This Group Blog is an ICSF initiative to provide an open forum to analyse and present the current developments relating to the justice initiative taking place in Bangladesh to try the perpetrators of 1971 alleged of war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity. It particularly aims to highlight and clarify the strategic issues concerning the law, policy and politics of Bangladesh’s trial.
ABOUT ICSF
International Crimes Strategy Forum (ICSF) is a global coalition of independent activists and organisations committed to the cause of bringing to justice the perpetrators of “international crimes” during the Bangladesh Liberation War. United, the coalition stands against all forms of impunity. The coalition has been launched in acknowledgement of the enormity of task involving the prosecution of the alleged perpetrators after a lapse of 39 years since the atrocities were originally committed. The Forum also recognises the complexities, confusions and differences that now surround the issue of prosecution.
The aims and objectives of this coalition:
1. Facilitating documentation, archiving and research based on existing data and evidence;
2. Carrying out new research on pertinent issues as well as gathering new evidence;
3. Generating consensus on key strategic issues;
4. Networking with other civil society actors and experts, both in Bangladesh and abroad, with a view to finding common grounds for collaborative activism and generating support;
5. Lobbying with the formal official actors and working with the media, both in Bangladesh and abroad;
6. Monitoring progress of prosecution initiatives and adopting strategies to counteract developments that can potentially delay or defeat the cause of justice;
7. Covering the trials thoroughly and providing in-depth feedback by involving experts in the process.
Our core values and approcahes:
Democracy. Human Rights. Justice. Rooted in non-elite, non-exclusive, collective and participatory premises, the attitudes (as well as qualities) that we seek to promote within and outside the coalition are: excellence, dedication, boldness and perfection. All forms of elitist and/or self-propagating tendencies are, therefore, resisted. We believe, this is the kind of mindset that time demands of this nation in order for it to succeed in bringing the history back on track through securing long-overdue justice.
