International Criminal Court: Decisions Pursuant to Article 87(7) of the Rome Statute on the Failure by the Republic of Malawi and the Republic of Chad to Comply with the Cooperation Requests Issued by the Court with Respect to the Arrest and Surrender of Omar Hassan Ahmad Al Bashir & African Union Response

2012 ◽  
Vol 51 (2) ◽  
pp. 393-417 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander K. A. Greenawalt
Keyword(s):  
International Criminal Court ◽  
Rome Statute ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
Criminal Court ◽  
Court Decisions ◽  
African Union ◽  
The Republic

scholarly journals Trial and (Potential) Error: Conflicting Visions on Reparations Within the ICC System

2018 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 221-248 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alina Balta ◽  
Manon Bax ◽  
Rianne Letschert
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Justice ◽  
International Criminal Court ◽  
Rome Statute ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
Criminal Court ◽  
International Criminal Justice ◽  
Court Decisions ◽  
Criminal Trials ◽  
Conflict Situations ◽  
International Criminal Trials

Twenty years ago, the International Criminal Court (hereinafter ICC or the Court) was established holding the aim of placing victims at the heart of international criminal justice proceedings and delivering justice to them through, among others, reparations. Article 75 of the Rome Statute lays out the reparations regime, and, in practice, court-ordered reparations are a means of delivering such justice. Focusing on Court decisions on reparations, our analysis takes stock of all developments before the ICC and attempts to highlight the mismatch between characteristics inherent to the objectives of international criminal trials such as providing accountability and punishment of the accused and delivering justice for victims of mass crimes—the so-called procedural challenges. We also submit that the Court is facing conceptual challenges, related to an apparent misunderstanding of the various concepts at stake: reparations as such and the various modalities and channels of enforcing them. We conclude that although the ICC’s reparation regime may not be the best reparative response to provide justice to victims in conflict situations affected by mass victimization, we suggest that improving the ICC’s approach includes, at a minimum, tackling these challenges.

The African Union, the Security Council, and the International Criminal Court

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles Chernor Jalloh
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Security Council ◽  
International Criminal Court ◽  
Rome Statute ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
Criminal Court ◽  
International Criminal Justice ◽  
African Union ◽  
Post Cold War ◽  
History Of

This chapter analyses the controversies surrounding the work of the African Union, the Security Council, and the International Criminal Court. It examines whether the legal justifications offered for the Security Council’s involvement in matters of international criminal justice, as administered by the ICC, match the emerging practice. The chapter reviews the drafting history of the Rome Statute to identify the initial benchmark against which to assess the Chapter VII referral and deferral resolutions and their impacts, if any, on the world’s only permanent international penal tribunal. The chapter situates the ICC within a new post-Cold War global paradigm that is not only concerned with ensuring the collective peace, which is the classical responsibility of the UN, but also ensures that international criminal justice is meted out to at least some of the leaders who foment the world’s worst atrocities.

scholarly journals Assessing the African Union Concerns about Article 16 of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court

2011 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-50 ◽  
Author(s):  
Max du Plessis ◽  
Charles C. Jalloh ◽  
Dapo Akande
Keyword(s):  
International Criminal Court ◽  
Rome Statute ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
Public Support ◽  
Criminal Court ◽  
United Nations Security Council ◽  
African Union ◽  
Law And Politics ◽  
Repeated Calls ◽  
Un General Assembly

AbstractThis article assesses the African Union’s (AU) concerns about Article 16 of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC). It seeks to articulate a clearer picture of the law and politics of deferrals within the context of the AU’s repeated calls to the United Nations Security Council (UNSC, or the Council) to invoke Article 16 to suspend the processes initiated by the ICC against President Omar Al Bashir of Sudan. The Council’s failure to accede to the AU request led African States to formally withhold cooperation from the ICC in respect to the arrest and surrender of the Sudanese leader. Given the AU’s continued concerns, and the current impasse, fundamental questions have arisen about the Council’s authority to exercise, or not exercise, its deferral power. This culminated into a November 2009 African proposal for an amendment to the Rome Statute to empower the UN General Assembly to act should the UNSC fail to act on a deferral request after six months. Although ICC States Parties have so far shown limited public support for the AU’s proposed amendment to the deferral provision, this article examines its merits because a failure to engage the “Article 16 problem” could impact international accountability efforts in the Sudan, and further damage the ICC’s credibility in Africa. This unresolved issue also has wider significance given that the matters underlying the tension ‐ how ICC prosecutions may be reconciled with peacemaking initiatives and the role and power of the Council in ICC business ‐ will likely arise in future situations from around the world.

