The AU Debacle with the ICC: The Creation of the African Criminal Court

Aghem Hanson Ekori

doi:doi:10.11648/j.ijls.20210402.12

| Peer-Reviewed

The AU Debacle with the ICC: The Creation of the African Criminal Court

Aghem Hanson Ekori

Published in International Journal of Law and Society (Volume 4, Issue 2)

Received: 9 March 2021 Accepted: 25 March 2021 Published: 20 April 2021

Views: Downloads:

Download PDF

Share This Article

Twitter
Linked In
Facebook

Abstract

Just like the churning of milk brings forth butter, the same could be said that the African Union (AU) debacle with the International Criminal Court (ICC) led to the creation of the African Criminal Court (ACC). Despite the initial support of the ICC by the AU and it state members during the creation process, the indictment of mostly senior serving African state officials by ICC when it came into force resulted in a devastating and tense relationship between the AU and the ICC. The creation of the ACC therefore was fast tacked by this unfriendly relationship between the AU and the ICC. This article argued that despite the tense relationship, harmonization of certain organs of the ACC and the ICC is necessary in the fight against impunity for the most serious crimes of international concern. In this regard, I examined the legality and legitimacy of the ACC and maintained that despite the immunity provision, it legality is consistent with international law, and accordingly, that the ACC is not the African panacea with respect to the fight against impunity for serious international crimes. Consequently, since the ACC and the ICC shared jurisdictions for the most serious crimes of international concern, harmonization of the ACC and the ICC through complementarity and cooperation will result in the formation of an undefeated tag team to fight against impunity for the most serious crimes affecting the international community.

Published in	International Journal of Law and Society (Volume 4, Issue 2)
DOI	10.11648/j.ijls.20210402.12
Page(s)	67-76
Creative Commons	This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright	Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

The ACC and the ICC, Impunity for international crimes, Legality and Legitimacy, Cooperation and Complementarity

