INI serves as an advisor to the International Criminal Court, offering practical theory to assist the justice institution in dealing with the emotional dimension of conflict. INI has helped the ICC recognize that in the many situations of ongoing hostilities in which the ICC becomes involved, purely seeking international justice in the narrow sense might exacerbate conflict on the ground. INI works directly with Luis Moreno-Ocampo, Chief Prosecutor of the ICC, to reduce this potential tension between peace and justice, and advises the ICC on how to promote both goals. Over the past year, INI has undertaken two major projects in its advisory role to help the ICC reach its potential as one of the most promising international institutions designed to address situations of violent conflict: 1) Development of Conflict Assessment Tool, and 2) ICC and Psychology Working Group.
Development of Conflict Assessment Tool
Overview:
Working with the Harvard Law School Advocates for Human Rights, INI
assisted in the development of a conflict assessment tool designed to
aid the ICC in evaluating the subjective experience of parties in a
violent conflict. The resultant "Conflict Map" has the purpose
of aiding the ICC in understanding the emotional reality of those involved
in a violent conflict. More specifically, the tool helps the ICC identify
the underlying tensions of those on the ground, the reasons why such
tensions exist, and what exactly conflicting parties hope to gain through
the conflict.
Purpose for Developing the Conflict Assessment Tool:
War Crimes, Crimes against Humanity, and Genocide happen in the context
of institutional systems of behavior wherein multiple actors have interests
and concerns underlying their stated positions. When the ICC launches
an investigation into violations of international humanitarian law,
it becomes a part of that system, and in turn influences how the system
will play out. Under the assumption that the ICC wants to contribute
not only to the attainment of pure international justice narrowly construed,
but also to a lasting peace, the ICC requires a systematic, theoretically-informed,
and rigorous analytical mechanism to determine the effects its intervention
will have on the conflict. Utilizing the conflict assessment tool will
help the ICC Prosecutor focus on the interests and rationales motivating
the actions of each party to a conflict. In turn, the ICC prosecutor
can develop a strategy to shift the conflict dynamics in such a way
that the actors are themselves motivated to find a non-violent resolution
to their conflict.
The Conflict Assessment Tool:
The conflict assessment tool creates a means for systematic analysis
of many different aspects of a conflict situation. The tool seeks to
guide a typical researcher at the Office of the Prosecutor toward a
nuanced understanding of the objective and subjective dynamics of a
conflict, and to think strategically about how a potential ICC investigation
might affect those dynamics. The tool suggests that the researcher focus
on several main topic areas.
