Product Code Database
Fatou Bom Bensouda (; ; born 31 January 1961) is a Gambian lawyer and former Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), who has served as the Gambian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom since 3 August 2022.
She served as prosecutor at the International Criminal Court (ICC) from June 2012 to June 2021, after having served as a deputy prosecutor in charge of the prosecutions division of the ICC from 2004 to 2012. She earlier served as a Minister of Justice and Attorney General of The Gambia from 1998 to 2000. She has also held positions as a legal adviser and a trial attorney at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR).
On 2September 2020, Bensouda was named a "specially designated national" by the United States government under the Trump administration, forbidding all U.S. persons and companies from doing business with her. The Biden administration reversed course on 2April 2021 when President Joe Biden revoked EO 13928, removing Bensouda from the SDN list; US Secretary of State Antony Blinken released a statement calling the previous sanctions "inappropriate and ineffective", but restated that Washington would continue opposing ICC's actions relating to Afghanistan and the Palestinian conflict.
As a young girl, Bensouda used to sneak into local courts after school to follow court proceedings.
She attended primary and secondary school in the Gambia and moved to Nigeria in 1982. She graduated from the University of Ife with a Bachelor of Laws (Hons) degree in 1986. The following year, she received accreditation as a barrister-at-law from Nigeria Law School. She became one of Gambia's first experts in international maritime law after earning a master's of laws from the International Maritime Law Institute in Malta.
On 1 December 2011, the Assembly of States Parties of the ICC announced that an informal agreement had been reached to make Bensouda the consensus choice to succeed Luis Moreno-Ocampo as Prosecutor of the ICC. "Fatou Bensouda in Line to Become Next International Criminal Court Prosecutor", Coalition for the International Criminal Court, Media Advisory, 1 December 2011. She was formally elected by consensus on 12 December 2011.Farouk Chothia, "Africa's Fatou Bensouda is new ICC chief prosecutor", BBC News, 12 December 2011. Her term as prosecutor began on 15 June 2012.
According to an Associated Press report on 6 November 2015, Bensouda was advised that war crimes may have been committed on the ship MV Mavi Marmara in 2010, when eight Turks and one Turkish-American were killed and several other activists were wounded by Israeli commandos, but she ruled that the case was not serious enough to merit an investigation on behalf of the ICC.
In November 2017, Bensouda advised the ICC to consider seeking charges for human rights abuses committed during the War in Afghanistan such as alleged rapes and torture by the United States Armed Forces and the Central Intelligence Agency, crimes against humanity committed by the Taliban, and war crimes committed by the Afghan National Security Forces. John Bolton, National Security Advisor of the United States, claimed that the International Criminal Court had no jurisdiction over the United States, which has not ratified the Rome Statute that created the ICC. However, Afghanistan did ratify the Rome Statute, and thus crimes committed on its territory by anyone, even if he or she is a citizen of a country that did not accept the ICC's legitimacy, is subject to its jurisdiction.
In April 2018 following the 2017-2018 Rohingya Crisis in which hundreds of thousands of mostly-Muslim Rohingya people in western Myanmar's Rakhine State were attacked or driven from their homes by government and civilian attackers, in alleged ethnic cleansing and genocide — Bensouda sought a ruling from the ICC that it had jurisdiction over the crisis, despite Myanmar having never ratified the Rome Statute. Because many of the Rohingya were driven into neighboring Bangladesh, a signatory to the statute, the court concurred with her, and a full-scale investigation was initiated. "International Criminal Court says it has jurisdiction over alleged crimes against Rohingya," 6 September 2018, Reuters, retrieved 9 February 2024. "ICC Finds Jurisdiction Over Rohingya Deportation Allegations," 6 September 2018, Courthouse News Service, retrieved 9 February 2024.
In December 2020, regarding Ukraine and Russia, Bensouda alleged that a preliminary ICC probe found indications of "a broad range of conduct" in 2013-2014 that constituted "war crimes and crimes against humanity", and said they were "within the jurisdiction of the ICC." The alleged crimes were connected with violent government suppression of Euromaidan from 2013 to 2014, and claims of crimes in Crimea around and following the 2014 Russian annexation of Crimea, and in eastern Ukraine, where Russia had supported rebels since 2014. However, the prosecutors did not get permission for a full-scale investigation until after Bensouda left the court. "ICC prosecutor to open probe into war crimes in Ukraine," 28 February 2022, Associated Press, retrieved 9 February 2024.
Bensouda and her family were reportedly threatened directly by the then Mossad director Yossi Cohen in an attempt to dissuade her from opening war crime inquiries against Israel.: According to accounts shared with ICC officials, he is alleged to have told her: "You should help us and let us take care of you. You don't want to be getting into things that could compromise your security or that of your family. Less than a month before handing over her post to her successor, Karim Khan, she declared in a podcast: "Something I have experienced is pressure, attacks and politicization but what we do in this office is critically important," adding, "History will judge us."
On 15 June 2021, after a nine-year mandate as Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Bensouda stepped down, passing her role to Karim Khan. "What is ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda's legacy?," 14 December 2021, International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), retrieved 9 February 2024.