References

[1]	See generally Jalloh, C. C. The Place of African Court of Justice and Human and Peoples Rights in the Prosecution of Serious Crimes in Africa in Jalloh, C. C. Clarke, K. M. & Nmehielle V. O., Eds., The African Court of Justice and Human Rights in Context: Development and Challenges, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2019, pp. 57-108.
[2]	See Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court circulated as document A/CONF. 183/9 of 17 July 1998 and came into force on 1 July 2002 (Rome Statute), Retrieved 13 February 2021 from https://www.icc-int/resource-library.
[3]	See Situation under Investigation Retrieved 19 February 2021 from https://www.icc-cpi.int/pages/situation.aspx.
[4]	See Magliveras, K. D. & Naldi, G. J. (2013), The International Criminal Court’s Involvement with Africa: Evaluation of a Fractious Relationship Nordic Journal of International Law, 82, 417.
[5]	See Decision on Africa’s Relationship with the International Criminal Court AJICJ, 2015, 90-92.
[6]	See Ssenjonjo, M. (2013), The Rise of the African Union Opposition to the International Criminal Court’s Investigations and Prosecutions of African Leaders International Criminal Law Review, Vol. 13, 2013, pp. 385-386, noting that according to former ICC President Sang-Hyun Song the AU state members played a very important role prior to and during the creation of the ICC and perhaps without the Africa’s support the Rome Statute would never have been adopted.
[7]	See Van de Vyver, J. D. (2015), The Al Bashir Debacle, African Human Rights Law Journal, 15 (2), 559-579.
[8]	See L. Mushoriwa, L. (2018), Immunity before the International Criminal Court: Still hazy after all these years South African Journal of Criminal Justice, 31 (3), 339-360.
[9]	See Art. 46A bis of the 2014 Malabo Protocol and Art. 27 of the Rome Statute.
[10]	The three notable situations here include the indictments of President Kenyatta of Kenya, Retrieved 13 February 2021 from https://www.icc-cpi.int/kenya/kenyatta; President Al Bashir of Sudan, Retrieved 13 February 2021 from https://www.icc-cpi.int/darfur/albashir and President Gadhafi of Libya Retrieved 13 February 2021 from https://www.icc-cpi.int/libya/gaddafi.
[11]	For example Senegal was the first state in the world to ratify the Rome Statute, Retrieved 13 February 2021 from https://www.icc-cpi.int/Pages/item.aspx?name=pr1462.
[12]	For example some of the cases referred to the ICC’s jurisdiction by African state officials are situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) referred by the DRC government, Retrieved 13 February 2021 from https://www.icc-cpi.int/drc; Situation in Uganda referred by the Ugandan government, Retrieved 13 February 2021 from https://www.icc-cpi.int/uganda; and the situation in Central African Republic (CAR) referred by the CAR government, Retrieved 13 February 2021 from https://www.icc-cpi.int/car.
[13]	See Art. 46A bis of the 2014 Malabo Protocol recognizing the personal immunities of senior African state officials while in office.
[14]	See Cassese, A. (2012), The Legitimacy of International Criminal Tribunals and the Current Prospects of International Criminal Justice, Leiden Journal of International Law, 25, 492.
[15]	See Black Law free online dictionary, Retrieved 16 February 2021 from https://www.freelawdictionary.org/legality.
[16]	See the Charter of the United Nations that was signed on 26 June 1945 in San Francisco and came into force on 24 October 1945, Retrieved February 2021 from https://www.un.org/en/charter-united-nations/index.html (the 1948 UN Charter).
[17]	See Tladi, D. Article 46A Bis: Beyond the Rhetoric in Jalloh, C. C. Clarke, K. M. & Nmehielle, V. O., Eds., The African Court of Justice and Human and Peoples’ Rights in Context: Development and Challenges, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2019, pp. 850-865.
[18]	For example the hybrid or mixed chambers created by the UN in Cambodia, Lebanon, East Timor and Kosovo.
[19]	With regard to the ad hoc tribunal references to be considered here are the Nuremberg and the Tokyo Tribunals, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) and the Special Tribunal for Sierra Leone (SCSC) created either directly or as subsidiary body of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC). With respect the permanent court such as the ICC and the ACC, they were created by multilateral treaty and are regarded as treaty-based international criminal court.
[20]	Examples here are Belgium, Australia, Canada, France and Senegal. All these countries have domestic jurisdiction to entertain international crimes.
[21]	See Art. 95 of the 1948 UN Charter.
[22]	See Protocol on Amendment to the Protocol on the Statute of the African Court of Justice and Human Rights of the African Union, Retrieved 21 February from https://au.int/en/treaties/protocol-amendments-protocol-statute-african-court-justice-and-human-rights (the 2014 Malabo Protocol).
[23]	See Onoma, A. K. (2016), An Epochal Bifurcation: The International Criminal Court, the African Court and the Struggle against Gross Human Rights Abuses, African Journal of International Criminal Justice (AJICJ), 29, 32; Tilden, S. T. (2018), Africa’s Conflict with the International Criminal Court: The African Court of Justice and Human and People’s Rights’ as an Alternative to ICC’, Tulane Journal of International and Comparative Law, 27 (1). 202-203.
