Africa: Civil Society Petitions the 19th AU Summit

By George Okore

ADDIS ABABA---Ahead of the 19th African Union (AU) Head of State and Governments Summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia from July 9-16, 2012, African civil societies have urged the forum to adequately address issues of international criminal justice in the content.

Led by South Africa’s, the over 20 civil society organization has no kind words for efforts by the AU and African states to fight impunity, despite commitment to ending the same.   Beyond the AU forum, individual African states have independently reaffirmed their commitments to ending impunity. This includes requests by Uganda, Democratic Republic of Congo, Central African Republic, and Côte d’Ivoire to International Criminal Court to investigate crimes committed in their countries.

Notably, the civil society groups led by Jemima Njeri Kariri from International Crime in Africa Programme (ICAP), say a number of African states have incorporated genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity, and cooperation with ICC, into their domestic law.  For example, Mauritius adopted such legislation in 2012, and other countries—including Burkina Faso, the Central African Republic, Kenya, Senegal and South Africa—previously enacted such laws.

There is also a growing list of countries—including Botswana, Malawi, South Africa, Niger, and Burkina Faso—that have expressly stated that they will arrest individuals subject to arrest warrants for genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity by ICC if they enter their territory. While some have tried to assert that ICC is biased against Africans, African countries have voluntarily demonstrated their commitment to the ICC delivering justice for crimes committed on their territories.

In June 2012, Malawi took a courageous stand by refusing to host AU summit if ICC suspect Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir would attend the event.  “While the AU has called for states not to cooperate in arresting President al-Bashir, the request is contrary to fight against impunity and the fulfillment of international legal obligations of African states that are ICC states parties,” says George Kegoro, of International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) - Kenyan chapter chairman.

The civil society groups are Coalition for an Effective African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights, Darfur Consortium, East African Law Society, International Criminal Law Centre, Open University of Tanzania, Open Society Justice Initiative, Pan-African Lawyers Union, Southern Africa Litigation Centre and West African Bar Association. They remind AU of need to uphold cooperation obligations under ICC Statute. They note concerns raised by AU in respect of requests for deferrals of ICC’s investigation into crimes committed in Darfur and understand that responsibility for resolving this matter rests with both the United Nations Security Council as well as AU.

In addition, the Special Court for Sierra Leone—the hybrid criminal court established by agreement between United Nations and Sierra Leone—handed down a judgment in April 2012 against former Liberian President Charles Taylor for war crimes and crimes against humanity for his role in supporting rebels in Sierra Leone that committed heinous crimes.

The groups want AU to proceed with caution on expanding jurisdiction of African Court, noting that the draft protocol for the extension of African Court of Justice and Human Rights (African Court) to prosecute genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity was approved by African justice ministers and attorneys general in May 2012.  They call for a transparent and open process of consultation as the next steps are taken with regard to expansion of the Court.  

They also want Senegal to prosecute or extradite to prosecute exiled former Chadian president Hissene Habre for alleged atrocities during his eight-year rule. They say that Senegal has not moved forward with prosecution nor has it extradited him to Belgium, which stands ready to try him.

“We call upon the African Union to ensure that Senegal under the new leadership of President Macky Sall fulfills its pledge to prosecute Habre”, they said.