ImPACT Coalition:

Just Institutions & the International Court of Justice (ICJ)

ImPACT Coalition:
Just Institutions & the International Court of Justice (ICJ)

The coalition builds upon and seeks to expand – in scope, diversity of membership, and impact of multi- stakeholder contributions – the work of the Legal Alternatives to War (LAW not War), a global campaign launched in October 2023 to increase the universality, impact and effectiveness of the ICJ. The campaign acknowledges that although the ICJ is the world’s principal judicial organ for peacefully resolving conflicts between states, ensuring justice and upholding the rule of law. However, it is inhibited by limited jurisdiction and is not utilized to its fullest potential by States. In the medium to long-term, this coalition will advocate for all UN Member States to accept the ICJ’s compulsory jurisdiction over contentious disputes, as 74 have done to date. Further, other sectors with an interest in justice and peaceful dispute resolution, including civil society and the public, often are unaware of its potential and contributions. 

This coalition will work in the short, mid, and long-term to increase awareness of and engagement with the ICJ. Finally, this coalition will work with existing mechanisms like the Coalition for the ICC, and new ImPACT Coalitions, such as for an International Anti-Corruption Court to support complementary and linkages between domestic, regional, and international institutions.

What are ImPACT Coalitions?

At their core, ImPact Coalitions bring together stakeholders working on various issues related to the Summit of the Future to create networks that support Member States who wish to champion specific reforms and proposals toward the Summit of the Future and crucially, begin the implementation process beyond.

More About ImPACT Coalitions

Core Principles

The expectation of accountability and a rules-based legal order was a central ambition of the international governance system. With conflicts raging in nearly every region and atrocities compounding, more must be done to ensure the promise of justice is not illusory. Civil society has a vital role to play in this regard, working with States and other stakeholders to advance key judicial reform initiatives leading up to and beyond the Summit of the Future. This coalition takes as its foundational principle the axiomatic assertion of Ben Ferencz that “There can be no peace without justice, no justice without law and no meaningful law without a Court to decide what is just and lawful under any given circumstance.”

Current international judicial institutions, including the ICC and ICJ are imperfect, and it is incumbent on those who uphold peace and justice to help improve them. 

The coalition embraces the following further core principles: 

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We strive to work with and complement existing and future coalitions for the betterment of the global judicial architecture;

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We appreciate the fundamental guiding principles of complementarity and cooperation among international institutions and with domestic and regional justice systems;

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We condemn all attempts to inhibit or undermine the independence and functionality of international judicial institutions;

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We call upon States to ensure such bodies have adequate support to fulfill their mandates;

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We recognize judicial structures are part of an intersectional ecosystem including many and diverse approaches to peace and diplomacy; and

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We demand States adhere to legally binding judicial decisions.

Key Recommendations /
Practical Next Steps

The ICJ has had considerable success at resolving international disputes, including some that involved the threat or use of force. Examples include:

  1. Recommendation: Foster an inclusive and participatory coalition base of civil society and other stakeholders willing to engage the ICJ/other courts and tribunals in the short- and medium term to engender greater confidence in these institutions and contribute to their effectiveness. Next Step: Convene monthly online discussions of coalition members (see below). 
  2. Recommendation: Enlist stakeholders, particularly legal professionals and civil society activists, able to advocate to Member States for universality of the ICJ and support for international courts and tribunals. Next Step: Convene monthly online discussions of coalition members (see below). 
  3. Recommendation: Ensure that justice outcomes are included in the Pact for the Future. Next Step: Actively participate in all Member State consultations on the Pact and help draft Chapter 2 on Peace and Security in the People’s Pact.
  4. Recommendation: Advance progress toward ICJ universality. Next Step: Convene closed bilateral consultations with target States. Collaborate to host a hybrid event to coalesce the loose group of likeminded States into a more active and cohesive grouping. 
  5. Recommendation: Determine coalition’s working methods post-Summit of the Future. Next Step: Organize a hybrid participatory event during the civil society Action Days at the SotF focused on developing a roadmap going forward.

