Expert Roundtable:

The U.S. Government and The ICC Trust Fund For Victims

Event Description

On December 30th, President Biden signed into law a “War Crimes Accountability” provision of the 2023 Consolidated Appropriations Act which amends the longstanding American Servicemembers Protection Act of 2002 (ASPA)--an Act which has been interpreted to broadly prohibit US support to the International Criminal Court (ICC), the War Crimes Accountability provision permits certain kinds of engagement with the ICC related to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. This constitutes a significant evolution in the relationship between the United States and the Court.

This provision also opens a path for increased engagement with the ICC’s Trust Fund for Victims, a fund established to provide assistance to victims of crimes under the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court (ICC) and to administer the Court’s reparations awards. This public roundtable addresses the question of whether and how the U.S. can make a financial contribution to the ICC’s Trust Fund for Victims, including for Ukrainian victims.

The roundtable will present the findings of a joint project between PILPG and Debevoise & Plimpton LLP exploring the historic relationship between the United States and the ICC, and the domestic legal regime which has historically constrained engagement with the court, and by extension, the Trust Fund. Franziska Ecklemans, the Executive Director of the Trust Fund for Victims, will describe the Trust Fund’s mandate and operations. Legal experts from Debevoise & Plimpton LLP and PILPG will outline the changing domestic legal regime which shapes the U.S. government’s relationship with the ICC (Just Security symposium). Finally, U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for Global Criminal Justice Beth Van Schaack will discuss legal and political considerations involved in a decision by the U.S. government to contribute to the Trust Fund in support of victims in Ukraine and elsewhere. This will be a panel discussion, with time at the end for questions or comments from the audience. This expert roundtable will be moderated by PILPG Managing Director Milena Sterio.

This is part of the PILPG Thought Leadership Initiative. The Initiative focuses on prominent international law and international affairs topics and organizes monthly expert roundtables to share expertise and reflections from our work on peace negotiations, post-conflict constitution drafting, and war crimes prosecution.

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Speakers

**Amb. Beth Van Schaack**

Dr. Beth Van Schaack was sworn in as the U.S. State Department’s sixth Ambassador-at-Large for Global Criminal Justice (GCJ) on March 17, 2022. In this role, she advises the Secretary of State and other Department leadership on issues related to the prevention of and response to atrocity crimes, including war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide.Ambassador Van Schaack served as Deputy to the Ambassador-at-Large in GCJ from 2012 to 2013. Prior to returning to public service in 2022, Ambassador Van Schaack was the Leah Kaplan Visiting Professor in Human Rights at Stanford Law School, where she taught international criminal law, human rights, human trafficking, and a policy lab on Legal & Policy Tools for Preventing Atrocities. In addition, she directed Stanford’s International Human Rights & Conflict Resolution Clinic. Ambassador Van Schaack began her academic career at Santa Clara University School of Law, where, in addition to teaching and writing on international human rights issues, she served as the Academic Adviser to the United States interagency delegation to the International Criminal Court Review Conference in Kampala, Uganda. Earlier in her career, she was a practicing lawyer at Morrison & Foerster, LLP; the Center for Justice & Accountability, a human rights law firm; and the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunals for Rwanda and the Former Yugoslavia in The Hague.Ambassador Van Schaack has published numerous articles and papers on international human rights and justice issues, including her 2020 thesis, Imagining Justice for Syria (Oxford University Press). From 2014 to 2022, she served as Executive Editor for Just Security, an online forum for the analysis of national security, foreign policy, and rights. She is a graduate of Stanford (BA), Yale (JD) and Leiden (PhD) Universities.

**Ashika Singh**

Ashika Singh is a counsel and a member of the International Dispute Resolution Group at Debevoise & Plimpton LLP. Prior to joining Debevoise, Ms. Singh was the Forrester Fellow at Tulane University Law School. From 2011 to 2015 she was an Attorney-Adviser in the Office of the Legal Adviser at the U.S. Department of State, where she advised the Department on various legal issues relating to military operations, counterterrorism, and diplomatic security. She also represented the United States before multilateral bodies and coordinated with the interagency on international legal claims in Guantanamo military commission prosecutions and other federal cases. Ms. Singh received Superior and Meritorious Honor Awards from the State Department for her work on Guantanamo detainee issues and human rights in armed conflict.Ms. Singh is currently the co-chair of the International Humanitarian Law Committee of the American Branch of the International Bar Association and a member of the Program Committee of the American Society of International Law. Ms. Singh obtained her J.D., *magna cum laude*, from New York University School of Law, where she was a member of the Order of the Coif and an editor for the *NYU Law Review*. She also received an MPhil in International Relations from the University of Cambridge and an A.B., *magna cum laude*, Phi Beta Kappa, from Harvard College.

**Franziska Ecklemans**

Franziska Eckelmans currently serves as the Acting Executive Director of the International Criminal Court’s Trust Fund for Victims (TFV). With over 16 years of experience in international criminal law, Franziska has dedicated her career to promoting justice and accountability.After starting her legal career in Germany, Franziska worked as a Legal Advisor
for the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC), where she
provided legal advice to Cambodian judges of the ECCC Trial Chamber and
worked on high-profile cases related to the Cambodian genocide. She then joined
the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, serving for over 13 years in
various roles, including advising judges, drafting legal documents, and providing
legal analysis on complex issues. She holds a Juris Doctorate from a prestigious
law school and has published several articles on international criminal law.As Acting Executive Director of the TFV, Franziska leads a team dedicated to
supporting victims of crimes under the jurisdiction of the ICC. Under Franziska’s
leadership, the TFV provides assistance to victims and their families, including
medical and psychological care, legal assistance, and support for community-based
projects.

