Statement of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Fatou Bensouda, concerning referral from the Gabonese Republic On 21 September 2016, I received a referral from the Government of the Gabonese Republic regarding the situation in Gabon since May 2016 with no end-date. In reference to article 14 of the Rome Statute, Rule 45 of the Rules of Procedure and Evidence and Regulation 25(1)(b) of the Regulations of the Office of the Prosecutor, the Government of the Gabonese Republic requests the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (“ICC” or “Court”) “to open an investigation without delay”. In accordance with the requirement of the Rome Statute my Office will be conducting a preliminary examination in order to establish whether the criteria for opening an investigation are met. A preliminary examination is not an investigation but a process of examining the information available in order to reach a fully informed determination on whether there is a reasonable basis to proceed with an investigation pursuant to the criteria established by the Rome Statute. Specifically, under article 53(1) of the Rome Statute, as Prosecutor, I must consider issues of jurisdiction, admissibility and the interests of justice in making this determination.  The Office gives due consideration to all submissions and views conveyed to it during the course of a preliminary examination, strictly guided by the requirements of the Rome Statute and in the independent and impartial exercise of its mandate. My Office will examine information regarding crimes allegedly committed by any groups or individuals involved in the situation. Where a referral is accompanied by supporting documentation that identifies potential perpetrators, my Office is not bound or constrained by the information contained therein when conducting investigations in order to determine whether specific persons should be charged. After careful analysis of all available information, I shall make a determination that will be made public in due course. The Gabonese Republic is a State Party to the Rome Statute, and as such, the ICC has jurisdiction over genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes committed on the territory or by nationals of Gabon since 1 July 2002, the date when the Statute entered into force in Gabon.  

By Baron Henri Estramant. Wednesday, 28 September 2016, State of Israel: Shimon Peres (Hebrew: שמעון פרס) formerly 9th president and thrice prime minister of Israel; a celebrated Nobel prize-winning visionary who pushed his country towards peace with the Arab neighbours, passed away early morning near Tel Aviv. He was 93 years old. Peres is survived by three children. In July 2014, he was the world’s oldest head of state when he stepped down from the presidential office at the age of 90 years old. Born as Szymon Perski on 2 August 1923 in Vishneva, then Poland (today Belarus), to a well-off merchant family; Shimon Peres and and his nuclear family moved to Palestine in 1934. Quickly rising through the échelons of power of Israel’s Labour Party, he became a top aide to Ben-Gurion, first prime minister of Israel. Peres shared the 1994 Nobel Peace Prize for his work in reaching an interim peace agreement with the Palestinians, claiming symbolically the prize alongside late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and Israel’s former prime minister Yitzhak Rabin. Peres was one of Israel’s most admired leaders. He first became a member of the Knesset in 1959. Subsequently he held virtually every senior political office in Israel over his seven-decade standing career, including three ephemeral terms as prime minister as well as stints as foreign minister, minister of finance, defence and transport. For further information: Knesset’s profile on Shimon Peres: https://www.knesset.gov.il/mk/eng/mk_eng.asp?mk_individual_id_t=104

The European Commission reported on the EU’s relocation and resettlement schemes and the implementation of the EU-Turkey Statement. At the same time, outlined the steps still needed to be taken by Greece in view of a future resumption of Dublin transfers from other Member States while also reporting on the temporary border controls carried out at internal Schengen borders under the Council recommendation of 12 May 2016. European Commission First Vice-President Frans Timmermans said: “The implementation of the EU-Turkey Statement has continued, and the reduction in attempts to cross the Aegean and in deaths at sea has confirmed its core rationale. I also welcome the efforts of Member States to increase relocation and resettlement. However, those who can do more should do so urgently. We can only effectively manage asylum and migration in Europe, and preserve the Schengen area, if we all work together in a spirit of solidarity and responsibility.” Commissioner for Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship, Dimitris Avramopoulos said: “All our measures on migration are interlinked. The EU-Turkey Statement has led to concrete positive results. The increased efforts made by Member States over the past months on relocation, with more than 1,200 relocations alone in September, demonstrate that relocation can be speeded up if there is political will and a sense of responsibility. The success of our common approach over the last months is essential for the success of everything else, including a gradual return to the Dublin system and a normal functioning of Schengen. Relocation has to