Between Rhetoric and Action: The Politics, Processes and Practice of the ICC's Work in the DRC

This monograph attempts to respond to some of the questions raised in respect of the work of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). In this regard, it has three main objectives.

First, by focusing on a State Party where the ICC’s Office of the Prosecutor is currently conducting investigations, it considers the cooperation relationship between the ICC and the DRC. In this regard, it appears that, irrespective of the lack of legislation implementing the Rome Statute in that country, the DRC continues to cooperate with the ICC in its investigations. In view of erroneous positions taken by some states and commentators that only those countries where crimes have been perpetrated, in particular those in respect of which investigations are ongoing, have immediate obligations in relation to the ICC’s work, the monograph seeks to outline and illustrate broader obligations for member states in general. It demonstrates that the work of the ICC in places like the DRC engages the duties of ‘non-situation states’ in various ways.

Second, by examining the practice of the Court since the situation was referred to it, the monograph considers the role of politics – domestic or otherwise - in the work of the ICC.

Third, it examines the perceptions around the work of the ICC in various sectors of Congolese society, including government, victims, civil society and the general public. By extension, it addresses some of the questions that the work of the ICC in Africa has raised, including the allegation that the ICC is ‘targeting’ African countries and that somehow these countries are unwilling participants in the process.

About the author

Godfrey M Musila is a senior researcher in the International Crime in Africa Programme (ICAP) at the Institute for Security Studies. He holds a Bachelor of Laws degree (LLB Hons) from the University of Nairobi and a Master’s degree in Law (LLM) in International Human Rights Law and Democratisation in Africa from the University of Pretoria. He served for three years at the South African Institute for Advanced Constitutional, Public, Human Rights and International Law (SAIFAC) as a research fellow, and lectured various subjects in international law while reading for his PhD (international criminal law and justice) at the University of the Witwatersrand School of Law, Johannesburg. He has previously worked as a legal researcher in the presidency in Kenya, and has lectured law at the Kenya College of Accountancy in Nairobi. His research interests include public international law, international criminal law, international human rights and humanitarian law, transitional justice, African Union institutions and counterterrorism.