With South Africa and Burundi's recent decision to opt out from the Rome Statute, the conflict between Africa and the International Criminal Court has seemingly taken a new dimension.
As a person previously involved with an International NGO focused on Transitional Justice, (and as most legal experts already know what I'm about to say here), let me quickly try to shed tangible light on this ICC dilemma in as simple a manner as possible. In the case of Sudanese President Omar El Bashir for example; 1 - He has been indicted by the court following a recommendation by the Security Council. 2 - His country is not a signatory to the Rome statute, 3 - and Sudan doesn't recognize the International Criminal court. 4 - Yet today he is wanted by the ICC. What this means is simple: Whether one recognizes the ICC or not (and therefore whether one withdraws from the Rome statute or not), a suspected criminal leader can still be indicted by the court, right? To put it briefly, a veto is the only thing that can prevent the UN Security Council from referring any criminal case to the International Criminal Court. It would have therefore been more productive for the guilty conscious leaders that they cozy up to at least one of the five veto-wielding members. So isn't the current attempt to simply run away from the court a rushed futile decision? Especially if it is to avoid indictment of African leaders? Correct me if I'm wrong, what a withdrawal from the Rome Statute would mean in practical terms is that the countries who opt out will simply no longer be able to directly refer their war criminals, rebels, and war lords to The Hague. But why would anyone want that? Here is the sad truth when we take a critical look at who actually benefits when a country opts out from the Rome Statute. It clearly isn't the lay African victims. How? Unknownst to most, the only one who benefits from the ICC withdrawal is the criminal. By Hussein Lumumba Amin 25/10/2016
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