation told the prosecutor that his urgent intervention would reassure victims and their families that they would receive effective remedies including reparations.

SERAP noted that Khan’s intervention would serve to deter further violations and address the prevailing culture of impunity for such crimes across Nigeria, adding that the impunity of perpetrators and their sponsors continue to fuel these human rights crimes.

The petition read in part: “There is a reasonable basis to believe that crimes under international law and within the jurisdiction of the ICC have been committed in the ongoing violence in Plateau State.

“These allegations are also sufficiently grave to warrant a formal statement and preliminary examination by your Office.

“Your intervention in the situation in Plateau State would demonstrate your oft-repeated promise to strengthen the rule of law at the international level to the benefit of everyone.

“Nigerian authorities have a primary responsibility to ensure accountability and justice and reparations for these human rights crimes. However, Nigerian authorities are generally unwilling or unable to investigate and prosecute these grave human rights crimes domestically.

“Indeed, successive governments in Nigeria have been unwilling or unable to prosecute cases of unlawful killings and other violations of international law in several parts of the country, and to provide effective remedies and reparations to victims and their families.

“Under the Rome Statute, the ICC has the jurisdiction to hold perpetrators of the most serious international crimes accountable when national courts are unable or unwilling to do so, as well as provide redress to victims and help prevent future atrocities through deterrence.

“The focus on victims provided for in the Rome Statute creates an important platform for advancing human rights in Plateau State through the ICC.

“SERAP urges your Office to revisit and adopt your effective practice of issuing ‘preventative statements’ to send a powerful message to those who commit these grave violations of international law and aid and abet or facilitate them or contribute to their commission that they would be brought to justice.

“A formal statement and preliminary examination by your Office would also make clear to the Nigerian authorities of their obligations to prevent unlawful killings and other violations of international law in Plateau State and other parts of Nigeria.

“Issuing a formal statement and undertaking a preliminary examination into the situation in Plateau State would also serve as a reminder to the Nigerian authorities of their primary responsibility to strengthen the capacity of the national jurisdiction to prevent and address these human rights crimes.”