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Alliances may be large or small, organized by county, city, state, or region. The general purposes of an alliance are to inform and arouse local public opinion so as to focus it consistently on the need for and importance of close cooperation and support by the United States for the ICC, and the earliest possible American ratification of its Rome Statute. Fulfilling these objectives will take a continuous effort over time. This effort will be sustained by historic and dramatic events including the Court's start-up, and through its full operation and first cases. These events will focus and maintain interest and reward commitment. The ICC is a dramatic, dynamic cause and institution that will constantly reinforce and encourage supporters with new and exciting developments both in general and about their particular concerns and issues. This will happen whether or not the United States has joined the Court.
Choosing an alliance leader
Creating an alliance requires a committed founder or founders backed by an organization. Organizational support is necessary because the resources, credibility and local connections of a support organization are usually essential to a founder. Moreover, alliances made up primarily of committed organizations and groups will have the capacity to carry out the sustained effort needed for this long-term endeavor. Inevitably, of course, alliances will usually begin with persons who know each other. However, they must make the work of the alliance important enough in the life of their organizations that these will remain active in it after their original representatives move on. This applies especially to the founder and his/her organization.
Identifying potential founding members
Founders start by identifying potential alliance members. They will have a large pool of prospects because the Court attracts groups and individuals with many and diverse interests that they believe the ICC will uniquely serve and promote. Local affiliates of AMICC members are prime prospects. The AMICC secretariat can often also help in finding potential members by coming to the area for public events, media activities, private meetings with small groups, classes at schools, colleges and universities and whatever else will assist the founder to raise local knowledge of and interest in the ICC. Once there are enough seriously interested potential members, the founder holds an organizational meeting. Founders often ask a member of the AMICC secretariat to return to attend this meeting as a resource and a focus for it.
Recruiting members
In recruiting members, as in all of an alliance's activities, it is essential to make the most of the diversity of people, political and social views and organizations the ICC attracts. A great weakness of campaigns in the United States comparable to the ICC effort
is their tendency to rely too heavily on persons and groups
sharing one set of social and political views. Administration
policy will not be changed nor the Rome Statute ratified by
the United States without substantial support from conservatives.
They need to hear from sources sympathetic to them that, at
its center, the ICC is not a liberal/conservative issue, but
is about accountability for crimes that all alike loathe:
genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity.
The organizational meeting also sets in place the first activities
and priorities for the new alliance. AMICC strongly recommends
that these include:
- integration of the ICC into the regular and continuing
programs and activities of alliance members;
- special ICC events organized collectively by alliance
members;
- pro-ICC resolutions by organizations and units of government;
polling;
- regular and constant contact with state legislators, congresspersons,
senators, and their local offices; and
- continuous work and contacts with the media, schools and
institutions of higher learning.
Each of these
is described briefly below. Except for polling, a common theme
among all of these activities is the need for a constant,
persistent effort. This will be easier than in many other
comparable campaigns because of the frequent and compelling
events and developments that, as already described, the first
years of the Court will regularly offer.
Integrating the ICC into member
activities
Since alliance members have joined because they believe that
the ICC will powerfully advance the issues to which they are
committed, promotion of the Court should fit easily into their
regular and ongoing programs. However, they may need to be
reminded to do this and an alliance leader may have to show
them how the Court is relevant to a particular program.
In particular, keep in mind that the ICC is concerned not
only with specific crimes, but also Ü and this is very important
- with values, moral concepts, principles and social objectives
which are very widely shared in our society. Some examples
are justice, sin, evil, the rule of law, post-conflict rebuilding
of societies and nations, and moral recompense to victims
and survivors. (The AMICC secretariat will be happy to support
alliance leaders about members' programs generally and specifically
in developing materials on the ICC's relevance to a particular
issue or occasion).
Coordinating member activities
An alliance leader should maintain an electronic list of
the members' initiatives and events, keep it current, and
use it to encourage members to back up and participate in
each other's activities. This information should also be forwarded
to the AMICC secretariat so that it can be included on the
AMICC website. This kind of mutual support among members with
otherwise divergent interests can provide significant benefits
for members and assist member recruitment.
Coordinating local events
From this initial support and cooperation, alliance members
can progress to collective development of special ICC events.
One significant occasion for coordinated local events will
be the formal inauguration of the Court at a vast gala international
celebration held by the Dutch government at The Hague in March
2003. Where there are Netherlands consulates, Dutch firms,
or Dutch-American associations, these could be important parts
of local celebrations of the inauguration.
Other occasions
include the first ICC indictment, the opening of the ICC's
first trial, the achievement of 100 ratifications of the Rome
Statute, and the inauguration of the International Criminal
Bar (which will provide support to attorneys appearing before
the ICC) could be recognized by appropriate joint activities.
Annual dates include July 17 - the anniversary of the adoption
of the Rome Statute, July 1 - the anniversary of the start
of the jurisdiction of the Court, and the yet-to-be-determined
March date of the inauguration of the Court.
Resolutions supporting the ICC by any group or political
unit provide valuable education, commitment and publicity
about the Court. Not only do participants in the debate on
the resolution necessarily learn a lot about the ICC, but
also the organization or body adopting the resolution is likely
to feel it has a stake in the Court.
