| Home > About Us > Third Pillar: ICDAA, ICB and Other Organizations | Français| Site Map |
About Us
Membership Campaign
The ICDAA Board of Directors invites you to become a member or to renew you membership for 2007. Sign Up »
Fundraising Campaign
The ICDAA has launched a special appeal by mobilizing existing members and recruiting new and former members and others who, over the years, have contributed to the advancement of the organization's overall objectives. Donate »
Third Pillar: ICDAA, ICB and Other Organizations
The ICDAA and ICB are sister organizations. They have related but distinct missions, with the former focused on the needs of defence counsel and the latter on the development of the international legal profession more broadly defined. The ICB brings together, under the same umbrella, individual practitioners, bars and professional legal organizations as well as non-governmental organizations (NGOs) with a focus on legal issues. Very importantly, it brings together defence and victims' counsel.
The two organizations are related not only by common parentage but also by common membership in a larger international legal community. This community can be seen as the Third Pillar of international criminal justice. It plays a vital role in creating the institutional foundation for a fair trial procedure and the legitimacy of the ICC system.
The ICC and other criminal tribunals were designed as two-pillared institutions, with independent judges chambers and independent offices of the chief prosecutor. However, this structure has left lawyers without an institutional base at the court. We believe that lawyers - and their professional colleagues such as investigators and other experts - need institutional support and independence. They need a Third Pillar that is gradually being built from five elements:
• The International Criminal Bar is becoming the institutional cornerstone of the Third Pillar. It will eventually provide the foundation of an independent legal profession by qualifying lawyers. While this is not true today, the ICB should win the primary responsibility for enacting and developing a code of ethics and enforcing it through disciplinary procedures. The ICB might also act as a "representative body of counsel or legal associations" to the ICC after possible recognition by the Assembly of States parties. It would be consulted by the ICC Registrar regarding training, a code of professional conduct and management of legal assistance to indigent accused, as specified by Rule 20. Realistically, this bar will take some years to build.
• A defence unit is taking shape at the International Criminal Court to ensure that the Registrar has the means to promote and protect defence independence. The unit is located in the Registry and is still subject to its ultimate authority. It needs, one day, to be managed at "arms length" from the Registry.
• A variety of flexible professional associations , such as the ICDAA, can address important issues and act quickly, carrying out advocacy and lobbying at many levels. They can also be involved in designing adequate training programmes for practitioners, providing an open forum for discussion and a powerful network. The ICDAA sees itself as a focal point for partnering among the lawyers and organizations represented at this conference.
• A variety of training and educational partners are becoming key elements of the Third Pillar. Institutions include law faculties, bar schools and specialized training institutes.
• National and regional bar associations will no doubt play a leadership role in supporting the development of all these elements of the Third Pillar.
The development of the Third Pillar is in its very early stages - it took centuries to develop at the national level in many countries. We believe that the Pillar should be defined widely to include many partners in the international legal community. Lawyers managing cases at the ICC will need support from many partners to become effective.
ICC Rules of Procedure and Evidence. Rule 20(1)(f) and Rule 20(3). See also Rules 8 and 22. PNICC/2000/INF/3/Add.1.