Morning Multilateralism

Monday, July 13 2020

• A former international prosecutor, David Crane, is lukewarm on the leading candidates to become the International Criminal Court’s next prosecutor.

  The current list of candidates to be Prosecutor of the ICC, though generally having distinguished domestic careers, largely have not served in the trenches in atrocity zones. They are not “perfect” candidates to be sure. This is disconcerting at many levels. The new Prosecutor of the ICC must command immediate respect and have the international stature that is lacking in these proposed candidates.

  In late June, a special committee appointed by ICC member states identified four leading candidates for the position. Other ICC observers have expressed disappointment with the committee’s list, which left off several well regarded candidates.

• On Saturday, the United Nations Security Council passed a resolution on Syrian humanitarian aid crossings. The successful resolution came after several failed drafts and plenty of acrimony. Russia and China vetoed a draft resolution that would have kept open all current humanitarian crossings. Russia then offered an alternative that attracted limited support. The successful resolution attracted twelve votes and abstentions from Russia and two other countries.

• On the fourth anniversary of its South China Sea legal victory, the Philippines called for China to comply fully with the international tribunal’s ruling. The Philippines foreign minister declared the decision “non-negotiable.” The unusually strong Philippines statement adds to mounting regional pressure on China to acknowledge the ruling.

• Multilateral Minuet: Mexico steps back from leadership of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in an apparent bid to boost its candidate’s bid for leadership of the World Trade Organization.

• The African Union-sponsored talks on Ethiopia’s contested dam project continue without evidence of a breakthrough.

• An India-European Union virtual summit this week will focus on bolstering the world’s multilateral architecture.

• Seeking more information on the 2014 downing of a passenger jet over Ukraine, the Dutch government plans to sue Russia at the European Court of Human Rights.