scholarly journals 'South Africa is Not an Accused'

2017 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 157-175
Author(s):  
Jerusha Asin
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
International Criminal Court ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
Criminal Court ◽  
African Union ◽  
Judicial Decision ◽  
High Court ◽  
The Republic ◽  
The Government

There is a confrontation between the International Criminal Court (ICC) and state parties, and at this particular point in time, the Republic of South Africa, in connection with the arrest warrants issued by the Court for the President of Sudan in 2009 and 2010. Between 13 and 15 June 2015, President Omar al-Bashir was present on the territory of South Africa for purposes of attending the 25th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of the African Union. Despite judgments from both the ICC upholding the obligation of South African authorities to arrest and surrender President Bashir and parallel domestic proceedings at the South African High Court in which authorities were ordered to prevent the departure of President Bashir from South African territory pending final judicial decision on whether the Government was required to execute the ICC arrest warrants, President Bashir nevertheless departed from the Waterkloof military air base on 15 June 2015, even as Government lawyers assured the High Court in a hearing on the same date that he was still in the country. Only after his plane had safely landed in Khartoum did the same lawyers then notify the High Court that he had left South Africa. This article will analyze this case in the following lines.

African States Failed Withdrawal from the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court: From Withdrawal Notifications to Constructive Engagement

2017 ◽  
Vol 17 (5) ◽  
pp. 749-802 ◽  
Author(s):  
Manisuli Ssenyonjo
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
International Criminal Court ◽  
Rome Statute ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
Criminal Court ◽  
Secretary General ◽  
The Gambia ◽  
African Union ◽  
Constructive Engagement ◽  
The Impact

In 2016 three African states, namely South Africa, Burundi and The Gambia submitted written notifications of withdrawal from the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (Rome Statute) to the Secretary-General of the United Nations pursuant to Article 127 of the Rome Statute. Although the African Union (au) welcomed and fully supported the three States’ withdrawal notifications and considered them as ‘pioneer implementers’ of the au’s ‘Withdrawal Strategy’, The Gambia and South Africa withdrew their notifications of withdrawal before they became effective. This article examines three issues arising out of the said withdrawal notifications. It begins by examining the reasons as to why the three states submitted withdrawal notifications from the Rome Statute. It then considers the impact of the three states’ withdrawal notifications. It concludes by identifying steps that might be taken to ensure constructive engagement between African States and the icc.

Towards Afrotopia: The AU Withdrawal Strategy Document, the ICC, and the Possibility of Pluralistic Utopias

2018 ◽  
Vol 60 (1) ◽  
pp. 481-513
Author(s):  
Dorothy Makaza
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Law ◽  
International Criminal Court ◽  
Rome Statute ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
Criminal Court ◽  
International Criminal Law ◽  
International Criminal Justice ◽  
African Union ◽  
Global North ◽  
The Relationship

The International Criminal Court could be said to represent the largest utopian project in international criminal justice. Although African States were among the first to ratify the Rome Statute, the African Union Assembly’s adoption of a Withdrawal Strategy Document in January 2017 could have been an indication of a tipping point in the relationship between African States and the International Criminal Court. This article aims to show the irony of utopia amidst the global North/South divide by putting into question the feasibility, legitimacy, and equitability of the utopian project in international criminal law as well as to discuss the proposals within the Withdrawal Strategy Document while shedding light upon the varying contextual backgrounds on which those proposals were made. It challenges international criminal law conceptions of State (non-)compliance and explores the complexities of such classifications by revealing the politics of definition in international criminal law. Finally, the article suggests pluralising the field as a solution and introduces the concept of Afrotopia as part of the puzzle of pluralised utopias.

