PMB IN ICC AT 20TH: SHOULD AFRICA QUIT OR REMAIN IN ICC?
PMB IN ICC AT 20TH: SHOULD AFRICA QUIT OR REMAIN IN ICC?
By:
Nurudeen Dauda
July 16, 2018
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On the 17th of July 1998, 120 countries adopted a statute in Rome, Italy known as the Rome Statute for International Criminal Court, ICC, located in Hague, Netherlands.The Statute entered into force on the 1st day of July, 2002 after its ratifications by 60 countries.
President Buhari is the only world leader invited to speak for its 20th anniversary . In 1948 the United Nations' General Assembly first recognised the need for a permanent International court in order to deal with atrocities of International crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes, but it was shelved due to the Cold War era which lasted till 1991 after the collapse of the United Soviet Socialist Republic, USSR.
It is important to note that, ICC like any other International organization, is a voluntary organization. As of October 2017, 123 countries are parties or signatories to the Rome Statute of the Court , including all the countries of South America, nearly all of Europe, and roughly half of Africa countries. On the other hand, about 41 United Nations,UN, member states have neither signed nor acceded to it. Some of the countries include China and India etc.
However, before the Statute becomes binding on all the signatories they must ratify it. There are about 31 countries which signed the Statute but have not ratified it. Four signatory states; including : USA, Israel, Russia and Sudan have informed the UN Secretary General that they no longer intend to become states parties and, as such, have no legal obligations arising from their signature of the Statute.
The ICC has been accused of bias and of being a tool of Western imperialism by some African leaders arguing that it only punishes leaders from small and weak states while ignoring crimes committed by richer and more powerful states. In October 2016, Burundi, South Africa and the Gambia announced their intentions to withdrawal from the Rome Statute.
Some of the Africans indicted by ICC, include: former president of Chad, Hissène Habré, former Liberian President, Charles Tailor, Sudanese president Omar Hassan al-Bashir , Kenyan president Uhuru Kenyatta , Kenyan Deputy President William Ruto. Late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, Former Ivorian president Laurent Gbagbo , and Congolese vice-president Jean-Pierre Bemba etc.
There are certain conditions that needed to be met before ICC comes in , such as when national courts are "unwilling" or "unable" to prosecute criminals or when the United Nations Security Council or individual states refer situations to the Court. In my belief , without ICC a lot of Africans and their leaders who are culprits of war crimes, human rights abuses, and genocide will likely escape Justice due to corruption, ethno-religious sentiment and Judicial manipulations.
In my view, the best argument to be advanced by the African leaders is to make sure that no innocence African be it an ordinary person or a leader suffers unjustly from ICC. In addition, what the African leaders should do is not quitting the ICC, but to try and address the issues of bad governance, poverty, illiteracy and hunger among its peoples.
African leaders should desist from running away from the truth. There seem to be more cases of genocides, human rights abuses, and war crimes in Africa than in any continent in the world perhaps due to ethno-religious intolerance which are apparently caused by high rates of Poverty, illiteracy, and hunger among Africans.
May God bless Nigeria!