Malawi hesitates to withdraw from International Criminal Court – Solicitor General
Malawi government is opposing the departure of African countries from the International Criminal Court (ICC), saying it will not join the mass withdrawal of African countries who are pulling out from the world body designed to prosecute those who commit the gravest atrocities.
The Hague-based ICC, launched at the turn of the century as an ambitious effort to bring international justice to states around the world, has been buffeted by a series of blows, including rising criticism from African countries that say the ICC is biased against them.
The African Union annual heads of state of summit in Addis Ababa on Tuesday which was attended by Malawian President Peter Mutharika resolved that there should be a co-ordinated withdrawal unless the ICC was reformed.
It included a call for “regionalisation” of international law, a reference to proposals for an African war crimes court.
Sources says AU has a divisive debate with Nigeria, Senegal, Ivory Coast, Mali, Burkina Faso, Tanzania, Tunisia, Cape Verde, Botswana and Chad want to remain members of the court as they are opposing a withdrawal.
And Malawi’s Solicitor General Janet Chikaya Banda has said the position of the country has not changed as it wants to remain member of ICC.
Banda, who is also Principal Secretarty in the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs, referred to the statement that her ministry issues that Malawi agitate to press for a reform in ICC.
“We believe for this to be achieved, there is need fro many African countries to remain parties to Rome Statue. It should be appreciated that it’s about numbers, and the fewer the ICC African member states, the more difficult it will be to change things,” reads the statement from the Ministry of Justice.
It continued: “We strongly feel that the inherent challenges in the ICC should be dealt with from within the ICC and not out of it.”
Malawi says it respects sovereign decisions by those countries that opted to pull out from ICC “although it would have loved if they had remained within the organisation.”
The ICC and global justice:
- Came into force in 2002
- The Rome Statute that set it up has been ratified by 123 countries, but the US is a notable absence
- It aims to prosecute and bring to justice those responsible for the worst crimes – genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes
- In the court’s 14-year history it has only brought charges against Africans.
Atolankhani aku Malawi ndiye amandiseketsa bwanji. Amangodziwa reporting osati analysis! Osamufunsa Solicitor General kuti tapindulanji or tipindula chani pokhala membala wa bungwe la ICC? Timalipira membership fee yochuluka bwanji pachaka?
Ngati USA mulibemo mu ICC ka Malawi nkachani kukakamila zinthu zopanda phindu? Every year mukumapeleka ndalama ya umembala nkumadabwa kuti umphawiwu bwanji?
It is all about getting funding from colonialists. The ICC is a colonial tool that does not even look at past atrocities committed by the so called former colonialists.
tiyeni nazoni,,,,why killing your own people.
In my comment there are the following words are badly typed:
“Prospection” instead of prosecution, “i ” instead ‘a’
The helps… Instead of the helpless, teeths instead of teeth, vas instead of has.
Colonised mentalities are always difficult to be liberated! Many African countries who have tested the bitter side of having puppet rulers (i mean leaders imposed by the West) have no choice but to withdraw from the ICC. That is from i critical point of view.. ICC targets the powerless and the helps….. Why is it that the whole 14 year history of ICC is only about prospection of African figures? Is it not clear that it vas no teeths for the Almighty countries? Our stand as Malawians is not so surprising because we are doing the same at home! I… Read more »
For once, Malawi is thinking sober.
The guilty are afraid, the countries that wants to pull out of ICC have leaders who are afraid of ICC because of their atrocities that they have committed while trying to get or cling to power.
After many many gaffes from malawi govt, apa mwalankhulako zanzeru zosamvera zitsiru ngati achina Mugabe, despots that have killed many people and want others to assist them in escaping justice