The Click Heard Round the World

Talk on stopping the genocide in Darfur with UN Rep today at Intl Justice Center in Second Life

Today at 12PM PST, the International Justice Center will be streaming into Second Life a conversation  on the situation in Darfur with Dr. Francis Deng, the UN Secretary Generals’ Special Advisor on the Prevention of Genocide.

Dr. Deng is a remarkable individual: a Sudanese national who has served as a human rights officer at the United Nations since the 1960s as well as his own country as Minister of Foreign Affairs and ambassador to several countries. After Dr. Deng's short speech, Global Kids will facilitate a Q&A with a group of Global Kids teens present with the advisor, teens on the teen grid, and adults in the Justice Center. Head here to RSVP.

Happy International Justice Day!

Press conference in Rome held by the Coalition for an ICC, July 1998. Credit: CICC.

Ten years ago today, the world took a historic step from impunity toward accountability by creating the International Criminal Court.  On July 17, 1998 in Rome Italy, 120 governments of the world signed into being the Rome Treaty on the International Criminal Court, "one of the most important advances in international law and human rights since the adoption of the UN Charter in 1948" according to my old boss Bill Pace of the Coalition for the ICC.The International Criminal Court is a permanent human rights tribunal based in the Hague, Netherlands, whose mission is to hold accountable those who commit the worst offenses of justice in the world, including genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.

I was privileged enough to be there in Rome for the treaty conference, at the time serving as the communications coordinator for the Coalition for an ICC.  I was responsible for the communications going into and out of the conference to our hundreds of allied organizations and activists around the world, including writing a daily newsletter and email blast to our constituents.  It was perhaps the most important thing that I have ever done in my 20 year career as an activist organizer.

Today the ICC is doing remarkable things and having a broader impact around the world that we may not even be able to assess in this generation.  Notably:

• This week, the ICC prosecutor applied for the indictment of Sudanese President Sudan Omar al-Bashir on genocide charges -- the first arrest warrant against a sitting head of state.
• Last week, former Congolese Vice President and rebel leader Jean-Pierre Bemba Gombo was arrested in Belgium and transferred to The Hague in the first arrest issued for the investigation into human rights violations in the Central African Republic.
• The ICC is also proceeding with prosecutions against Thomas Lubanga Dyilo and Congolese warlords Germain Katanga and Mathieu Ngudjolo Chui.
• The prosecutor is looking into situations in other regions, including Afghanistan and Colombia.
• With the addition of Suriname earlier this week, the number of countries who have ratified the treaty is at 107!

These are amazing times. I'm so proud to have been able to have been able to play some small part in getting us to this point.

Visit the Coalition website for more on this significant achievement.

ICC Prosecutor slams Sudan for shielding ICC indictees

I had a frustrating time trying to watch the ICC Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo present his report to the UN Security Council this morning on the situation in Darfur. (Curse you, Real Player!) But I managed to read the written text of his statement. In his report, the prosecutor heavily criticized the government of Sudan for their complicity in refusing to extradite to the International Criminal Court the two individuals under indictment by the court for crimes against the Darfuri people. 

The archived webcast should be available tomorrow on the UN website. Meanwhile you can watch the press conference yesterday on the NGO campaign "Justice 4 Darfur" to get these two criminals arrested, including testimony by a Sudanese woman affiliated with the Save Darfur Coalition.

I was moved by the closing remarks of the ICC Prosecutor:

It takes a lot to commit massive crimes. It takes planning and organization. It takes commanders and many executioners. But mostly, it requires that the rest of the world look away and do nothing. This Council , when it requested my Office to intervene in Darfur, acted in a decisive way, thinking of the Darfuris, but remembering also Rwanda, and Srebrenica. At the Council’s request, my Office will present new evidence exposing the facts and identifying those most responsible. 

Based on those facts, I ask the Security Council to send a strong message to the Government of the Sudan and to issue a Presidential statement.
Requesting that they stop the crimes.
Requesting that they arrest Ahmed Harun and Ali Kushayb. 
Requesting that al l parties assist the Court.
Requesting, simply, compliance with UNSCR 1593. 
Silence has never helped or protected victims. It only helps the criminals. Thank you.

A very powerful and bold statement by the prosecutor. I'm reminded of the maxim, "To do nothing is a political act."

Ocampo's full statement can be downloaded here.

Fellowship Available for Global Kids International Justice Center

Global Kids is offering a fellowship to focus on event management for the International Justice Center (click here to teleport). The fellow will be expected to work with Global Kids staff to organize regular in-world events in that sim for SL residents, human rights groups, and the general public. 

