African Union Still Supportive of ICC
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17 June 2009: African Union Still Supportive of ICC
The much-anticipated African Union (AU) meeting of States Parties to the International Criminal Court (ICC) eventually took place in Addis Ababa on 9 June 2008. Many, in particular concerned civil society organisations (CSOs) had feared that this meeting, which took place at a very uncertain juncture in the life of the ICC, could sound the death knell for the Court, at least for its work in Africa. Mass withdrawal of African States Parties to the ICC had been feared. The consequences attendant to such a move are not difficult to fathom: in the absence of alternative credible and effective mechanism in its place, the fight against impunity that is constantly reaffirmed by various AU organs would have been dealt a near fatal blow. Although the outcome of the meeting in Addis is not immediately clear – perhaps indicating lack of consensus in view of a range of contentious issues – it is useful to put recent events in perspective.
Apart from general arguments that the ICC is ‘targeting’ Africa and Africans in its current investigations, the AU has, through various political organs and individual states made its stand clear that: it is opposed to the arrest warrant against President Omar Al Bashir; prosecutions, and the work of the ICC in general are prejudicial to meaningful pursuit for peace in Darfur and; the United Nations Security Council should deploy its powers under article 16 of the Rome Statute to suspend the Court’s process for a year.
Since the decision of the AU Assembly on 3 February 2009 requesting the AU Commission to convene a meeting of African States Parties to the ICC ‘to exchange views on the work of the ICC in relation to Africa, in particular in the light of the processes initiated against African personalities, and to submit recommendations thereon taking into account all relevant elements’, a flurry of activity on the part of CSOs and other ICC supporters seem to have been premised on the assumption that the 8-9 June meeting could determine the fate of the ICC on the continent.
Concerned about recent developments, various CSOs had embarked on aggressive campaigns to lobby states and the AU for continued support for the ICC. A number of statements, including that issued in Cape Town on 11 May by a group of 40 CSOs, media and concerned individuals as well as others by various members of the NGO Coalition for the ICC urged a considered decision and emphasised the need for states to support the ICC.
In view of the developments briefly outlined above, these apprehensions are perhaps not unfounded. If Senegal’s reported threat to ‘de-ratify’ the Rome Statute and Libya’s assertion that African States no longer want the ICC are credible, one possibility – on the extreme end – could result in mass withdrawal. In second place, the AU could operate in more subtle ways – none of which bode well for the work of the ICC, the rule of law, and the fight against impunity on a conflict-prone continent: withdrawal of, or absence of proactive support for the ICC, either by encouraging more countries to ratify, or those that have ratified to develop domestic law, or encouraging States Parties to cooperate with the ICC at the operational level.
While the AU’s position following the meeting on 9 June is yet to be clarified, all indications are that African States Parties are unlikely to de-ratify as a bloc, and that the AU’s stand will remain unchanged: opposition to the Al Bashir arrest warrant and the need for deferral of ICC prosecutions in Darfur.
Godfrey Musila,
Senior Researcher, International Crime in Africa Programme, ISS Tshwane (Pretoria)
