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Africa Must Focus On Justice For Victims Of International Crimes, Not Protection For Perpetrators – Acila

By Abdul Karim Abu
Elections Africa Must Focus On Justice For Victims Of International Crimes, Not Protection For Perpetrators – Acila
MAY 1, 2016 LISTEN

The Executive Director of the research and education think tank, Africa Center for International Law and Accountability (ACILA), William Nyarko, has called for the reframing of international criminal justice issues in Africa to focus on securing justice for victims of international crimes instead of protection for alleged perpetrators.

He said that the current debate on African States Parties relationship with the International Criminal Court (ICC) along with calls for withdrawal from the ICC demonstrate a focus on offering protection for alleged perpetrators of international crimes in Africa instead of justice for victims, adding that this must change.

Nyarko was responding to an ICC-related accountability question at the ongoing investigative journalism training workshop for practitioners in the West Africa Sub-Region, which is jointly organized by ACILA and Tiger Eye Media.

He explained that victims are often powerless against perpetrators who wield unbridled power and commit international crimes, namely genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity, against victims with impunity.

“Whenever an international crime is committed in Africa and a perpetrator is not prosecuted at home or by the ICC, it is victims and their families that suffer. Shielding perpetrators either through immunity provisions or because they are powerful state officials perpetuates impunity and this must stop”, he emphasized.

On the perceived targeting of African leaders by the ICC, he said that the ICC operates on complementarity, meaning that the ICC only considers an investigation and prosecution if a state party is unwilling or unable to prosecute an international crime, adding that the ICC will not step in if African states are able or are willing to prosecute their own citizens at home when they commit international crimes.

The British High Commissioner to Ghana, Jon Benjamin, who was the keynote speaker at the workshop, also added that leaders who commit international crimes have been or are being prosecuted around the world at international criminal tribunals, adding that African leaders or warlords are not the only ones facing criminal trials for alleged violations of international criminal law.

He explained that State Parties to the ICC Rome Statute whose citizens haven’t appeared before the ICC have robust criminal justice systems that they use to prosecute their citizens at home when they commit international crimes.

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