ICC not biased against Africa, says judge

By David Ochami

International Criminal Court Judge Justice Joyce Aluoch has said the court does not target African despots and rebels.

She said, "No African country in the UN Security Council" had objected to references made to the ICC.

She also praised Kenya for domesticating the Rome Statute to the International Crimes and Witness Protection Acts.

She added that the 30 African countries, which ratified the ICC statute, are obliged to co-operate with the court.

She gave a keynote address at the beginning of Global Parliamentarians for Action committed to the domestication of the ICC statute.

Justice Aluoch also said application of international justice under the ICC statute does not undermine sovereignty of nations or their legal systems.

In the wake of ICC’s recent indictment of Sudanese President Omar al Bashir and the trial of Central African rebel leaders, critics allege the ICC biased against Africa and Asia.

The Sudanese leaders was indicted over alleged war crimes.

But Justice Aluoch, who was appointed to the court early this year, suggested that the remedy to avoid ICC scrutiny lies with African nations domesticating and implementing international law to fight human rights violations.

Gross violations

She said ICC intervenes when nations are unwilling or unable to prosecute gross violations on their own.

Justice Aluoch argued that as a permanent, not ad hoc court, the ICC cannot be guilty of political bias in executing its mandate or the course running its affairs.

The judge then said African ambassadors supported investigation referred to the ICC by the UN over Darfur.

"A case in point is the situation in Darfur. The Security Council members voted for referral of the matter to the ICC. Noteworthy is the fact that no African country in the Security Council voted against it," she said.

Former warlords

She also disclosed that the Security Council referred the arrest of former warlords in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda to the ICC.

The international court is designed to complement existing national judicial systems.

It can exercise its jurisdiction only when national courts are unwilling or unable to investigate or prosecute crimes.

The court came into being on 1 July 2002 when the Rome Statute came into force.