Bensouda also served on the Governing Council of the Gambia Committee on Harmful Traditional Practices (GAMCOTRAP) which is a leading women's rights organization fighting against harmful traditional practices and Member of The Advisory Board of The African Centre For Democracy and Human Rights Studies from 1998 to 2000. Bensouda is a former 1st Vice President of The Gambia National Olympics Committee (GNOC). From 1992 to 1995, she served as a board member of Gambia High School Board of Governors and a member of the Executive Committee of the Marina International School, The Gambia from 1994.
Bensouda has also been awarded the 2011 World Peace Through Law Award presented by the Whitney R. Harris World Law Institute at Washington University in St. Louis, which recognized her work in considerably advancing the rule of law and thereby contributing to world peace.
In 2012, Time magazine listed Bensouda among the 100 most influential people in the world in its annual Time 100 issue, noting her role as a "leading voice pressing governments to support the quest for justice".
The African magazine Jeune Afrique named Bensouda as the 4th most influential person in Africa in the Civil Society category Jeune Afrique, No. 2450-2451, 26 December 2010 – 8 January 2011. and one of the 100 most Influential African Personalities. Jeune Afrique, No. 2607-2608, 23 December 2007 – 5 January 2008.
In December 2014, the magazine Africa Top Success named her "African of the Year", ahead of Isabel dos Santos, Angélique Kidjo, Lupita Nyong'o, Daphne Mashile-Nkosi and Koki Mutungi. Africa Top Success Awards: Votez pour l'Africaine de l'année 2014 , africatopsuccess.com; accessed 26 April 2018.
In 2015, she was listed as one of BBC's 100 Women.
The same year, she was awarded a doctorate honoris causa from Keele University (UK).
The US State Department revoked Bensouda's visa in early April 2019. The Guardian reported that the visa withdrawal seemed to be the fulfillment of a threat from Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to prevent ICC personnel from investigating whether U.S. servicemen or U.S. officials engaged in war crimes in Afghanistan, Poland, Romania and Lithuania. The visa revocation triggered criticism from United Nations officials.
In June 2020, U.S. President Donald Trump issued an executive order that allowed the United States to block assets of ICC employees, and prevent them and their immediate families from entering the country. In September 2020, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that Bensouda and another senior ICC official, Phakiso Mochochoko, would be sanctioned under this order, and that those who "materially support those individuals risk exposure to sanctions as well". "International Criminal Court officials sanctioned by US" BBC News. 2 September 2020.
On 4 April 2021, it was reported that the United States Government had officially lifted the sanctions against Bensouda and Mochochoko, and visa restrictions against other ICC personnel. "US Government ending sanctions against ICC" Diplomat Magazine. 4 April 2021.
Bensouda is a practicing Muslim. Questioned in 2011, on the role of her religion in her job, she answered: "Absolutely, definitely. Islam, as you know, is a religion of peace, and it gives you this inner strength, this inner ability and a sense of justice. Together with my experience, this will help a lot.".
|-
Other activities
Professional associations and boards
Bensouda is a member of the International Gender Champions (IGC). Members International Gender Champions (IGC). She was previously a member of International Advisory Council, International Board of Maritime Healthcare. She is a member of both The Gambia Bar Association and the Nigeria Bar Association. She is also a member of the International Association of Prosecutors.
Lectures
Bensouda has given several lectures on the ICC, and its challenges and successes, on several platforms, notably ''The Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court: Successes, Challenges and the Promise of International Criminal Justice'' in the Lecture Series of the United Nations Audiovisual Library of International Law.
Awards and honours
Bensouda has been the recipient of various awards, most notably, the distinguished ICJ International Jurists Award in 2009, which was presented by the then President of India Pratibha Patil. Bensouda was presented the award for her contributions to criminal law both at the national and international level.
Controversies
In October 2017, Bensouda and two members of her staff were accused by Der Spiegel of staying in touch with her predecessor, questioning the Prosecutor's own integrity when Bensouda sent confidential information to Ocampo. It was also suggested that Bensouda sought the advice of her predecessor on several occasions and perhaps allowed herself to be influenced by him, specifically in Kenya and Yazidi cases.
Personal life
Bensouda is married to a Gambian-Moroccan businessman, Philip Bensouda. They have three children.
External links
Categories: 1961 Births, Gambian Women Lawyers, Gambian Diplomats, Government Ministers Of The Gambia, High Commissioners Of The Gambia To The United Kingdom, International Criminal Court Prosecutors, International Criminal Tribunal For Rwanda Prosecutors, Living People, Gambian Muslims, People From Banjul, Obafemi Awolowo University Alumni, Nigerian Law School Alumni, 20th-century Gambian Women Politicians, 20th-century Gambian Politicians, 21st-century Gambian Women Politicians, 21st-century Gambian Politicians, Women Government Ministers Of The Gambia, Gambian Officials Of The United Nations, 20th-century Gambian Lawyers, 21st-century Gambian Lawyers, Female Justice Ministers, 20th-century Women Lawyers, 21st-century Women Lawyers, International Maritime Law Institute Alumni, Gambian Women Ambassadors
|
|
