MATTERS ARISING FROM THE INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT JURISDICTION: THE AFRICAN PERSPECTIVE

Abstract

The International Criminal Court (ICC) established by Article 1 of the Rome Statute of 1998 is vested with powers to exercise its jurisdiction over persons for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, aggression. Its jurisdiction is however limited to crimes committed after the statute came into force and with respect to states which have become parties to the Statute. This research looks into the structure, jurisdiction of the ICC, the purpose of its establishment and impact on international criminal justice. Since its establishment in 2002, the ICC has investigated eight situations involving alleged violations of international criminal law and each of these investigations is related to situations in Africa. This raises an issue of if the ICC has an African prosecution bias. While there are a number of arguments in response to the critics of the ICC’s African bias which were examined in this research, it is noted that this is not an issue to be casually waived as it could nullify the purpose and impact of the ICC. It was recommended that one of the ways to prove the neutrality of the ICC with respect to international criminal justice and encourage participation of more countries in the achievement of its objectives should be to ensure that members of the Security Council become an active part and subject to the jurisdiction of the ICC.