Int´l Criminal Court urged to end selective justice

Dr Dominic Ayine, Deputy Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, as challenged the International Criminal Court (ICC), to end the selective prosecution of African leaders.

He said the act of targeting Africans in the attempt to seek justice, contradicts the standard permitted under any constitutional justice system which calls for fairness in the prosecution of offenders.

He said although the extent of crimes that were committed by Africans cannot be measured against the ones committed in other parts of the world, the perception of unfairness by Africans have worsened the feeling of disaffection against the Court.

Mr Ayine said this at the opening of a two-day Law Conference on international criminal justice in Accra.

The conference seeks to explore ways to promote better dialogue and engagement between critics and supporters of the Court and its work, and would reflect on the growing importance and need to address the core barriers in the way of its development.

It would also create a platform for discussion on issues involving legitimacy, impunity, selectivity, fairness and accountability of the ICC, and confront perceptions, clarify issues that promote suspicions, as well as skepticism on the ICC and its work.

Mr Ayine said the perception of prejudices against Africa in the selection of cases to investigate and prosecute has arisen substantially as a result of the non-pursuit of cases elsewhere in the world, which by all standards of criminal justice should to have been investigated and prosecuted.

“There are equally good cases of injustices and mass murder perpetrated in other parts of the world, but the ICC has failed to pursue them”, he said.

He advised Mrs Fatou Bensouda, the Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, who was also the special guest speaker at the conference, to address the perception about the ICC, and to ensure fairness in the discharge of her prosecutorial duties.

Dr Christina Amoako-Nuamah, Chairperson of the GIMPA Council, urged the ICC to build confidence in its systems by not only looking at Africa in its selective quest, but be also open up to critics and show itself as a listening institution in order to build bridges.

Mr Kofi Abotsi, Dean of the Faculty of Law of the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA), said conference was being hosted in partnership with the Ministry of Justice and Attorney General’s Department, the Embassy Kingdom of the Royal Netherlands, and the Leitner Centre for International Law and Justice, Fordham University school of Law.

The annual conference presents an opportunity to gather a community of scholars and academics, experts, and practitioners to critically review trends, emerging developments and challenges confronting the law in specific fields, and also network in their thinking, works and strategies as they plot to overcome existing challenges and nascent obstacles to justice.

Mr Abotsi said it was expected that Africa would rises above criticisms and support the ICC, and called on all players to come together to ensure an accountable international judicial system for fair justice.

Justice Sophia Akuffo, a Justice of the Supreme Court of Ghana, who chaired the opening session of the conference, called for public education about the jurisdiction of the ICC to prevent the situation where citizens often threaten to refer domestic cases to it.