The International Criminal Court's building (ICC) in The Hague, Netherlands. PHOTO | FILE |
NATION MEDIA GROUP
By MICHAEL CHAWE, AFRICAREVIEW
In Summary
Zambia has opened public discussions on whether to leave the International Criminal Court (ICC).
"The Ministry of Justice has launched the consultative process
on Zambia's position on the country's membership to the ICC," state TV
reported.
The consultations, to be conducted in 30 districts, will start Monday, March 27, 2017, it said.
The influence for Zambia to leave ICC could be coming from
"outside" as the country had no formidable reason to campaign for its
departure, analysts say. They believe the process was being politically
driven.
African leaders have often accused the ICC of targeting them unfairly, hence pushing for a mass withdrawal.
The African Union backed the push for a collective withdrawal
but the decision, taken by African leaders during a closed door session
at an AU summit in Ethiopia, was not legally binding.
The debate on the ICC was hugely divisive on the question of whether this should be individual or collective withdrawal.
The continent has 34 signatories to the Rome Statute, the treaty which set up the court.
Burundi, South Africa and The Gambia applied to leave the court -
but the case for the latter two seems to have hit a brick wall.
In the Gambian, new President Adama Barrow said he would reverse the decision by his predecessor Yahya Jammeh.
A High Court in Pretoria recently revoked the South African government's decision to pull out of ICC.
The court ruled that government's notice of withdrawal was “unconstitutional and invalid.”
Last October, the Justice minister Michael Masutha announced
that the country had initiated the process to pull out from the
Hague-based court.
He said, at the time, that the South African government felt
the ICC undermined its sovereignty and had previously shown bias
against African nations.
The move followed a dispute over the government’s failure to
arrest Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir when he visited the country in
2015.
The Sudanese leader is wanted by the ICC for crimes against humanity allegedly committed in his country.
South Africa’s opposition Democratic Alliance party, one of the
case petitioners, argued that the government had failed to seek
parliamentary approval before issuing the notice of withdrawal.
Several countries, led by Nigeria and Senegal, supported the court and argued for African countries to remain as members.
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