succeed.” One year after the entry into force of the relocation schemes, the groundwork has been laid and significant progress achieved. September recorded 1,202 relocations, the highest monthly number so far, twice as high as during the previous reporting period. In total, 5,651 persons have been relocated from Greece (4,455) and Italy (1,196). The efforts by Italy and Greece, the Member States of relocation, EU agencies and international organisations have resulted in close to 100% fingerprinting, strengthened security, and a significant increase in the number of relocation applicants and acceleration of relocation transfers, particularly in the latest months from Greece. With the increased capacity of the Greek Asylum Service, and if Member States step up their efforts, it should notably be possible to relocate the remaining relocation candidates present in Greece (around 30,000) within the next year. Member States have continued to increase their efforts on resettlement – offering legal and safe pathways to 10,695 people so far of the agreed 22,504 under the July 2015 scheme. An additional 1,071 Syrian refugees have been resettled from Turkey between June and 27 September, tripling the number of people resettled and bringing the total number from Turkey under the EU-Turkey Statement to 1,614. The continued decrease of people crossing irregularly or losing their lives in the Aegean continues to be proof of the Statement’s effectiveness so far. The average daily arrival of 85 persons per day since June, in comparison to over 1,700 per day in the month preceding the implementation of the Statement and 7,000 per day in October 2015, shows that the business model of smugglers can be broken. Return operations have continued to be carried out with an additional 116 persons returned since the Second Report, bringing the total number of persons returned under the Statement to 578, and the Greek administration has made further efforts to increase the rate of returns, in full compliance with EU and international law. The Commission has continued to accelerate the delivery of funding under the Facility for Refugees in Turkey, having already allocated a total amount of €2.239 billion of the €3 billion foreseen for 2016-2017. The amounts contracted have increased to €1.252 billion. The Commission is making all necessary efforts to ensure an acceleration of disbursements under the Facility, which have now reached €467 million.

The Hague, 28 September- The Judges of the Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals (MICT) held their first in-person plenary session in The Hague on 26 and 27 September 2016. During the plenary, the Judges discussed issues pertaining to the internal functioning of the Mechanism, ways to further strengthen its efficiency, and its Rules of Procedure and Evidence. During the plenary, the President of the Mechanism, Judge Theodor Meron, reported to the Judges on a variety of matters related to the Mechanism’s work. The Mechanism’s Prosecutor, Serge Brammertz, briefed the plenary on the work of the Office of the Prosecutor. The Registrar of the Mechanism, John Hocking, also addressed the plenary concerning issues related to his area of responsibility. The Mechanism has a roster of 25 Judges, who serve only when called upon to do so by the Mechanism President and are expected to exercise their functions remotely in so far as possible, unless required to be present at the seat of one of the two branches.  

On the picture H.E. Vladimir Norov, Ambassador of Uzbekistan to the Benelux. The Central Election Commission of the Republic of Uzbekistan, led by its Chairman Mirza-Ulugbek Abdusalomov, hosted an important meeting attended by members of the Central Election Commission of the Republic of Uzbekistan, heads of political parties and the representatives of mass media on 9 September 2016. The meeting began with a minute’s silence in memory of the First President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov, who untimely passed away on 2nd September 2016. In accordance with Articles 96, 117 of the Constitution of the Republic of Uzbekistan and Article 8 of the Law “On elections of the President of Uzbekistan”, Articles 5 and 9 of the Law “On the Central Election Commission of the Republic of Uzbekistan” the assembly determinate to host the next presidential’s elections on Sunday, December 4, 2016 in order to elect the new President of the Republic of Uzbekistan. In this regard, the Central Election Commission of the Republic of Uzbekistan announced the commencement of election campaign from 9 September of this year and also approved a Program on the preparation of next elections. According to this program, all activities related to the preparation and conduct of elections is carrying out by the Central Election Commission, in strict accordance to the Constitution of the Republic of Uzbekistan, the electoral legislation. In line with Articles 9 and 14 of the Law “On elections of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan” the assembly voted a resolution on the establishment of electoral districts for the elections of President of the Republic of Uzbekistan. The electoral districts for the election of the President have been set up within the boundaries of the Republic of Karakalpakstan, regions and the city of Tashkent. The list of electoral districts with an indication of the number of voters and locations of district election commissions are being published in mass