World court will continue work

THE International Criminal Court prosecutor’s investigations into alleged war crimes will not be affected by the plans of three African countries to withdraw from the court and she will keep going after the perpetrators of atrocities.

Fatou Bensouda said her office would press ahead with the preliminary investigation of political violence in Burundi and her work had the support of more than 120 other member states.

Gambia, South Africa and Burundi notified the United Nations last month and this month of their plans to withdraw from the ICC.

The withdrawals become effective one year after the notification is filed.

To date, all but one of the court’s 10 investigations have been in Africa and its five convicted suspects are from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Central African Republic and Mali.

The ICC rejects allegations of bias against African nations, arguing many of the cases were brought by African governments themselves and that it has 10 preliminary inquiries or investigations into alleged atrocities in Afghanistan, Colombia, Georgia, Iraq, the Palestinian Territories and Ukraine.

Bensouda, a Gambian former justice minister, said the court had begun its work in 2002 with overwhelming African support and African countries had requested the ICC’s intervention.

“Even if one country decides to withdraw from the ICC, this I believe, for the continent, speaking as an African, is a setback for the continent and this is also a regression for the continent,” she said.

Russia, which is not a member of the court but signed its founding Rome Statute, said this month it would remove its signature and the Philippines is considering withdrawing its membership.

Bensouda countered concerns of a mass departure of member states and said all other states had renewed their commitment to the court, which has a mandate to prosecute war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide. – Reuters