Hague: Karim Khan (51), a British lawyer and a specialist in international criminal law and international human rights law was sworn in as the chief prosecutor for the International Criminal Court on Wednesday.
Khan begins his nine-year tenure with one of the most challenging tasks to probe the actions committed by Israel and Palestinians in the West Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem since June 13, 2014.
Karim Khan takes over from Fatou Bensouda of the Gambia whose nine-year term ended on Tuesday. Khan is an experienced lawyer in the international courts and served as a prosecutor, investigator, and defence attorney as well. He is determined to reach out to nations that are not members of the court to end impunity for atrocities and to try to hold trials in countries where crimes are committed.
Khan who is the third person to hold the role promises to build stronger cases on the world’s permanent war crimes tribunal. He said he would like to work out an understanding with the countries that are not a part of the 123 member states to achieve justice.
The United States, Russia, and China are among the powerful nations that do not recognize the ICC and are not part of it.
Khan said it is possible to eradicate genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes if the nations come together on a common platform.
Recently, Khan led a United Nations team to Iraq to probe atrocities and provided clear evidence to the United Nations Security Council of a genocide committed against the Yazidi community in 2014.