Provisional Timeline

May 2024

Coalition launched in Nairobi. Provisional workplan socialized. Provide inputs to People’s Pact for the Future and redline Pact for the Future from a peace and justice lens.

June 2024

Convene first coalition meeting, finalize workplan with broader input, and agree upon short- term goals through September. Conduct Member State consultations with target countries. *Potentially hold hybrid event with likeminded States

July 2024

Convene second coalition meeting and assess progress toward goals. Conduct Member State consultations with target countries.

August 2024

Convene third coalition meeting and assess progress toward goals. Conduct Member State consultations with target countries. Prep for Civil Society Action Day.

September 2024

Convene fourth coalition meeting in advance of SotF. Hold event for Civil Society Action Day.

2025 (Q1)

Forward planning to formalize organizational structure of coalition with budget and fundraising plan, staffing (potentially pro bono) for both Secretariat functions and legal, reporting, communications, etc., to determine longer-term viability, drawing from CICC, etc.

Past Event Recordings

Missed the event? You can learn more about how this coalition will advocate for concrete commitments related to judicial institutions and processes to be included in the Pact for the Future and Summit of the Future outcomes from the event recordings below.

Coalition Convocations:
ImPACT Coalition on Just Institutions and the International Court of Justice

June 24, 2024

Session I:
Global Justice in Conversation: Successes in Nuclear Nonproliferation & Disarmament

July 18, 2024

Session II:
Global Justice in Conversation: Concurrent Pathways to Accountability

July 18, 2024

Organizations

Additional Resources

The LAW not War campaign has begun to aggregate and share analysis of current ICJ cases and examples of past successes. These currently reside at one of the campaign’s websites:

LAW not War

Legal Alternatives to War: Increasing the universality and effectiveness of the International Court of Justice. The organizers also disseminate a newsletter with updates on campaign and Court developments to which individuals can sign up at the website.

Individuals and organizations who wish to join the campaign can sign up here: LAW not War – Participating organization registration form.

Anthony Vance

Anthony Vance

Senior Representative, Bahá'ís of the U.S. Office of Public Affairs

Anthony oversees the development of the Bahá'ís of the United States Office of Public Affairs programs and strategic direction. He joined the office in 2010 after spending four years at the Baháʼí World Center in Haifa, Israel representing it to the diplomatic community, civil society, and parts of the host government. A lawyer by training, he spent 21 years in the U.S. Agency for International Development in legal and managerial positions in Washington, Cote d’Ivoire, Kenya, Botswana, and Egypt. Anthony holds a B.A. in Economics, an MBA, and a J.D. from Harvard University.

James Lowell May

James Lowell May

Program Officer

James May is a programme and project development specialist. He has lived in Serbia since 2005, and prior to joining Citizens for Global Solutions, worked across the Western Balkans on a broad range of issues including human, minority and child rights, accountability for war crimes and crimes against humanity, Holocaust commemoration, democratic participation, social justice and economic empowerment, and environmental restoration.

James began working in the Western Balkans on issues related to accountability for human rights violations, first for the Youth Initiative for Human Rights, a coalition of NGOs active in the countries of the former Yugoslavia, as the network’s development coordinator, then the Lawyers’ Committee for Human Rights, leading a research project documenting the nomenclatural of the Milosevic Regime, and then the Federation of Jewish Communities in Serbia, running a Holocaust research and education project.

James then transitioned from accountability to efforts to protect and fulfil the rights of marginalised communities. For a decade James worked for the Centre for Youth Integration, an NGO that provides specialized services for children and youth in street situations in Belgrade, where he began as a volunteer before taking up a permanent role, while concurrently volunteering for community mental health organizations, as well as consultancy work for a number of local and international organizations, and most recently branched out to apply his experience to the environmental sector, focussing on social impact assessments and community-oriented nature-based solutions projects.

James has a degree in Archaeology from University College London. He was born and grew up in Great Britain. He is an avid cyclist.