Since 2005, Global Kids has leveraged the educational potential of virtual worlds to inform and involve people in pressing international and public policy issues. The International Justice Center builds on Global Kids’ groundbreaking work by establishing an online hub supporting the ICC and the global justice concerns it addresses. Developed and administered by Global Kids with funding from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, this innovative online learning center will provide resources for people to learn about the ICC, connect with ICC officials and advocates, and take action in support of human rights and international justice. For more information, see the IJC website at http://justicecenter.net .

The Justice Center Fellow will work in close coordination with Global Kids staff to organize regular gatherings in the Justice Commons sim as a means of promoting ongoing education, dialogue, news and information sharing on issues related to global justice and the ICC.   

"Justice for Darfur" campaign focuses on arresting 2 Sudanese indicted by ICC

Today the "Justice for Darfur" campaign launched with a bold call for the international community to arrest two Sudanese leaders accused of masterminding the devastation of Darfur.  The coalition is composed of 29 human rights groups from around the world, including some of the most prominent international organizations such as Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and the Coalition for the ICC.  From their press release:

The ICC has been investigating crimes in the region following a decision three years ago by the UN Security Council to refer to it the situation in Darfur. One year ago – on April 27, 2007 – the ICC issued two arrest warrants against Sudan’s former State Minister of the Interior Ahmad Harun and “Janjaweed” leader Ali Kushayb for 51 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity. Today the two men – who face charges of persecution, rape, and killing of civilians in four West Darfur villages – remain at large. 

The campaign has two main calls for action:

1. Urges the UN Security Council to pass a resolution calling on Sudan to cooperate fully with the ICC and immediately arrest Harun and Kushayb and surrender them to the court.
2. Calls on states and regional organizations – including the European Union – to press Sudan to cooperate with the ICC and comply with the warrants. 

See their website at http://www.justice4darfur.org.

Intro to ICC Event at DePaul & the International Justice Center a Success!

Yesterday, I was at DePaul University streaming a live video feed from a student-oriented event on the International Criminal Court to the web at JusticeCenter.net and Second Life to the International Justice Center.  This was the first time I had organized this largely on my own, which was somewhat stressful. Luckily, event organizer Liz Drew, the camera person Nat Soti, and tech support person Tony were very helpful and flexible.

Above is a quick video of what it looked like for me, sitting with two laptops and a camera beaming it straight to the interweb and the virtual world.

Headed to Chicago for ICC conference, streaming into Second Life

Tomorrow I'm doing a quick trip to Chicago for the Midwest Regional Conference on the International Criminal Court at DePaul University.  Lots of amazing experts in international justice will there including:

• Judge Philippe Kirsch, president of the ICC
• Luis Moreno-Ocampo, prosecutor of the ICC
• Betty Bigombe, Former Minister of State and Chief Mediator in the northern Uganda conflict
• Prof Cherif Bassiouni, one of the world's leading experts in international criminal law
• Jerry Fowler of the Save Darfur Coalition

We'll be video streaming into the International Justice Center (teleport SLURL) a basic introduction to the International Criminal Court on Thursday evening from 4-6:30pm PST. At what we are calling "ICC101," virtual participants will be able to view the live video simulcast from DePaul in the Justice Center and on the web at JusticeCenter.net. We'll also have opportunities during the panel discussion for participants at the Justice Center to submit their questions to the panelists. 

This will be a great crash course on the ICC for those who want to know what it's all about and why its important for the cause of global justice and universal human rights.

More info after the jump or see justicecenter.net ...

Global Kids simulcasts into four virtual worlds and the web (video)

Check out this sweet Global Kids video showing how we organized a simulcast of Kofi Annan receiving an award from MacArthur on March 20th.  Produced by Kathy Vega and Barry Joseph, it shows how we were able to simulcast the event onto the web, and four virtual worlds -- Second Life, Teen Second Life, Whyville and There.com!

Until I hear otherwise, I'm going to call this a virtual world "first."

Video: Launch of Global Kids' International Justice Center on the YouTube

I know I've already pimped out this video of the launch of the Global Kid's International Justice Center on March 20. But I think it's really cool that we got the SLCN video of the event posted in its 39-minute glory to YouTube.

Please check out and rate up the YouTube version here or head to SLCN.tv to view a higher quality version.

SL Entrepreneur Magazine, other blog coverage of opening of Justice Center

The Second Life Entrepreneur's Magazine has a nice story by Shava Nerad on the opening of the International Justice Center yesterday.  I even got a nice quote and picture at the end.

Other nice coverage from the blogosphere and elsewhere:

• SLNN writeup
• Technola
• “Philanthropy 2173”
• Writeup about Pavig Lok’s Intellectual Property art piece at Vision Gala
• Slaw.ca
• Machinima News Story on Launch by Draxtor Dupres
• Video of Art Gala by PROFILESophieyates
• Video of Art Gala by Nitwacket  
  
• Beautiful pics by David / Kronos
• Images tagged “slijc” on Flickr

Comment here if I forgot any!