In preparation for the Consultative Conference on International Criminal Justice to be held in September at the United Nations in New York, a planning meeting was held in May 2009 in which Hauser Center staff interviewed Jonathan F. Fanton, former President of the MacArthur Foundation, on the role of the foundation in supporting the advancement of human rights and justice globally, and the importance of the September 2009 session.

Johanna Chao Kreilick – Hauser Center: For over 30 years, the MacArthur Foundation has championed human rights and international justice through support to over 600 organizations worldwide. In September 2009, through generous MacArthur Foundation sponsorship, the first-ever Consultative Conference on International Criminal Justice will take place at the UN in New York. At this moment, what do you see as the key challenges and opportunities?

Jonathan F. Fanton – former President of MacArthur Foundation: The idea for the consultative conference came from conversations with Luis Moreno-Ocampo while honoring Kofi Annan with the MacArthur Award for International Justice in March 2008. We overfilled the main ballroom of the Waldorf Astoria Hotel and I think all of us were looking around, noting that it was really a powerful moment, and that the infrastructure and support for international justice was more advanced than we thought.

We thought it would be useful if some of the main actors could get together to share how they are planning and looking ahead. The notion was to engage diverse parties within the international justice system to share thoughts and plans – starting with the organs of the (International Criminal) Court itself – the Registrar, the Assembly of State Parties, and the Office of the Prosecutor — but also actors within the UN system, regional courts and commissions and NGOs are critical too.

Ultimately, our international justice efforts is not simply calling to account evildoers but raising the quality of justice in nations in regions all over the world.

JCK: How have you seen the impact of NGOs in delivering and strengthening justice around the world?

JFF: MacArthur supports a number of local NGOs in Nigeria, Mexico and Russia that bring cases to the regional courts and commissions, and we’ve also been working with NGOs like Human Rights Watch and Doctors Without Borders, Physicians for Human Rights, the Ugandan Coalition for the International Criminal Court, and others who are active in documenting cases that are making their way up to the ICC.

NGOs large and small are playing an absolutely critical role in getting these judicial bodies up and running and helping them with their first cases.

JCK: Has MacArthur’s justice-related grantmaking shifted in the past 10 years since you’ve been President?

JFF: We are providing more support for the system of international justice—MacArthur was active in helping NGO’s from the south come to Rome to hammer out the Statute and we have supported the NGO Coalition for the International Criminal Court as well as provided support for NGOs in “situation countries.” Over the past 10 years we’ve also put a lot more into regional courts than was the case before—regional courts and commissions.

JCK: What are your hopes for the consultative conference — aspects or issues you’d like seen paid particular attention?

JFF: Well, the term that we used at the Harvard planning meeting was “positive complementarity” and I like that. If the conference can help us get really specific about how domestic, regional and international treaties improve jurisprudence, addressing questions about how courts operate on these different levels, how victims participate at different levels, looking at how different Courts and other actors operate alongside national judicial and non-judicial processes for ending impunity. Its about getting the laws right and improving and strengthening practices on the ground – and more clearly understanding the interplay between them. This could be a joint project with everybody that attends the conference. Getting some real-world examples of how “positive complementarity” works – or could be strengthened - would be a very good outcome.

JCK: What do you see as the biggest challenge to moving this understanding forward?

JFF: I think having a follow-up mechanism that comes out of the conversation would be a good thing, otherwise its just talk. People will learn things, but identifying some concrete next-steps for moving the debates and issues forward would be key – getting clarity on a couple of substantive projects would be a good start.