Honorable David J. Scheffer

Honorable David J. Scheffer

Former U.S. Ambassador

Amb. David J. Scheffer is senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), with a focus on international law and international criminal justice. Scheffer was the Mayer Brown/Robert A. Helman Professor of Law (2006-2020) and is Director Emeritus of the Center for International Human Rights at Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law. He is Professor of Practice at Arizona State University (Washington offices). He was Vice-President of the American Society of International Law (2020-2022) and held the International Francqui Professorship at KU Leuven in Belgium in 2022. From 2012 to 2018 he was the UN Secretary-General’s Special Expert on UN Assistance to the Khmer Rouge Trials, and he was the Tom A. Bernstein Genocide Prevention Fellow working with the Ferencz International Justice Initiative at the Simon-Skjodt Center for the Prevention of Genocide, U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum (2019-2021).

During the second term of the Clinton Administration (1997-2001), Scheffer was the first ever U.S. Ambassador at Large for War Crimes Issues and led the U.S. delegation to the UN talks establishing the International Criminal Court (ICC). He signed the Rome Statute of the ICC on behalf of the United States on December 31, 2000. He negotiated the creation of five war crimes tribunals: the International Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda, the Special Court for Sierra Leone, the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, and the ICC. He chaired the Atrocities Prevention Inter-Agency Working Group (1998-2001). During the first term of the Clinton Administration (1993-1997), Scheffer served as senior advisor and counsel to the U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Dr. Madeleine Albright, and he served on the Deputies Committee of the National Security Council. Ambassador Scheffer received an A.B. (Government and Economics) from Harvard College, B.A. (Honour School of Jurisprudence) from Oxford University (where he was a Knox Fellow), and LL.M. (International and Comparative Law) from Georgetown University Law Center.

Alex Andrei

Alex Andrei

Director of Technology and Design

Alex is an experienced professional in designing digital products, managing online applications, and providing IT consulting services. Their background is in working with online applications design, digital accessibility, learning management platforms, user experience and interface design for online and mobile applications. They have over 10 years of experience working with higher-education institutions, nonprofits, and business.

He believes that in today’s rapidly evolving landscape, organizations need to adapt and thrive in the digital realm to gain a competitive edge and be as successful as they can be. Alex specializes in supporting organizations in their digital transformation initiatives and creating effective user experiences and driving efficiency through technology to empower people.

As Director of Technology and Design, Alex focuses on identifying opportunities to integrate various technologies in ongoing operations and new initiatives at CGS to support programs, partners, and team members in achieving their goals.

Alex has a passion strategically leveraging cutting edge technologies to maximize the value of what can be done with limited resources to create a lasting impact and great experiences for people.

Jon Kozesky

Jon Kozesky

Director of Development 

Jon brings over 17 years of experience in development and fundraising in both the public and private sectors.  He started his career in politics working in the Ohio Statehouse and later in the office of U.S. Congressman Steven LaTourette, as well as former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. After leaving Capitol Hill, Jon pursued his passion of helping nonprofits secure the resources they needed to best serve their constituents. This passion led to his founding of Jon Thomas Consulting, a boutique nonprofit management and development firm serving organizations across the United States and throughout the world in streamlining their processes and maximizing their revenue growth through grant writing, government affairs, donor stewardship, and major event planning.

Prior to his fundraising career, Jon proudly served his community as a firefighter and water rescue diver. In his personal time, Jon is a champion competitive sailor and a bit of a thrill-seeker, having skydived and bungee jumped on 6 continents.

Hannah Fields

Hannah Fields

Communications Officer

Hannah Fields is a communications and digital content specialist with over ten years of experience working in the nonprofit, global health, and higher education sectors. She has supported organizations, such as Mayo Clinic and the American Academy of Political and Social Science, with editorial projects, digital content management, and a broad range of communications outreach. During her time in global health, she worked alongside Christian Connections for International Health (CCIH) to assist in their mission of advancing health and wholeness for all people through capacity-building, networking, fellowship, and advocacy.

Hannah also has a background in book publishing, having received her Master of Letters in Publishing Studies from the University of Stirling. She has worked with several US and UK publishers to create high-quality printed and digital products for readers. Hannah also founded Folkways Press in 2020 to create a platform for authors of all backgrounds to use the power of their words to address social issues through themes of mental health, human rights, and more.