African Union and the Evolution of International Criminal Justice in Africa: Challenges, Controversies and Opportunities.

Abstract

With the concretisation and expansion of international criminal justice, intergovernmental bodies other than the United Nations Security Council UNSC) are increasingly becoming important role players. In particular, the African Union, the premier intergovernmental continental body of African states, is assuming greater and important roles in the evolution and functioning of the broader international criminal justice system. This is best illustrated by recent debates around Universal Jurisdiction and the international criminal court (ICC) in which a number of African Union organs (Assembly of Heads of State and Government, Pan African Parliament and the Peace and Security Council) have weighed in in some respects decisively. Various examples show that the AU is making forays in the unfolding system of international criminal justice and deeply impacting the debate and evolution of related processes. This chapter assesses the role of the AU in ICJ in Africa by reviewing recent debates around universal jurisdiction (as they relate to the proposed prosecution Hissene Habre as well as the controversial process triggered by Rwanda on the alleged abuse of UJ by European courts) and various interventions by AU organs in relation to the ICC, including the contested indictment of President Omar Al Bashir of Sudan. Locating international criminal prosecutions within a broader context of responses to conflict and associated atrocities, it discusses the evolving roles of the various AU organs – political, deliberative and judicial. The chapter/contribution argues that AU has a direct role to play in respect of prosecutions at the international and national levels and indirectly in a number of other ways that has a bearing on international criminal justice. Noting that this involvement by regional and sub-regional bodies in international criminal justice is for the most part novel, it argues that this heralds a new and exciting era of engagement that should contribute to the fight against impunity and by extension to peace and security on the continent. However, the approach adopted and certain measures taken by regional body have potential of undermining or rolling back gains made so far in the fight against impunity and achieving security on the continent.