[24]	See also Abebe, Z. B. (2017), The African Court with a Criminal Jurisdiction and the ICC: A Case for Overlapping Jurisdiction, African Journal of International and Comparative Law, 25, 418-420.
[25]	See generally the objectives of the AU enshrined in Art. 3 of the Constitutive Act of the A U adopted on 7 November 2000 and came into force on 26 May 2001, Retrieved 21 February 2021 from https://au.int/en/treaties/constitutive-act-african-union (the 2001 Constitutive Act of the AU).
[26]	See Art. 52 of the 1948 UN Charter.
[27]	Cassese, A. (2012) The Legitimacy of International Criminal Tribunals and the Current Prospects of International Criminal Justice, Leiden Journal of International Law, 25, 492.
[28]	See Peake, J. The Institutional Framework of the Office of the Prosecutor, Legitimacy, and Overcoming Bias Allegations in R. H. Steinberg Ed., Contemporary Issues Facing the International Criminal Court, Leiden Brill Njihoff 2016, pp. 353-354.
[29]	Cassese, A. (2012), The Legitimacy of the International Criminal Tribunal and the Current Prospect of International Criminal Justice, Leiden Journal of International Law, 25, 492-493.
[30]	With the exception of the immunity provision in the Malabo Protocol as examined below, the ACC has passed the legitimacy test.
[31]	As of 23 February 2021 only 15 states have signed the 2014 Malabo Protocol, and no single state has ratified the Protocol available on Protocol on Amendments to the Protocol on the Statute of African Court of Justice and Human Rights, Retrieved 23 February 2021 from https://au.int/en/treaties/protocol-amendments-protocol-statute-african-court-justice-and-human-rights.
[32]	However, the legitimacy of the court will be put to test when it finally comes into force.
[33]	See Cassese, 2012, The Legitimacy of International Criminal Tribunals and the Current Prospects of International Criminal Justice, Leiden Journal of International Law, 25 p. 493.
[34]	For example, see Art. 27 of the Rome Statute.
[35]	Art. 46A bis of the 2014 Malabo Protocol.
[36]	Aghem, H. E (2020) The ICC or the ACC: Defining the Future of the Immunities of African State Officials, AJICJ, 6, 50-72.
[37]	Tladi, D. (2015), The Immunity Provision in the AU Amendment Protocol’, Journal of International Criminal Justice (JICJ), 13, 14.
[38]	The fact that it recognizes the immunity ratione personae of serving senior AU state officials which is procedural in nature and will cease when the state official is no longer in office.
[39]	The fact that the ACC does not recognize the immunity ratione materiae of former AU state officials in respect of international crimes is consistent with the fight against impunity.
[40]	See Gaeta, P. (2003), Ratione Materiae Immunities of Former Head of State and International Crimes: The Hissene Habre Case’ JICJ, 1, 186-1867.
[41]	See Pedretti, R. (2016), Immunity of Heads of State and State Officials for International Crimes, Swiss Review of International and European Law, 26 (4), 758-762.
[42]	Tilden, S. T. (2018) Africa’s Conflict with the International Criminal Court: The African Court of Justice and Human and People’s Rights’ as an Alternative to ICC’, Tulane Journal of International and Comparative Law, 27 (1). 202-203.
[43]	Abebe, Z. B. (2017), The African Court with a Criminal Jurisdiction and the ICC: A Case for Overlapping Jurisdiction, African Journal of International and Comparative Law, 25, 418-420.
[44]	Abebe, Z. B. (2017), The African Court with a Criminal Jurisdiction and the ICC: A Case of Overlapping Jurisdiction, African Journal of International and Comparative Law. 25, 59-62.
[45]	See generally Arts. 27 and 98 of the Rome Statute.
[46]	Gaeta, P. (2003), Ratione Materiae Immunities of Former Head of State and International Crimes: The Hissene Habre Case’ JICJ, 1, p. 187.
[47]	See Five African Leaders sued for Corruption in Radio France International, Retrieved 14 February 2021 from http://www.rfi.fr/actuen/articles/103/article.960.asp; Murungu, 2011, p. 1070.
[48]	See Decision on Africa’s Relationship with the International Criminal Court (ICC), AJICJ, 2015. p. 91, paragraphs 10 (iv) indicates the intention to expand the mandate of the African Court on Human and Peoples Rights (AfCHPR) with a criminal chamber to try crimes such as genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.
[49]	See paragraphs 26, 36 and 36 of the Report on the Committee of Eminent African Jurist on the case of Hissene Habre, presented to the Summit of the African Union in July 2006, Retrieved 22 February 2021 from http://www.hrw.org/justice/habre/CEJA_Repor0506.pdf.
[50]	Brown, B. S. (2017), The International Court in Africa: Impartiality, Politics, Complementarity and Brexit Temple International & Comparative Law Journal, 31, p. 165; Tilden, S. J, (2018), Africa’s Conflict with the International Criminal Court: The African Court of Justice and Human and Peoples’ Right as an Alternative to the ICC, Tulane Journal of International & Comparative Law, 27, p. 202.
[51]	See Bachmann S. D. D & Nwibo, E. L. (2018), Pull and Push-Implementing the Complementary Principles of the Rome Statute of the ICC with the African Union: Opportunities and Challenges Brook. Journal of International Law, 43, 523.
[52]	See Ssekandi, F. & Tesfay, N. (2017), Engendered Discontent: The International Criminal Court in Africa’ Georgetown Journal of International Affairs, 18, 77.
