International Criminal Court and Human Rights in Africa; Untangling the Impasse of African States

Abstract

Africa has been thrown into a quagmire amidst global efforts towards operating an international criminal court with criminal jurisdiction over international war crimes such as genocide, human trafficking and crimes against humanity. The International Criminal Court considered as an inevitable reality due to endemic conflict has recently come under serious criticisms as it is perceived as being biased against African countries and their leaders. The focus of this paper was to explore the contending arguments on the politics of prosecutions in the International Criminal Court with specific emphasis on arguments advanced by African countries. This paper utilized selected ICC cases for empirical verification. Adopting the Consenters Theory of International Law, we contended that the non-involvement of African states in the formation and development of international law as well as its application especially concerning cases in Africa, poses a serious concern to its genuine intention of accommodating the interest of African states. We thus, suggest collective action among African states (including those who are yet to be directly affected) in rendering total support towards having a continental legal framework that could genuinely look into cases of human rights violation, crimes against humanity and other issues pertaining to relations among African states.