Just like the churning of milk brings forth butter, the same could be said that the African Union (AU) debacle with the International Criminal Court (ICC) led to the creation of the African Criminal Court (ACC). Despite the initial support of the ICC by the AU and it state members during the creation process, the indictment of mostly senior serving African state officials by ICC when it came into force resulted in a devastating and tense relationship between the AU and the ICC. The creation of the ACC therefore was fast tacked by this unfriendly relationship between the AU and the ICC. This article argued that despite the tense relationship, harmonization of certain organs of the ACC and the ICC is necessary in the fight against impunity for the most serious crimes of international concern. In this regard, I examined the legality and legitimacy of the ACC and maintained that despite the immunity provision, it legality is consistent with international law, and accordingly, that the ACC is not the African panacea with respect to the fight against impunity for serious international crimes. Consequently, since the ACC and the ICC shared jurisdictions for the most serious crimes of international concern, harmonization of the ACC and the ICC through complementarity and cooperation will result in the formation of an undefeated tag team to fight against impunity for the most serious crimes affecting the international community.
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The prosecution of serving heads of state before international criminal courts is still very challenging even though most of these courts do not recognise immunities for international crimes. While the recognition of head of state immunity before national and foreign domestic courts for international crimes is supported by customary international law, the recognition of immunities before international criminal courts is determined by the statute creating the court.. Consequently, while the Rome Statute creating the International Criminal Court (the ICC) does not recognise any form of immunity, the Malabo Protocol creating the African Criminal Court (the ACC) recognised the immunity of senior serving state officials for international crimes. Currently, the ICC is investigating the situation in Ukraine which may lead to the possible arrest of President Putin of Russia and his senior officials for crimes against humanity and war crimes committed when Russia invaded Ukraine. The article argues that prosecuting a serving president like Putin by the ICC may be similar to the Al Bashir case because it will be difficult to arrest and surrender him to the Court and also the fact that Russia is not state party to the Rome Statute. Consequently, the waiving of immunity before an international court is not enough; cooperation by the home state of the offender and other states is needed in matters arrest and surrender to the prosecuting court.
Even though the African continent has recorded the lowest deaths tolls caused by COVID-19, it is one of the slowest continents recovering from the pandemic. The effects of COVID-19 have crippled many developing progresses made prior to the pandemic and the government of many countries in the continent have already utilised the limited financial resources on the on-going crisis. Many African countries are seeking for financial assistance from institutions like the International Monetary Fund (IMF) the African Development Bank (AfDB), the World Bank and many other sources for post COVID-19 development. In financing Africa’s post COVID-19 development, this article will examines domestic public and private and international resource mobilization for Africa’s post COVID-19 development. It argues that both the revenues system of most African countries has to be restructured to ensure effective and efficient tax collection while reallocating more budgets for development. With regard to international resource mobilization, the Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) of the IMF, Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) were analysed. Similarly, the Strategy for Economic Governance in Africa (SEGA) of the AfDB and Agenda 2063 of the African Union (AU) were also examined as models for sustainable post COVID-19 development in Africa. Finally, it argues that financing post COVID-19 development will requires contributions from domestic, international private and public sources but the domestic financial sources should provide most of the funds because borrowing will enslave the borrower to the lender.
The creation of the ICC was a turning point in the fights against impunity for serious international crimes affecting mankind. Accordingly, the ICC does not recognise any form of immunities before its jurisdiction. Consequently, individuals and senior state officials cannot rely on any form of immunities if accused of any of the crimes within the jurisdiction of the Court. In the Jordan case regarding Al Bashir’s immunity, the ICC’s Appeals Chamber held that by ratifying the Rome Statute, states parties have consented to waive the immunity of their officials regarding proceedings before the Court. As a result of this, there is no immunity between the Court and states parties and between states parties themselves, and Sudan was bound by the Statute of the Court based on the United Nations Resolution 1593. In the Ntaganda case, the Court held there is no impunity for serious international crimes before its jurisdiction. This article examines both cases and concludes that while in the Jordan case there is victory for serious international crimes and the fights against human rights violations over immunity before the ICC, there is also victory for serious international crimes over impunity before the Court as seen in the Ntaganda case.
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