A group of 130 Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) including the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA), from 34 African countries have issued a joint statement calling on African members of the International Criminal Court (ICC) to affirm their support for the Court during the upcoming extraordinary summit of the African Union (AU). The meeting is scheduled for October 11 and 12, 2013, in Addis Ababa.

The SCOs said Heads of State should support the ICC as a crucial court of last resort, including for its current cases on crimes committed during Kenya’s post-election violence in 2007-2008.

The group recognises that the relationship between the ICC and some African governments has faced renewed challenges mainly over the position that the court has been targeting Africa. This has led to questions among some African ICC members over whether or not, they should withdraw from the ICC’s treaty, known as the Rome Statute.

So far, Botswana has been a vocal proponent of the ICC in the face of recent attacks on the Court.  In September, Lesotho, in its statement to the UN General Assembly, also expressed strong support for the ICC.  In 2011, Mauritius also adopted a legislation to implement the ICC’s treaty domestically. Nigeria and Ghana have also indicated support for the Court.

President John Dramani Mahama told France24 after an AU summit meeting in May, that: “I think the ICC has done an amazing job in bringing some people who have committed genocide and mass murder to justice.”

African countries played an active role at the negotiations to establish the court, and 34 African countries – a majority of African Union members – are ICC members. African governments have sought out the ICC to try grave crimes committed on their territories, and Africans are among the highest-level ICC officials as well as serving as judges.

“Five African states asked the ICC to investigate crimes committed in their countries – Côte d’Ivoire , Uganda, Central African Republic, Mali, and Democratic Republic of Congo,” said Georges Kapiamba, president of the Congolese Association for Access to Justice. “These states have particular authority and responsibility to dispel claims that the ICC is targeting Africa.”

Any withdrawal from the ICC would send the wrong signal about Africa’s commitment to protect and promote human rights and to reject impunity, as reflected in article 4 of the AU’s Constitutive Act, the organizations said. The work and functioning of the ICC should not be beyond scrutiny and improvement, but withdrawal would risk grave consequences of undermining justice in Africa.

African regional and continental Courts that are supposed to address human rights abuses and other crimes are often not respected and their decisions ignored. The MFWA for example,
has had two cases against The Gambia at the ECOWAS court. In both cases The Gambia was asked to compensate the two journalists whose rights have been violated. For close to three years now, The Gambia has flatly disregarded the court’s verdict and nothing is happening.”