African Union sending mixed signals on engagement with ICC

It’s not a secret that I support the International Criminal Court. I promoted the idea of an international criminal tribunal before the ICC was established in 2002. I supported the ICC before the Kenyan cases. The point is I’ve been consistent and principled on this matter. But I am afraid one can’t say the same thing about the African Union, the successor body to the much-maligned OAU. We know this — the AU was one of the early and enthusiastic supporters of the ICC. In fact, Africa’s 34 states constitute the largest regional single block of countries in the ICC. However, it’s impossible to nail down the norms and principles on which AU relies on in its relationship with the ICC.

AU’s support for the ICC ebbs and flows based on the indictees. It’s what one might call fair weather support. It’s true that all the cases before the ICC have been against Africans. African states themselves referred most of those cases to the ICC. A couple were started by the Prosecutor proprio motu, or on the Prosecutor’s own volition. Several were referred to the Court by the UN Security Council. Now the ICC has opened preliminary investigations into “situations” in Palestine, Ukraine, Colombia, Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, among others. Whether these investigations into states outside Africa will quiet the AU charges that the ICC is “race-hunting” remains to be seen. But I doubt it.