[53]	Abebe, Z. B. (2018), The African Court with a Criminal Jurisdiction and the ICC: A Case for Overlapping Jurisdiction’ African Journal of International and Comparative Law, 25, 418.
[54]	See Art. 8 of the 2014 Malabo Protocol.
[55]	See Murithi, T The Advent of a Differentiated Accountability System’ in Jalloh, C. C. Clarke, K. M. & Nmehielle, V. O., Eds., The African Court of Justice and Human and Peoples’ Rights in Context: Development and Challenges, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2019, p. 171.
[56]	Cannon, B. J. Pkalya, D. R. & Maragia, B.(2016), The International Criminal Court and Africa’, African Journal of International Criminal Justice, 6, 20.
[57]	By virtue of Art. 28A (1) of the 2014 Malabo Protocol, the Court has power to prosecute 14 international crimes as follows: Genocide, Crimes against humanity, War crimes, the Crime of Unconstitutional change of Government, Piracy, Terrorism, Mercenarism, Corruption, Money laundering, Trafficking in persons, Trafficking in drugs, Trafficking in hazardous waste, Illicit expropriation of natural resources and the Crime of Aggression.
[58]	See Jalloh, C. C. A Classification of the Crimes in the Malabo Protocol’ in Jalloh, C. C. Clarke, K. M. & Nmehielle, V. O., Eds., The African Court of Justice and Human and Peoples’ Rights in Context: Development and Challenges, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2019, p. 231.
[59]	See Art. 46F (1) of the 2014 Malabo Protocol.
[60]	See Art. 46F (2) of the 2014 Malabo Protocol.
[61]	For example the crimes of unconstitutional change of government, corruption, and illicit expropriation of natural resources are very common in Africa.
[62]	See Art. 1 of the Rome Statute. Art. 4 (2) of the Rome Statute also states that the Court may exercise its jurisdiction on the territory of any state party; The Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development v The Southern African Litigation Centre (867/15) [2016] ZASCA 17 (15 March 2016).
[63]	J. N. Foster, J. N. (2016), A Situational Approach to Prosecutorial Strategy at the International Criminal Court Georgetown Journal of International Law, 47 (2), p. 460.
[64]	See Report of the Bureau on Complementarity Retrieved 29 January 2021 from https://www.icc-cpi.int/Pages/search-results.aspx?k=Definition%20of%20the%20complementarity%20principle (the ICC-ASP 2020 Report on Complementarity).
[65]	See Amoroso, A. M. (2018), Should the ICC Assess Complementarity With Respect to Non-state Armed Groups? Journal of International Criminal Justice, 16, 1068.
[66]	See Art. 17 (1) (a) of the Rome Statute; Art. 46H (2) (a) of the 2014 Malabo Protocol.
[67]	See Art. 17 (1) (b) of the Rome Statute; Art. 46H (2) (b) of the 2014 Malabo Protocol.
[68]	See Art. 17 (1) (c) of the Rome Statute; Art. 46H (2) (c) of the 2014 Malabo Protocol.
[69]	See Art. 17 (1) (d) of the Rome Statute; Art. 46H (2) (d) of the 2014 Malabo Protocol.
[70]	See generally Art. 15 of the Rome Statute; Art. 46G of the 2014 Malabo Protocol.
[71]	Ani, N. C. (2018), Implications of the African Union’s Stance on Immunity for Leaders on Conflict Resolution in Africa: The Case of South Sudan and Lessons from the Habre Case’, African Human Rights Law Journal, 18 (2), 454.
[72]	See Art. 46H (1) of the 2014 Malabo Protocol.
[73]	See Art. 46Lof the 2014 Malabo Protocol.
[74]	See Tladi, D. (2019), Promoting an Effective Cooperative Regime in Jalloh, C. C. Clarke, K. M. & Nmehielle, V. O., Eds., The African Court of Justice and Human and Peoples’ Rights in Context: Development and Challenges, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2019, p. 738.
[75]	See generally Part IX from Arts. 86 to 102 of the Rome Statute dealing with cooperation and judicial assistance and Art. 46L of the 2014 Malabo Protocol.
[76]	See Art. 86 of the Rome Statute.
[77]	See generally Art. 87 of the Rome Statute.
[78]	See generally Art. 89 of the Rome Statute.
[79]	See generally Art. 98 of the Rome Statute. This provision is applicable only with respective to the immunity accorded by international law to non-state parties since all state parties have agreed to waive the immunities of their state officials with respect to crime under the jurisdiction of the Court as Art. 27 of the Rome Statute.
[80]	The 2014 Malabo Protocol creating the ACC only recognizes the personal immunity of senior serving AU state officials while in office. This immunity subsides immediately when the mandate of the state official comes to an end.
[81]	See Aghem, 2020, p. 65, noting that the future of the immunities of African state officials will be determined by a blend of the ACC and the ICC through some comprises from both criminal courts.
[82]	De Wet, E. Concurrent Jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court and the African Criminal Chamber in Case of Concurrent Referrals’ in Jalloh, C. C. Clarke, K. M. & Nmehielle, V. O., Eds., The African Court of Justice and Human and Peoples’ Rights in Context: Development and Challenges, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2019, pp. 190-196.
[83]	DeGuzman, M. M. Complementarity at the African Court’, in Jalloh, C. C. Clarke, K. M. & Nmehielle, V. O., Eds., The African Court of Justice and Human and Peoples’ Rights in Context: Development and Challenges, Cambridge, p. 663.
[84]	See for example both Art. 17 of the Rome Statute and Art. 46H of the 2014 Malabo Protocol respectively.

