Prosecuting International Crimes in Africa - PULP - University of ...

CHAPTER
12
Benson
1 Introduction
POSITIVE
COMPLEMENTARITY
AND THE FIGHT AGAINST
IMPUNITY IN AFRICA
* LL.B (Nigeria); LL.M (Pretoria); PhD Candidate, Teaching & Research Assistant,
(Cape Town); Solicitor and Advocate of the Supreme Court of Nigeria.
1 Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, UN Doc A/CONF 183/9 of 17 July
1998. For background on the establishment of the ICC, see generally R Lee (ed) The
International Criminal Court – The making of the Rome Statute: Issues - negotiations - results
(1999); C Bassiouni (ed) The Statute of the International Criminal Court: A documentary
history (1998); A Cassese (ed) The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court: A
commentary (2002); F Lattanzi and W Schabas (eds) Essays on the Rome Statute of the
International Criminal Court (1999).
2 Art 126 Rome Statute.
3
Seychelles became the 31 st African state to deposit its instrument of ratification with
the UN on 10 August 2010 and the Republic of Moldova became the 114th state party
to the Rome Statute of the ICC on 12 October 2010. See UN Treaty Collection http://
treaties.un.org/pages/ViewDetails.aspx?src=TREATY&mtdsg_no=XVIII-10&chapter
=18&lang=en (accessed 13 November 2010).
4 The Review Conference of the Rome Statute held in Kampala, Uganda from 31 May -
11 June 2010 adopted a definition of the crime of aggression. However, the ICC will
have jurisdiction over the crime subject to a decision to be taken after 1 January 2017 by
the same majority of states parties as is required for the adoption of an amendment to
the Statute. See Assembly of States Parties (ASP) resolution RC/Res 6 adopted at the
13th plenary meeting 11 June 2010, http://www.icc-cpi.int/iccdocs/asp_docs/
Resolutions/RC-Res.6-ENG.pdf (accessed 15 September 2010).
5
The Situations in Central African Republic (CAR), Democratic Republic of the Congo
(DRC), Sudan, Uganda and Kenya.
249
Olugbuo*
On 17 July 1998 the Rome Statute was adopted at the plenipotentiary
conference, sponsored by the United Nations (UN). 1 The treaty entered
into force on 1 July 2002, 2 resulting in the establishment of the
International Criminal Court (ICC). As of November 2010, 114 state
parties have ratified the Rome Statute, of which 31 are from the African
continent. 3 The ICC has jurisdiction over persons most responsible for
international crimes: genocide; war crimes; crimes against humanity and
the crime of aggression. 4 Currently, there are five situations before the ICC
and all of them are from Africa. 5 However, there are other situations under