"I am amazed by the atrocities that we are capable of committing against each other. I am convinced that the International Criminal Court can play a leading role, throughout the world, in bringing Justice for millions of victims who would otherwise be ignored".
Peter Gabriel, May 2006
This is the first film about a crucial new international commitment to International Rule of Law and Justice, so victims will no long suffer without being heard, and war criminals will not go unpunished.
Sixty years ago in Nuremberg the world said 'Never Again'. but these proved empty words for the victims of the Cold War years, the victims of the Latin American dictatorships, the victims of endlessly raging warfare in Africa. The Superpowers couldn't agree on a universal code to punish war criminals. Tyrants ruled with impunity.
The voices of victims have echoed down through the decades, refusing to be silent, even in death. Joined by relatives who are unable to move on, until they know how their loved ones died. Different languages from different places, but with the same universal theme; begging to be delivered from the torment of living somewhere between life and death.
It is because of these voices that International Justice has been reborn. In 2002 the International Criminal Court was established in The Hague. So far 100 countries have signed on to the Court's mandate. However, the world's remaining superpower, the United States remains strongly opposed.
The new Court is already busy: Milosevic, Charles Taylor. The Court investigates Crimes against Humanity in Darfur. It has issued indictments against leaders of the Lord's Resistance Army in Northern Uganda who abduct children and force them to fight. And recently a militia leader from The Democratic Republic of the Congo faces charges of recruiting children as young as 8 to fight for him.
For the first time war criminals are being forced to listen. The victims' voices now haunt them, telling them they will not be silent until justice is done.
I believe this new move is, for the first time, responding to the cries of the victims by seeking justice for them"
Peter Gabriel.
Shot in:
Kosovo : (The arrest and trial of Slobodan Milosevic)
Northern Uganda : (The immense suffering of the Acholi people at the hands of Joseph Kony and The Lord's Resistance Army.
Iraq: The untold numbers of voiceless civilian casualties, and Abu Ghraib.
Rwanda: How justice failed the women who were raped during the 1994 genocide.
Darfur: The Security Council decision mandating the ICC to prosecute Crimes against Humanity
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