S. Africa to quit troubled ICC
Pretoria says membership restricts diplomacy
South Africa said Friday it is quitting the International Criminal Court (ICC) because membership conflict with diplomatic immunity laws, dealing a new blow to the struggling court and angering the political opposition.
Pretoria last year announced its intention to leave after the ICC criticized it for ignoring a court order to arrest Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, who is accused of genocide and war crimes, when he visited. Bashir denies the accusations.
The ICC was not immediately available for comment, but the announcement puts new pressure on the world’s first permanent war crimes court, which has had to fight off allegations of pursuing a neocolonial agenda in Africa, where all but one of its 10 investigations have been based.
Burundi has already said it plans to leave and Kenya’s parliament is considering following suit.
South African Justice Minister Michael Masutha told reporters in Pretoria that the government would draft a bill to repeal South Africa’s adoption of the ICC’s Rome Statute in order to preserve its ability to conduct active diplomatic relations, and has given formal notice.
He said the statute conflicted with South Africa’s Diplomatic Immunities and Privileges Act, but that the government remained committed to the fight against impunity.
The UN confirmed on Friday receipt of South Africa’s withdrawal from the ICC, which will take effect one year from October 19, spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said.
The instrument of withdrawal document has been assessed by the UN as bona fide and is being processed, Dujarric said.
James Selfe, a senior executive at the main opposition Democratic Alliance, said in a statement that the party would file a court application on Friday to set aside the plans “on the grounds that it is unconstitutional, irrational and procedurally flawed.”
The ICC, which sits in The Hague and has 124 member states, is the first legal body with permanent international jurisdiction to prosecute genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.
But it has secured only five substantive verdicts in its 14-year history, all of them on African suspects, and several African countries have expressed concern that the continent is being picked on.
A high-profile attempt to try Kenya’s sitting president, Uhuru Kenyatta, and his deputy, William Ruto, over an outbreak of postelection violence failed amid diplomatic lobbying and allegations of witness intimidation.