Date: Wed, 9 Jul 2014 04:35:20 -0700
Monica Mark <http://www.theguardian.com/profile/monica-mark> in Lagos
Thursday 3 July 2014 08.18 EDT
For years, African governments have accused the international criminal
court of unfairly targeting leaders from the continent. Their proposed
alternative – the African court of justice and human rights – was intended
to give the continent a home-grown solution. But on Monday, in a move that
one rights campaigner called an own goal, leaders stripped the court –
which has yet to begin work – of power to prosecute them for genocide, war
crimes or crimes against humanity.
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At an African Union <http://www.theguardian.com/world/africanunion> summit
last week in Equatorial Guinea – often spotlighted for its own rights
abuses – heads of state and officials voted to grant sitting leaders and
senior officials immunity from prosecution. The immunity would be valid
only while officials are in power, but critics warned it could further
encourage attempts to seize office for life. Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe is
the world's longest-ruling leader, and African heads of state make up
roughly half of the globe's top 10.
The decision rolls back half a century of developments in international
human rights and criminal justice law, said Kenyan activist Njonjo Mue.
Other courts of last resort, such as the international criminal court
(ICC), can prosecute sitting or past leaders who typically have immunity in
their national courts.
"It's a joke," said Mue, programme director at the Nairobi-based Kenyans
for Peace With Truth and Justice <http://kptj.africog.org/>. "The [African]
court has been cited as an African solution to African problems, but by
granting themselves immunity they put themselves out of reach of the
institution. Ninety per cent of the crimes [the court investigates] will be
by senior officials in power … It's an own goal because it means victims
have no choice but to turn to the ICC for justic
http://cyberadal.wordpress.com/2014/07/09/cap-african-leaders-vote-themselves-immunity-from-new-human-rights-court-global-development-the-guardian/
Ibrahim I. Suliman
(image/jpeg attachment: Former-Ivory-Coast-Presid-012.jpg)