{President Kagame has spoken out on the biased performance of the International Criminal Court (ICC) calling it an organization characterized by politics disguised as international Justice. }
President Kagame who was commenting on why Rwanda didn’t ratify ICC agreements made the observation yesterday in a press conference at the closure of the 14th National Dialogue’Umushyikirano’ held at Kigali Convention Center.
“Rwanda did not become signatory to ICC because this was not justice. It was politics disguised as international justice. When they commit crimes, and they have committed many against Africa, why doesn’t it apply to them? ,” he wondered.
“When Rwanda speaks about this, we are told, we should not be speaking about anything that paints some people in a dark light. On one hand there are lessons that we should be free and independent, and on the other if you say something that doesn’t portray some people in a good light, you pay for it. What is the contradiction? I am not anti-west or anti-east. I am against being anti-self, serving someone else interest against your own,”added Kagame.
ICC is an intergovernmental organization and international tribunal that sits in The Hague in the Netherlands.
It has the jurisdiction to prosecute individuals for the international crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes.
The ICC began functioning on 1 July 2002, the date that the Rome Statute entered into force.
The Rome Statute is a multilateral treaty which serves as the ICC’s foundational and governing document.
Currently, it has 124 member states which are party to the Rome Statute and members of the ICC.
The ICC is intended to complement existing national judicial systems and it may therefore only exercise its jurisdiction when certain conditions are met, such as when national courts are unwilling or unable to prosecute criminals or when the United Nations Security Council or individual states refer investigations to the Court.
This organization has been blamed for several times by African countries accusing it of targeting African leaders ignoring offenses from Western powers.
The Office of the Prosecutor has opened ten official investigations and is also conducting an additional nine preliminary examinations.
So far, 39 individuals (all Africans) have been indicted in the ICC, including Ugandan rebel leader Joseph Kony, Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir, Kenyan president Uhuru Kenyatta, Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, and Ivorian president Laurent Gbagbo.
Targeting African continent has angered some African countries that ratified Rome Statute and pushed them to give a formal notice of withdrawing from ICC.
These include Burundi, South Africa, and Gambia among others.
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