{"id":31899,"date":"2017-02-02T09:07:06","date_gmt":"2017-02-02T08:07:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/31899-au-s-icc-withdrawal-strategy-less-than-meets-the-eye.html"},"modified":"2017-02-02T09:07:06","modified_gmt":"2017-02-02T08:07:06","slug":"au-s-icc-withdrawal-strategy-less-than-meets-the-eye","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/en\/31899-au-s-icc-withdrawal-strategy-less-than-meets-the-eye.html","title":{"rendered":"AU's 'ICC Withdrawal Strategy' Less than Meets the Eye"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

The African Union made headlines Tuesday for purportedly agreeing<\/a> to mass withdrawal from the International Criminal Court. The reality is more complex.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The decision by AU member states welcomes the announced withdrawals by South Africa, Burundi, and Gambia, adopts the \u201cICC withdrawal strategy,\u201d and calls for member states to consider implementing its recommendations. This is based on text<\/a> we have seen that, while labeled a draft, reflects the final text, sources close to the negotiations said.<\/p>\n

But there was vocal opposition<\/a> by ministers<\/a> to withdrawal at last week\u2019s AU summit. The Nigerian foreign minister said<\/a> that the ICC has \u201can important role to play in holding leaders accountable,\u201d and that \u201cNigeria is not the only voice agitating against [withdrawal], in fact Senegal is very strongly speaking against it, Cape Verde, and other countries are also against it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nigeria, Senegal, and Cape Verde ultimately entered formal reservations to the decision adopted by heads of state. Liberia entered a reservation to the paragraph that adopts the strategy, and Malawi, Tanzania, Tunisia, and Zambia requested more time to study it.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the \u201cstrategy\u201d does not actually call for mass withdrawal, based on the text<\/a> that Human Rights Watch reviewed. The document instead states: \u201cFurther research on the idea of collective withdrawal, a concept that has not yet been recognized by international law, is required.\u201d<\/p>\n

Instead the document revisits AU concerns with the court\u2014including its relationship with the United Nations Security Council and a bid to amend the court\u2019s statute to exempt sitting leaders implicated in widespread atrocities. The document offers information about how states may withdraw from the statute, and notes that lack of adoption \u00a0of AU proposals to amend the statute could be conditions for withdrawal, but says only that a \u201ctimeline for reform should be clearly agreed upon.\u201d<\/p>\n

Outside of AU meetings, Nigeria, Senegal, Burkina Faso, C\u00f4te d\u2019Ivoire, Mali, Malawi, Zambia, Tanzania, Ghana, Democratic Republic of Congo, Lesotho, Sierra Leone, and Botswana have clearly spoken out in their capitals<\/a>, New York, and The Hague<\/a> to expressly reaffirm their commitment to the ICC. The new Gambian president, Adama Barrow,also expressed his intention<\/a> for Gambia to retract its withdrawal.<\/p>\n

This support\u2014and opposition to withdrawal plans\u2014should be strengthened<\/a>. The ICC is the only court of last resort to deliver justice for victims of mass atrocities when national courts are unable or unwilling. As advocates for victims have said, its reach should be expanded<\/a>, not curtailed.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This article was first published by Human Rights Watch<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The African Union made headlines Tuesday for purportedly agreeing to mass withdrawal from the International Criminal Court. The reality is more complex. The decision by AU member states welcomes the announced withdrawals by South Africa, Burundi, and Gambia, adopts the \u201cICC withdrawal strategy,\u201d and calls for member states to consider implementing its recommendations. This is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":64,"featured_media":66701,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[],"ji_location":[2075],"class_list":["post-31899","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opinion","ji_location-africa"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nAU's 'ICC Withdrawal Strategy' Less than Meets the Eye - JusticeInfo.net<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/en\/31899-au-s-icc-withdrawal-strategy-less-than-meets-the-eye.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"AU's 'ICC Withdrawal Strategy' Less than Meets the Eye\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The African Union made headlines Tuesday for purportedly agreeing to mass withdrawal from the International Criminal Court. 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