The International Criminal Court that Africa wants

This monograph describes the early support for the ICC, and then discerns and evaluates the criticisms of the court that have arisen within the AU.

In May 2010, states parties to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) met in Kampala, Uganda for the ICC’s much anticipated first review conference. African governments and civil society used this opportunity to affirm their support for the Rome Statute system, but relations with the ICC remain uneasy. The past year has been the most tumultuous in the court’s short life span. The flashpoint was the arrest warrant issued by the ICC for Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir on charges of crimes against humanity, war crimes and most recently, genocide, committed in the ongoing Darfur conflict. The African Union’s controversial decision not to cooperate with the ICC in the arrest and surrender of al-Bashir, and its repeated requests to the UN Security Council to defer ICC proceedings against the Sudanese president exemplify the political and legal complexities of Africa’s current relationship with the court. ICC-Africa relations have clearly gone offcourse. This monograph describes the early support for the ICC on the African continent, and then discerns and evaluates the criticisms of the court that have arisen within the AU. In proposing recommendations, the monograph concludes that there is much to be done to improve the court in the pursuit of African interests – to ensure the ICC that Africa wants.

About the author

Max du Plessis is a senior research associate at the International Crime in Africa Programme at the Institute for Security Studies, Pretoria, and an associate professor of law at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in Durban. He also practices as an advocate and is a member of the KwaZulu-Natal Bar with a special expertise in international law, constitutional law and administrative law. Du Plessis has written widely in the fields of international criminal law and human rights and is a research associate at Matrix Chambers, London.