scholarly journals Legal issues on membership of the Republic of Azerbaijan in the International Criminal Court

2021 ◽  
pp. 113-117
Author(s):  
M. Eyyubova
Keyword(s):  
International Criminal Court ◽  
Rome Statute ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
Criminal Code ◽  
Criminal Court ◽  
Legal Issues ◽  
Humanitarian Law ◽  
National Legislation ◽  
Long Time ◽  
The Republic

Goal – investigate legal issues on membership of the Republic of Azerbaijan in the International Criminal Court. Methods of research: analysis and study of legal documents containing provisions on the entry of states into the International Criminal Court. By acceding to the Rome Statute, the membership of the Republic of Azerbaijan in the International Criminal Court is always necessary as a state guided by the principles and norms of international law. It is true that for a long time there has been no unequivocal opinion on this issue in society, in scientific circles, as well as in government agencies, mainly due to the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court. The court’s jurisdiction applies only to individuals, including those who have no jurisdiction over any crime committed before the entry into force of the Rome Statute, and therefore can only consider criminal acts alleged to have been committed after 1 July 2002. Despite all these negative circumstances, the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court expands the amendments to the national legislation of the participating States, but does not oblige the State Party to adopt national legislation in accordance with the provisions of the Rome Statute. Although the Republic of Azerbaijan did not accede to the Rome Statute, it benefited from the provisions of this document on war crimes. In general, the fact that the Special Part of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Azerbaijan begins with the norms of international crimes is an indication of the great importance of the Republic of Azerbaijan to the norms of international humanitarian law. At the same time, this step demonstrates the commitment of the Republic of Azerbaijan to global values and international obligations. Discussion: offering a comprehensive and detailed study and use of this practice in academia.

scholarly journals The Issues of Legitimacy of the International Criminal Court in Its Relations with African Countries in the Sphere of Counteracting International Crimes

2019 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 332-339 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jean-Batiste Bukuru ◽  
Aleksandr Solntsev
Keyword(s):  
South African ◽  
International Criminal Court ◽  
Rome Statute ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
Criminal Court ◽  
African Union ◽  
The South ◽  
African Countries ◽  
Western Countries ◽  
International Crimes

The authors study the legitimacy of the establishment and work of the International Criminal Court (ICC) from the perspective of African countries. They point out that African countries initially supported the idea of creating the ICC and actively participated in its establishment and development. However, after the Court initiated investigations regarding the current President of Sudan Omar Al-Bashir and other African leaders (current President of Kenia Uhuru Muigai Kenyatta, its Vice-President William Samoei Ruto, former Head of the Great Libyan Arab Jamahiriya Muammar Gaddafi, the ex-President of Cote d’Ivoire Laurent Gbagbo, and others), the ICC began to lose its legitimacy in the eyes of most African leaders, who started to perceive it as a political instrument of Western countries. As a result, the African Union in its Resolutions (13 (XIII), 987 (XXIX), 952 (XXVIII) and others) called on African countries to stop cooperating with the ICC concerning warrants for the arrest of current officials and, finally, to totally withdraw from the Rome Statute of the ICC of 1998 because it believed that the Court is selective in its persecution of Africans only. Following this, three African countries (Burundi, the South African Republic and Gambia) announced in 2016 that they intend to withdraw from the Rome Statute. However, the South African Republic and Gambia did not do this due to internal political situation and pressure from the Western countries, and only Burundi withdrew from the 1998 Rome Statute on October 27, 2017. Besides, the African Union initiated the establishment of the International Criminal Chamber within its regional court — the African Court of Justice and Human Rights (Malabo Protocol of 2014); the authors believe it to be the reaction of the African countries to the activities of the ICC. Based on their research, the authors suggest reforming the International Criminal Court to ensure its independence and impartiality in fighting international crimes and impunity, as well as developing regional criminal justice in Africa.

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