When a political
unit -village, county, city, state legislature - adopts, there
is usually the added benefit of media coverage. Adoption by
smaller political units can build toward adoption by larger
ones. Thus borough councils can lead to a city council; villages
can influence counties, counties and cities can sway a state
legislature; and local bar associations can persuade the state
bar. Resolutions and their accompanying media coverage are
also highly persuasive with Congresspersons and Senators.
National polls show that 66% of respondents want the United
States to participate in the ICC and ratify its statute immediately.
We particularly like two polls from 1999 and 2000 which, although
from different organizations, used very similar paragraphs
informing respondents about the Court and the reasons for
opposing and supporting it before the questions were asked.
Unfortunately, the support these national polls show is broad
but shallow - it does not have much influence on the way people
vote. Turning this support into the focused and aroused public
opinion leading to political action is the work of AMICC and
the local alliances.
Another problem is that Congresspersons and Senators say:
"Maybe people respond this way in national polls, but not
in my district/state." Thus local polls are essential for
local action. Paid polls are expensive, but other options
are a company or organization that is willing to insert an
ICC question in a poll it is already doing and college or
university social science or political science departments
that do polls as student exercises. Alliances should consider
including our current version of the 1999 and 2000 questions
in their polls to provide continuity and compatibility, along
with additional, perhaps locally oriented, questions.
A big dividend
about polls is that for the local media, the poll itself maybe
news and coverage of it can lead to articles about the ICC
and local support for it.
Visiting legislative offices
All of the foregoing activities are important to influencing
legislators. These undertakings should be used to promote
regular, consistent and cumulative contacts with congresspersons
and senators and their staff members. Such contacts should
be with the state and district offices and with the legislators
personally in their visits home. In addition to meetings specifically
on the ICC, it is indispensable for alliance members to include
the Court in their appeals to legislators on their own issues,
thus emphasizing that the ICC is important to their organizations'
particular individual concerns and objectives. District and
state staffers should come to understand that the ICC is a
local issue important to numerous and influential constituents,
not a remote foreign policy issue "for the Washington office."
Congresspersons and senators should also find that the ICC
is raised with them in almost every general public appearance
they make, including town hall meetings.
Using AMICC's partner websites
Since legislators
are driven primarily by pending legislation and the work of
committees, AMICC includes its members and alliance leaders
on an e-mail list of our partner organization in Washington,
the Washington Working Group on the International Criminal
Court (WICC). The WICC website and
the USA for ICC website have full, easy
to use information on Congressional developments on the ICC
and other advocacy and background materials. The latter also
has a click-and-send letter feature. AMICC additionally sends
out advisories on Congressional and Administration moves requiring
especially intense action.
The ICC developments and milestones previously mentioned,
which provide occasions for local events, and those events
themselves, are also news hooks for media. Alliance members
are likely already to have contacts with journalists, editorial
boards and broadcast producers and their own media outreach
campaigns. The ICC should be incorporated into these. Specialized
journalists in such topics as religion, politics, social issues
should be made to understand the relevance of the ICC to these
issues.
Ignorance of the ICC in editorial boards and their consequent
vulnerability to anti-ICC propaganda has been a widespread
problem. It is important to make sure that they have basic,
easy-to-use ICC materials, and information on web sites and
other sources for rapid answers to questions. Some alliance
leaders have used visits with the Convener or Deputy Convener
to editorial boards as a way to begin promoting your alliance
as an ICC resource for them.
In all media
contacts it is important to convey that the ICC is important
to local organizations and persons because of its service
to issues they care about or to which they are committed.
Reaching out to young adults
The Court is an important and compelling cause for students
and young adults. Government delegates, experts, non-governmental
organization representatives and United Nations officials
under age 35 were at the center of the negotiations for the
Court. Organizations working on the ICC are swamped by applications
from young adults. General public audiences for ICC presentations
are predominantly young. The members of this generation, even
those who know only a little about the Court, react to the ICC
as something of their own which belongs to their present and
future. The more sophisticated recognize it as an instrument
their contemporaries did much to create. They will use it
in their time of power and responsibility against the kind
of atrocities an older generation in its era tried to ignore
until too late. Young adults also generally respond to the
drama and power of trials and courtroom scenes that they will
be able to see on television.
Alliances should reach out to, inform and educate, and make
full use of young adults and students. In AMICC's experience
teachers and professors want lectures and discussions on the
ICC for classes in law, political and social science and international
relations. Campus clubs on these subjects will put on events
on the ICC. Students will seek internships on the ICC and
will volunteer their time to support alliance activities.
Working with the Council for American Students in International Negotiations (CASIN)
The Council for American Students in International Negotiations (CASIN) (formerly the Independent Student Coalition for the ICC), an AMICC member, has coordinators
and 500 members (undergraduates and graduate students) on
30 campuses nationwide. Students like it since it is entirely
run by their peers. It has nationwide activities such as conferences,
advocacy, and student delegations to UN meetings on the ICC.
Support for an existing coordinator or help in establishing
one would be a quick and effective way for alliances to get
the ICC message heard on local campuses. The CASIN website has
lists of coordinators and campuses and information on its
activities.
Working with academics
In addition to the access they provide to students, faculty
are important resources and participants for alliances. Political
leaders, legislators and audiences are often especially pleased
and impressed by local expertise on the ICC. Academics can
be a quick and persuasive source for the media. Senior faculty
often has access to public and private sector leadership and
influence on local politics. AMICC can help alliances when
local academics want to reach their counterparts elsewhere
or find ICC expertise for their courses and events.
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