Cite This Article

Plain Text BibTeX RIS

APA Style

Aghem Hanson Ekori. (2021). The AU Debacle with the ICC: The Creation of the African Criminal Court. International Journal of Law and Society, 4(2), 67-76. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijls.20210402.12

Copy | Download

ACS Style

Aghem Hanson Ekori. The AU Debacle with the ICC: The Creation of the African Criminal Court. Int. J. Law Soc. 2021, 4(2), 67-76. doi: 10.11648/j.ijls.20210402.12

Copy | Download

AMA Style

Aghem Hanson Ekori. The AU Debacle with the ICC: The Creation of the African Criminal Court. Int J Law Soc. 2021;4(2):67-76. doi: 10.11648/j.ijls.20210402.12

Copy | Download

@article{10.11648/j.ijls.20210402.12,
  author = {Aghem Hanson Ekori},
  title = {The AU Debacle with the ICC: The Creation of the African Criminal Court},
  journal = {International Journal of Law and Society},
  volume = {4},
  number = {2},
  pages = {67-76},
  doi = {10.11648/j.ijls.20210402.12},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijls.20210402.12},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijls.20210402.12},
  abstract = {Just like the churning of milk brings forth butter, the same could be said that the African Union (AU) debacle with the International Criminal Court (ICC) led to the creation of the African Criminal Court (ACC). Despite the initial support of the ICC by the AU and it state members during the creation process, the indictment of mostly senior serving African state officials by ICC when it came into force resulted in a devastating and tense relationship between the AU and the ICC. The creation of the ACC therefore was fast tacked by this unfriendly relationship between the AU and the ICC. This article argued that despite the tense relationship, harmonization of certain organs of the ACC and the ICC is necessary in the fight against impunity for the most serious crimes of international concern. In this regard, I examined the legality and legitimacy of the ACC and maintained that despite the immunity provision, it legality is consistent with international law, and accordingly, that the ACC is not the African panacea with respect to the fight against impunity for serious international crimes. Consequently, since the ACC and the ICC shared jurisdictions for the most serious crimes of international concern, harmonization of the ACC and the ICC through complementarity and cooperation will result in the formation of an undefeated tag team to fight against impunity for the most serious crimes affecting the international community.},
 year = {2021}
}

Copy | Download

TY  - JOUR
T1  - The AU Debacle with the ICC: The Creation of the African Criminal Court
AU  - Aghem Hanson Ekori
Y1  - 2021/04/20
PY  - 2021
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijls.20210402.12
DO  - 10.11648/j.ijls.20210402.12
T2  - International Journal of Law and Society
JF  - International Journal of Law and Society
JO  - International Journal of Law and Society
SP  - 67
EP  - 76
PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2640-1908
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijls.20210402.12
AB  - Just like the churning of milk brings forth butter, the same could be said that the African Union (AU) debacle with the International Criminal Court (ICC) led to the creation of the African Criminal Court (ACC). Despite the initial support of the ICC by the AU and it state members during the creation process, the indictment of mostly senior serving African state officials by ICC when it came into force resulted in a devastating and tense relationship between the AU and the ICC. The creation of the ACC therefore was fast tacked by this unfriendly relationship between the AU and the ICC. This article argued that despite the tense relationship, harmonization of certain organs of the ACC and the ICC is necessary in the fight against impunity for the most serious crimes of international concern. In this regard, I examined the legality and legitimacy of the ACC and maintained that despite the immunity provision, it legality is consistent with international law, and accordingly, that the ACC is not the African panacea with respect to the fight against impunity for serious international crimes. Consequently, since the ACC and the ICC shared jurisdictions for the most serious crimes of international concern, harmonization of the ACC and the ICC through complementarity and cooperation will result in the formation of an undefeated tag team to fight against impunity for the most serious crimes affecting the international community.
VL  - 4
IS  - 2
ER  -

