Civil Society’s Role in Tracking Suspects of International Crimes
Over the past decade, digital tools and emerging technologies have reshaped how information about serious international crimes are documented, verified and shared. For Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), these developments have created new opportunities to support accountability efforts, particularly in identifying and tracking suspects across borders. At the same time, they raise complex questions about coordination, security, due process and privacy.
REDRESS has published a new guidance document designed to help navigate this evolving landscape. The briefing sets out practical recommendations for CSOs engaging in tracking efforts and supporting authorities in the investigation and prosecution of serious international crimes.
Apprehending Suspects-at-Large
Under the principle of universal jurisdiction, States may prosecute suspects of serious international crimes found on their territory, regardless of the suspects’ nationality, where the crimes took place, or the victims’ nationality. In addition, Article 89 of the Rome Statute, empowers the International Criminal Court (ICC) to request any State to arrest and surrender a person subject to an ICC arrest warrant who is present on its territory.
Yet, despite these obligations, suspects of international crimes are often not apprehended when they enter another State’s jurisdiction. Of the 61 individuals subject to ICC arrest warrants, only 22 have been arrested and transferred to the Court, leaving 30 still at large. A major obstacle is the lack of timely, reliable information on suspects’ movements, as many fugitives evade detection by changing their identities, and moving frequently across borders.
Contribution of Civil Society
CSOs can play a critical role in closing this gap. Drawing on local knowledge, community networks and investigative expertise, CSOs are often well placed to identify, monitor and track suspects.
However, this role requires clarity and care to ensure CSOs can gather actionable, real-time information that supports rather than jeopardises accountability efforts. If not carried out responsibly, tracking efforts risk alerting suspects, undermine investigations or expose survivors and witnesses to harm. Engagement must therefore be guided by clear safeguards, secure information-sharing practices and respect for due process and privacy rights.
REDRESS Guidance Document
Our new guidance document responds directly to this challenge. Drawing on consultations and discussions with key stakeholders, it examines the practical and structural challenges faced by authorities and CSOs in locating and apprehending suspects of international crimes and offers concrete steps to improve collective effectiveness:
The document:
- Maps the institutional landscape, outlining the key actors involved in tracking suspects of international crimes and the legal framework underpinning their obligations.
- Examines the role of CSOs in identifying, monitoring and tracking suspects, including common methods used to detect their location.
- Highlights good practices for CSOs engaged in suspect tracking, alongside the main operational, ethical and legal challenges they encounter.
- Sets out recommendations for States, institutional actors, CSOs, donors and funders to strengthen civil society capacity, with the overarching objective of facilitating arrests when suspects enter another States jurisdiction.
The resource is intended as a practical starting point for CSOs considering or already engaging in tracking efforts. It recognises the important contribution civil society can make, while emphasising that such work must be coordinated, secure, and firmly grounded in human rights principles
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