Chatham House has released a report on 'Africa and the International Criminal Court', written by Max du Plessis, Tiyanjana Maluwa and Annie O’Reilly. The Report, available here, tackles the deteriorating relationship between African states and the International Criminal Court head-on, addressing key questions such as:
- whether the ICC is guilty of selective prosecution of cases originating in Africa;
- why the AU is so critical of the ICC and how its attitude has evolved over the years;
- how is the ICC constrained by the customary international law doctrine of head-of-state immunity;
- the extent to which the prosecution of Kenya’s president and deputy president pose a real challenge to the ICC’s authority;
- the problem of witness protection before the ICC;
- the principle of complementarity in the African context;
- the AU’s attempt to establish a regional court to try international crimes; and
- the road ahead and whether it is likely that the AU will ever permit the ICC to open a liaison office in Addis Ababa.
This is no simple task, however few academics are better-placed to undertake it.