**Dr. Yvonne Dutton**

Dr. Yvonne Dutton is a Senior Legal Advisor at PILPG. She is a Professor of Law at the Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law teaching evidence, criminal law, criminal procedure, international criminal law, international law, and comparative law. Professor Dutton graduated from Columbia Law School, where she served on the Columbia Law Review and was a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar (all years). She also holds a PhD in Political Science from the University of Colorado at Boulder. After graduating from Columbia Law School, Professor Dutton clerked for the Honorable William C. Conner, United States District Judge for the Southern District of New York. Professor Dutton has practiced law as a federal prosecutor in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, where she tried narcotics trafficking and organized crime cases. She also practiced as a civil litigator in law firms in New York and California. Professor Dutton’s research interests include international criminal law, international human rights law, and maritime piracy. Broadly speaking, her scholarship examines questions about international cooperation and the role and effectiveness of international institutions in deterring and holding accountable those who commit crimes of international concern. In May 2013, her book entitled Rules, Politics, and the International Criminal Court: Committing to the Court was published by Routledge. Professor Dutton has recently been involved with providing technical assistance with the development of framework laws on transitional justice and the harmonization of Ukrainian domestic law with international humanitarian law and the drafting of a legal charter for the Ukrainian peacebuilding/documentation center.

**Floriane Lavaud**

Floriane Lavaud is a counsel and a member of the International Dispute Resolution Group at Debevoise & Plimpton LLP in New York and Paris. Her practice focuses on public international law, international arbitration, and complex litigation, with a particular emphasis on the Middle East. With over 15 years of experience, Ms. Lavaud advises and represents multinational corporations and sovereign States in a variety of jurisdictions and fora on issues of civil and common law, public international law, and treaty and contract interpretation, including before the International Court of Justice. For example, she recently represented the State of Qatar before the International Court of Justice and the International Civil Aviation Organization, in addition to representing Qatari entities in both treaty and commercial arbitrations. She sits as arbitrator, including on the Qatar Sports Arbitration Tribunal, and serves as counsel in a broad range of international matters.Ms. Lavaud advises and represents pro bono clients on both domestic law and public international law issues. Most recently, she has worked with Legal Action Worldwide to seek justice for the Rohingya before the International Criminal Court and for the Tigrayan people before the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights. She has also worked with the Clooney Foundation for Justice on a number of high-profile cases seeking the release of unlawfully imprisoned journalists. Ms. Lavaud is admitted to the New York and the Paris Bars, in addition to being a Solicitor in England and Wales. She serves as Board Member and Co-Chair of the International Arbitration Committee of the American Branch of the International Law Association (ABILA).

**Dr. Paul R. Williams**

Dr. Paul R. Williams holds the Rebecca I. Grazier Professorship in Law and International Relations at American University where he teaches in the School of International Service and at the Washington College of Law. Dr. Williams is also the co-founder of the Public International Law & Policy Group (PILPG), a *pro bono* law firm providing legal assistance to states and governments involved in peace negotiations, post-conflict constitution drafting, and the prosecution of war criminals. As a world renowned peace negotiation lawyer, Dr. Williams has assisted over two dozen parties in major international peace negotiations and has advised numerous parties on the drafting and implementation of post-conflict constitutions. Several of Dr. Williams' *pro bono* government clients throughout the world joined together to nominate him for the Nobel Peace Prize.
Dr. Williams has served as a Senior Associate with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, as well as an Attorney-Adviser for European and Canadian affairs at the U.S. Department of State, Office of the Legal Adviser. He received his J.D. from Stanford Law School and his Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge. Dr. Williams is a sought-after international law and policy expert. He is frequently interviewed by major print and broadcast media and regularly contributes op-eds to major newspapers. Dr. Williams has authored six books on various topics concerning international law, and has published over three dozen scholarly articles on topics of international law and policy. He has testified before the U.S. Congress on a number of occasions relating to specific peace processes, transitional justice, and self-determination. Dr. Williams is a member of the Council of Foreign Relations, and has served as a Counsellor on the Executive Council of the American Society of International Law. In 2019, Paul was awarded the Cox International Law Center's Humanitarian Award for Advancing Global Justice. More information about Dr. Williams can be found at www.drpaulrwilliams.com.

MODERATOR

Milena Sterio is the Managing Director of PILPG and the Charles R. Emrick Jr. - Calfee Halter & Griswold Professor of Law at Cleveland State University’s Cleveland-Marshall College of Law. She is a leading expert on international law, international criminal law and human rights. Sterio leads PILPG’s Thought Leadership Initiative.

Sterio is one of six permanent editors of the prestigious IntLawGrrls blog, and a frequent contributor to the blog focused on international law, policy and practice. In the spring of 2013, Sterio was selected as a Fulbright Scholar, spending the semester in Baku, Azerbaijan, at Baku State University. While in Baku, she had the opportunity to teach and conduct research on secession issues under international law related to the province of Azerbaijan, Nagorno-Karabakh. Serving as a maritime piracy law expert, she has participated in meetings of the United Nations Contact Group on Piracy off the Coast of Somalia as well as in the work of the United Nations Global Counterterrorism Forum. Sterio has also assisted piracy prosecutions in Mauritius, Kenya and the Seychelles Islands. Sterio is a graduate of Cornell Law School and the University of Paris I, and was an associate in the New York City firm of Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton before joining the ranks of academia full time. She has published seven books and numerous law review articles. Her latest book, “The Syrian Conflict’s Impact on International Law,” (co-authored with Paul Williams and Michael Scharf) was published by Cambridge University Press in 2020.