عنوان

Assessing the African Union Concerns about Article 16 of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court

Number

LA108104

.Language of Text, Soundtrack etc

انگلیسی

Title Proper

Assessing the African Union Concerns about Article 16 of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court

General Material Designation

[Article]

First Statement of Responsibility

Max du Plessis, Charles C. Jalloh, Dapo Akande, et al.

Place of Publication, Distribution, etc.

Leiden

Name of Publisher, Distributor, etc.

Brill | Nijhoff

Text of Note

This article assesses the African Union's (AU) concerns about Article 16 of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC). It seeks to articulate a clearer picture of the law and politics of deferrals within the context of the AU's repeated calls to the United Nations Security Council (UNSC, or the Council) to invoke Article 16 to suspend the processes initiated by the ICC against President Omar Al Bashir of Sudan. The Council's failure to accede to the AU request led African States to formally withhold cooperation from the ICC in respect to the arrest and surrender of the Sudanese leader. Given the AU's continued concerns, and the current impasse, fundamental questions have arisen about the Council's authority to exercise, or not exercise, its deferral power. This culminated into a November 2009 African proposal for an amendment to the Rome Statute to empower the UN General Assembly to act should the UNSC fail to act on a deferral request after six months. Although ICC States Parties have so far shown limited public support for the AU's proposed amendment to the deferral provision, this article examines its merits because a failure to engage the "Article 16 problem" could impact international accountability efforts in the Sudan, and further damage the ICC's credibility in Africa. This unresolved issue also has wider significance given that the matters underlying the tension ‐ how ICC prosecutions may be reconciled with peacemaking initiatives and the role and power of the Council in ICC business ‐ will likely arise in future situations from around the world. This article assesses the African Union's (AU) concerns about Article 16 of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC). It seeks to articulate a clearer picture of the law and politics of deferrals within the context of the AU's repeated calls to the United Nations Security Council (UNSC, or the Council) to invoke Article 16 to suspend the processes initiated by the ICC against President Omar Al Bashir of Sudan. The Council's failure to accede to the AU request led African States to formally withhold cooperation from the ICC in respect to the arrest and surrender of the Sudanese leader. Given the AU's continued concerns, and the current impasse, fundamental questions have arisen about the Council's authority to exercise, or not exercise, its deferral power. This culminated into a November 2009 African proposal for an amendment to the Rome Statute to empower the UN General Assembly to act should the UNSC fail to act on a deferral request after six months. Although ICC States Parties have so far shown limited public support for the AU's proposed amendment to the deferral provision, this article examines its merits because a failure to engage the "Article 16 problem" could impact international accountability efforts in the Sudan, and further damage the ICC's credibility in Africa. This unresolved issue also has wider significance given that the matters underlying the tension ‐ how ICC prosecutions may be reconciled with peacemaking initiatives and the role and power of the Council in ICC business ‐ will likely arise in future situations from around the world.

Date of Publication

2011

Physical description

5-50

Title

African Journal of Legal Studies

Volume Number

4/1

International Standard Serial Number

1708-7384

Subject Term

African Union (AU)

Subject Term

Article 16 Rome Statute

Subject Term

Article 53 Rome Statute

Subject Term

AU concerns about ICC

Subject Term

AU proposal to amend Art. 16

Subject Term

International Criminal Court (ICC)

Subject Term

peace versus justice in Sudan

Subject Term

President Omar Al Bashir

Subject Term

Security Council power to defer ICC situations and investigations

Charles C. Jalloh

Dapo Akande

Max du Plessis

Call Number

10.1163/170873811X563947

Electronic name

p

[Article]

275578

a

Y