Don’t pull out of ICC -Coalition advises FG

Rising from an African Union (AU) emergency summit which took place in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia over the weekend, AU members demanded for deferral of the trial.The meeting was convened mainly to deliberate on the issue of the trial of Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta, and his Deputy, William Ruto, who are facing charges of crimes against […]

Rising from an African Union (AU) emergency summit which took place in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia over the weekend, AU members demanded for deferral of the trial.
The meeting was convened mainly to deliberate on the issue of the trial of Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta, and his Deputy, William Ruto, who are facing charges of crimes against humanity for allegedly helping to orchestrate the post-election violence in 2007-08 that killed more than 1,000 people in Kenya.
Mr. Kenyatta was elected president earlier in the year and faces trial in November. This led to questions over whether African ICC states should withdraw from the Rome Statute.
The Rome Statute which established the ICC states that a “state party” may withdraw with written notification to the UN’s secretary general; withdrawal takes effect one year later. But a withdrawal does not affect a state’s obligation to cooperate with criminal investigations and proceedings already underway.
Three days before the AU extraordinary summit, the (Nigerian Coalition for the International Criminal Court NCICC), called on the Federal Government not to withdraw its membership from the International Criminal Court ICC as the court remains the only permanent court with the authority to act when a state with jurisdiction is unable or unwilling to investigate or prosecute an offender.
Addressing a press conference in Abuja, the chairman, Steering Committee of the Coalition, Chino Obiagwu said that if Nigeria withdraws from ICC, it would send a wrong signal about Africa’s commitment to promoting human rights and fighting impunity.
He added that it would also be of grave consequences for civilians in Africa who tend to bear the brunt of serious crimes committed in violation of international law.
He said: “We recognize that international justice currently operates unevenly across the globe. In some situations, powerful governments are able to shield their citizens and the citizens of their allies from the ICC’s authority by not joining the ICC or using their veto power at the Security Council to block referrals of situations to the court.
Till date, African states have been some of the most important supporters of the creation and effective functioning of the ICC. African states played an active role at the negotiation to establish the court, and 34 states, a majority of AU members, have now become ICC states parties. African governments have sought the ICC’s assistance to carry out investigations and prosecutions, and Africans are among the highest level of ICC’s officials and staff and serve as judges at the court.
The AU chairperson said Africa will never support impunity of leaders who wilfully murder their own people, but added that past experiences in our continent and elsewhere demonstrate the need to balance justice and reconciliation in complex conflict situations. “It is in light of this fact that we have been insisting on the importance of finding home-grown solutions to some of the intractable conflicts in our continent.”