Lord (Tariq) Ahmad of Wimbledon, Special Representative for Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict and Minister of State (Middle East, North Africa, South Asia, United Nations and the Commonwealth), meets with the ICC Registrar Osvaldo Zavala Giler.
Following the major cyber-attack against the International Criminal Court (ICC) in September 2023, the ICC’s cybersecurity framework requires significant and immediate improvements to protect it against future attacks of this nature. To support this reform of the ICC’s cybersecurity posture, the Registrar – Osvaldo Zavala Giler – established the Special Fund for Security and called for donations by States. The Special Fund is a time-bound fund, intended to exceptionally provide dedicated resources to implement measures, actions, means and initiatives in relation to enhancing digital and physical security at the ICC.
Lord (Tariq) Ahmad of Wimbledon, UK Minister of State for the Commonwealth and the United Nations, met Registrar Zavala Giler in London and announced a UK voluntary contribution of £300,000 to the Court’s Special Fund for Security, funded through the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office’s Global Cyber Programme. Alongside France, New Zealand, Japan, Lithuania, Poland, Ireland and Estonia, the UK’s donation marks the fifth contribution from a State and is the third-highest contribution to the Fund to date. Through its contribution, the UK reaffirms its strong support for the ICC in the face of attempts to intimidate the Court and disrupt the ICC’s work. The UK contribution will help to ensure the Court’s improved and effective functioning in the new, heightened risk environment in which it now operates.
In making the announcement, Lord (Tariq) Ahmad noted that, “cybersecurity is a shared challenge for those protecting and upholding the international rules-based system.”
The UK is a strong supporter of the international rules-based system and one of the Court’s strongest supporters. Outside of our annual contribution to the budget, the UK has donated £1m to the Trust Fund for Technological Innovation, £430,000 to the Trust Fund for Victims in 2023, and £20,000 to the Trust Fund for Family Visits. The UK has also provided specialist training to upskill ICC investigators, including in the fields of Open-Source Information gathering and information analysis.