media. Members of the district election commissions from among members of the wider public, shall be approved by the Central Election Commission on recommendation of the Jokargy Kenes (Supreme Council) of the Republic of Karakalpakstan, regional and Tashkent city Kengashes (councils) of people’s deputies. Consistently preparation is underway for the upcoming elections. Back in Uzbekistan, all political parties expressed their desire to participate in the election of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan, and to this end, the CEC presented a package of necessary documents. In accordance with Article 24 of the Law “On Elections of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan” the right to nominate the candidate for the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan is possessed by political parties. Thus every political party may nominate a candidate for the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan on the condition that it is registered by the Ministry of Justice no later than six months prior to the date of announcement of the election campaign. On 16 September 2016 the Political Council of Movement of Entrepreneurs and Businessmen – Liberal Democratic Party of Uzbekistan (UzLiDeP) in its regular meeting unanimously supported the candidacy of the member of the Political Council of UzLiDeP Shavkat Mirziyoyev for the office of President of the Republic of Uzbekistan, which is to be considered at the next VIII Congress of the party. The Central Council of the Democratic party of Uzbekistan (DPU) “Milliy Tiklanish” in its regular Plenum, nominated the Chairman of the Political Council, head of the faction in the Legislative chamber of the Oliy Majlis Sarvar Otamuratov as candidate to the post of the President of Uzbekistan. On 17 September 2016 the VI Plenum of the Political Council of the Social-democratic party of Uzbekistan “Adolat” supported the Chairman of the Political Council, head of the faction in the Legislative chamber of the Oliy Majlis Nariman Umarov as candidate to the post of the President of Uzbekistan. At the same day the VI Plenum of the Central Council of the People’s democratic party of Uzbekistan supported the candidate of the Chairman of the Central Council of PDPU, the head of fraction Hotamjon Ketmonov as candidate to the post of the President of Uzbekistan. For registration of candidates political parties must submit petitions with signatures of at least 5 percent of the total number of voters of Uzbekistan, representing not less than 8 administrative-territorial units of the country. At the same time in a single administrative-territorial formation (Karakalpakstan region, Tashkent) party cannot collect signatures of more than 8 percent. Candidates will start their canvass after the registration, which ends 35 days before the election. According to the Constitution, elections of the President of Uzbekistan will be held with openness, fairness and in line with international standards. In the same time, it will contribute to entering a qualitatively new level of development of the political system and to further deepening of democratic and social-economic reforms in Uzbekistan. The Central Election Commission of the Republic of Uzbekistan has sent the official invitation to the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), the Executive Committee of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS Executive Committee), the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and the Association of World Election Bodies (A-WEB) to observe the elections of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan. The mass media of the Republic of Uzbekistan will cover the process of preparation of the elections, as well as in polling stations on election day and counting of votes at each polling station, have the right to participate per one observer from political parties which nominated candidates for President of the Republic of Uzbekistan, representatives of the print media, TV and radio, observers from other states, international organizations and movements. Their mandates should be confirmed by appropriate documents. The mandates to observers from other states, international organizations and movements are issued by the Central Election Commission, their activities are regulated by the Provision “On observers from other states, international organizations and movements participating in the elections”, approved by the Resolution of the Central Election Commission № 734 dated September 15, 2016 and developed in line with the laws of the Republic of Uzbekistan “On elections of President of the Republic of Uzbekistan” and “On the Central election Commission of the Republic of Uzbekistan”, as well as the universally recognized norms and principles of international law on the organization and holding of elections. It should be noted that the participation of foreign and international observers in the elections of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan serves to strengthen the principles of transparency and openness of the entire electoral process, respect for the principles of democratic elections such as: universality, equality, freedom and secret ballot. Representatives of media (national and international) willing to cover the course of elections should get accredited at the Central Election Commission in a due procedure. The accreditation procedure can be learned on the CEC’s official website at www.elections.uz.