ISS Seminar, Pretoria: Prospects for the ICC in Africa After the AU Summit and Review Conference

Date: 2010-08-23

Venue: ISS seminar room, Block C, Brooklyn Court, 361 Veale Street, New Muckleneuk, Brooklyn, Pretoria, (Parking in Brooklyn Mall & ABSA court)

RSVP: Monique de Graaff
Tel: 012 346 9500
E-mail: [email protected]

Presented by International Crime in Africa Programme, ISS Pretoria Office

2009 was a difficult year for the ICC in Africa. With Malawi taking up the chair of the African Union and the first ICC review conference to be held in Kampala, indications were that Africa-ICC relations would improve. However, the recent AU summit decision shows that little has changed since July last year in Sirte when member states controversially agreed not to cooperate with the ICC in the arrest of Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir. The main sticking point for the AU, then and now, is the al-Bashir arrest warrant and the UN Security Council’s relationship with the ICC. Although the review conference was a success, especially for Africa, there too the Security Council’s role in ICC business divided states in their negotiations on amendments to the crime of aggression.

Speakers:

• The July 2010 AU summit decision on the ICC and prospects for Africa-ICC relations

Sivu Maqungo, Principal State Law Adviser, Office of the Chief State Law Adviser, Department of International Relations & Cooperation, SA

• The AU’s concerns with the al-Bashir indictment and prospects for an article 16 deferral

Prof Max du Plessis, Senior Research Associate, International Crime in Africa Programme, ISS and University of KwaZulu-Natal

• The crime of aggression as amended at the ICC review conference and its impact on Africa

Andre Stemmet, Senior State Law Adviser, Office of the Chief State Law Adviser, Department of International Relations & Cooperation, SA

Chair: Jemima Njeri, Senior researcher, International Crime in Africa Programme, ISS

Please note that discussions occur under ISS Rules.  Participants are free to use the information presented, but neither the identity nor the affiliation of the speaker(s), nor that of any other participant, may be revealed without his/her express permission.

This seminar is funded by the Open Society Foundation of South Africa and the Government of the Netherlands