SA has reportedly indicated that it will withdraw from the International Criminal Court (ICC)‚ in a move that critics have said will not bode well for the rule of law.
On Friday an Instrument of Withdrawal emerged that was said to have been sent by International Relations and Co-operation Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane notifying the United Nations of the country’s intention to withdraw from the Rome Statute.
This would take effect "one year after the receipt of the notification".
In the letter‚ Mashabane wrote that SA "has found its obligations with respect to the peaceful resolution of conflicts at times are incompatible with the interpretation given by the ICC of obligations contained in the Rome Statute".
She noted that "in complex and multifaceted peace negotiations and sensitive post-conflict situations‚ peace and justice must be viewed as complementary and not mutually exclusive".
SA was "committed to fight impunity and to bring those who commit atrocities and international crimes to justice".
The country’s intention to withdraw from the statute first emerged as the government was defending its failure to take steps to detain Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir during his visit to SA in June 2015‚ when there was an ICC warrant for his arrest‚ and despite a High Court ruling that it do so.
Mashabane’s letter said that "SA, as a founding member of the African Union, promotes international human rights".
But earlier this year South African Human Rights Commission chairman Lawrence Mushwana wrote to Nkoana-Mashabane‚ saying that in the absence of an alternative to holding African perpetrators of human rights violations and international crimes accountable for their actions‚ an exit from the ICC would not bode well for the rule of law.
Mushwana‚ at the time‚ said Bashir has been charged by the ICC for crimes against humanity‚ war crimes and genocide‚ allegedly perpetrated against his own people.
The attempt to ensure greater accountability by the establishment of the African Court of Justice and Human Rights did not go far enough, Mushwana said.
While the 2014 Protocol on Amendments to the Protocol on the Statute of the African Court of Justice and Human Rights conferred criminal jurisdiction to the court‚ the protocol also granted immunity to heads of states and other senior officials.
"The effect of this immunity is that those guilty of the grossest violations of human rights and the perpetration of international crimes will not be held accountable for their actions‚ for as long as they remain in power‚" Mushwana wrote.
TMG Digital
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