The United Nations has completed its investigation into alleged sexual misconduct by International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor Karim Khan, according to the President of the Assembly of States Parties, the Court’s oversight body. 

GJC has followed with grave concern developments around the allegations, which illustrate how patriarchy and impunity continue to shape global institutions, even those dedicated to the pursuit of justice.

Since the allegations became public, zero-sum narratives have dominated much of the discourse. The Prosecutor and his lawyers have presented the sexual misconduct allegations as an effort to “smear” Khan in order to undermine warrants issued for Israeli officials in the ICC’s Palestine investigation (e.g., here, here, and here). Meanwhile, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s Foreign Ministry, and others have claimed that the warrants were aimed at repairing the Prosecutor’s image or distracting attention from the misconduct allegations (e.g., here, here, here, and here). Media coverage has reinforced this framing (e.g., here, here).

The pitting of victims of alleged sexual misconduct by the Prosecutor against the pursuit of justice for crimes against humanity and war crimes in Palestine represents a familiar and false juxtaposition in the service of power. The proposed dichotomy mandates a choice between advancing justice for alleged victims of workplace sexual violence and those of international crimes, including extermination, starvation, and persecution, as if one should come at the expense of the other. Meanwhile, the underlying alleged crimes are sidelined, deflected, and obscured. The result is a struggle between two powerful sides to control the narrative, while the voices of victims are silenced and the powerful are comforted.

As a feminist human rights organization, GJC rejects this outcome, and instead calls for challenging patriarchy and power in a way that advances emancipation from all forms of oppression. GJC recognizes that the ICC, like all institutions of power within the global order, was created, and continues to work within, complex intersecting structures of oppression, including patriarchy, racism, and colonialism. Machinations to frustrate or deflect accountability efforts are not simply symptoms of patriarchy, but constitutive of it. 

Irrespective of the outcome of the UN investigation into the alleged sexual misconduct, justice should mean dismantling the systemic roots of domination – not negotiating between them. This crisis should be a call to action for unearthing and rooting out patriarchal dynamics on which international justice was constructed and continues to operate. Otherwise, our shared humanity will continue to suffer.