Analysing the Validity of African Concerns About the International Criminal Court: Implications for International Criminal Law

This paper seeks to analyse the validity of African concerns about the International Criminal Court (ICC), which are hampering the Court's operations and threatening its existence in Africa and beyond. Some African states have ostracised the ICC for practising selective justice/double standards (an exclusive focus on Africa), insensitivity to prioritising peace over justice in some situations in Africa, and the Permanent Five (P5)'s encroachment into non-state parties to the Rome Statute. African states have also vilified the ICC for disregarding the exemption from incarceration and surrender of persons endowed with immunities, creating interpretation and implementation problems between Articles 27 and 98 of the Rome Statute and Customary International Law on Diplomatic Immunities. The discord between Africa and the ICC has led some African states to ignore enforcing the Rome Statute by ignoring the arrest of indicted persons, such as former President Bashir of Sudan, and establishing reactionary courts to counter the ICC. Such a trend has also spilled beyond Africa, with Mongolia repudiating the arrest and surrender of Russian President Vladimir Putin. By adopting a qualitative research methodology, this paper will analyse the four significant ICC-Africa conflicting areas. Additionally, this paper will also illuminate why some African states are withdrawing, threatening to withdraw, or withdrawing and rejoining the Rome Treaty, and the potential implications of such actions for international criminal law.