Copy | Download

Author Information

Aghem Hanson Ekori

College of Law, University of South Africa, Pretoria, South Africa

Download PDF

Sections

Plain Text BibTeX RIS

APA Style

Aghem Hanson Ekori. (2021). The AU Debacle with the ICC: The Creation of the African Criminal Court. International Journal of Law and Society, 4(2), 67-76. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijls.20210402.12

Copy | Download

ACS Style

Aghem Hanson Ekori. The AU Debacle with the ICC: The Creation of the African Criminal Court. Int. J. Law Soc. 2021, 4(2), 67-76. doi: 10.11648/j.ijls.20210402.12

Copy | Download

AMA Style

Aghem Hanson Ekori. The AU Debacle with the ICC: The Creation of the African Criminal Court. Int J Law Soc. 2021;4(2):67-76. doi: 10.11648/j.ijls.20210402.12

Copy | Download

@article{10.11648/j.ijls.20210402.12,
  author = {Aghem Hanson Ekori},
  title = {The AU Debacle with the ICC: The Creation of the African Criminal Court},
  journal = {International Journal of Law and Society},
  volume = {4},
  number = {2},
  pages = {67-76},
  doi = {10.11648/j.ijls.20210402.12},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijls.20210402.12},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijls.20210402.12},
  abstract = {Just like the churning of milk brings forth butter, the same could be said that the African Union (AU) debacle with the International Criminal Court (ICC) led to the creation of the African Criminal Court (ACC). Despite the initial support of the ICC by the AU and it state members during the creation process, the indictment of mostly senior serving African state officials by ICC when it came into force resulted in a devastating and tense relationship between the AU and the ICC. The creation of the ACC therefore was fast tacked by this unfriendly relationship between the AU and the ICC. This article argued that despite the tense relationship, harmonization of certain organs of the ACC and the ICC is necessary in the fight against impunity for the most serious crimes of international concern. In this regard, I examined the legality and legitimacy of the ACC and maintained that despite the immunity provision, it legality is consistent with international law, and accordingly, that the ACC is not the African panacea with respect to the fight against impunity for serious international crimes. Consequently, since the ACC and the ICC shared jurisdictions for the most serious crimes of international concern, harmonization of the ACC and the ICC through complementarity and cooperation will result in the formation of an undefeated tag team to fight against impunity for the most serious crimes affecting the international community.},
 year = {2021}
}

Copy | Download

TY  - JOUR
T1  - The AU Debacle with the ICC: The Creation of the African Criminal Court
AU  - Aghem Hanson Ekori
Y1  - 2021/04/20
PY  - 2021
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijls.20210402.12
DO  - 10.11648/j.ijls.20210402.12
T2  - International Journal of Law and Society
JF  - International Journal of Law and Society
JO  - International Journal of Law and Society
SP  - 67
EP  - 76
PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2640-1908
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijls.20210402.12
AB  - Just like the churning of milk brings forth butter, the same could be said that the African Union (AU) debacle with the International Criminal Court (ICC) led to the creation of the African Criminal Court (ACC). Despite the initial support of the ICC by the AU and it state members during the creation process, the indictment of mostly senior serving African state officials by ICC when it came into force resulted in a devastating and tense relationship between the AU and the ICC. The creation of the ACC therefore was fast tacked by this unfriendly relationship between the AU and the ICC. This article argued that despite the tense relationship, harmonization of certain organs of the ACC and the ICC is necessary in the fight against impunity for the most serious crimes of international concern. In this regard, I examined the legality and legitimacy of the ACC and maintained that despite the immunity provision, it legality is consistent with international law, and accordingly, that the ACC is not the African panacea with respect to the fight against impunity for serious international crimes. Consequently, since the ACC and the ICC shared jurisdictions for the most serious crimes of international concern, harmonization of the ACC and the ICC through complementarity and cooperation will result in the formation of an undefeated tag team to fight against impunity for the most serious crimes affecting the international community.
VL  - 4
IS  - 2
ER  -

Copy | Download