It is self-defeating for Africa (and South Africa) to withdraw from the international criminal court

Abstract

The central premise of this contribution is that calls from African Union (AU) members for Africa to withdraw from the International Criminal Court (ICC) are self-defeating and premature. We argue that these calls from a number of African political leaders contradict the continent's own values, its substantial contribution to the ICC and its own efforts at establishing peace and security. We further argue that the threatened withdrawal is untimely because the continent does not yet have its own institutional capacity to handle war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide and crimes of aggression. As a result, African nations will be better off 'for now' to call for the reform of the ICC rather than demand withdrawal from the Court.