The Reckoning: The Battle for the International Criminal Court

Many of history’s worst crimes remain unpunished. The International Criminal Court set up in The Hague in 2002 is the most ambitious attempt yet to change this unwelcome reality. The Reckoning covers the court’s first few years and Head Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo’s fierce struggle to bring the warlords of the Congo and the president of Sudan to justice.
The International Criminal Court is the first permanent court with the power to prosecute individuals for crimes against humanity, war crimes, and genocide. In The Reckoning, filmmakers Pamela Yates, Paco de Onis and Peter Kinoy show the court’s first few years. Holding Congolese war lords or the Sudanese president accountable for their crimes proves to be far from easy. The International Criminal Court needs
the support of the international community in order to be able to act efficiently. This is the crux of the issue: prominent countries such as the USA, China and Russia do not recognize the court.
At the Movies that Matter festival, director Pamela Yates and producer Paco Onis present their recently launched Audience Engagement Campaign IJCentral, www.ijcentral.org, intended to get people around the world involved in international justice. The filmmakers’ challenge is to build a global grassroots movement in support of an effective international justice system that will hold perpetrators of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide accountable, no matter how powerful they may be.