Dozens of support staff for defence and victims’ teams in ICC proceedings are striking during the 21st session of the ASP in a bitter dispute over frozen pay and limited employment rights.

The International Criminal Court Bar Association (ICCBA) yesterday said it had been informed that defence and victims’ teams members are now “prohibited” from attending the ASP in an apparent “change of policy to previous (pre-pandemic) sessions”.

Havneet Sethi, a defence lawyer at the ICC, wrote on LinkedIn: “This is a travesty. For over a decade, the defence have been told that the ICC has no power to improve their conditions and that they should take their concerns to the ASP, the appropriate forum.

“Now that they have, the ASP has found more ways to sideline, exclude, and silence them, including by denying defence and victim representatives entrance and access at all. So much for justice, equality and for having a seat at the table. The ASP would do well to remember that without the defence, there is no fair trial.”

Natalie von Wistinghausen, an international criminal defence lawyer from Germany, also slammed the decision as “nothing but silencing and exclusion of counsel”.

The striking support staff are paid through a legal aid scheme, meaning they do not enjoy the full package of benefits — including pay increases in line with inflation — which employees of the ICC receive.

According to the ICCBA, defence and representative of victims’ fees are more than 30 per cent lower than the salaries paid to staff performing equivalent tasks for the Office of the Prosecutor.

“This inequality compromises fair trial rights and the principle of equality of arms at the court and must be corrected immediately by the ASP, particularly given drastic increases in the cost-of-living in the Netherlands,” the ICCBA said.

The bar association has also raised concerns about “the lack of basic labour protections afforded to support staff”.