ICC and Afrocentrism: The Laws, Politics and Biases in Global Criminal Justice

Abstract

The International Criminal Court (ICC) was established to prosecute the most serious crimes of concern to the international community as a whole. However, since its inception, the Court has been wholly focused on Africa in terms of indictments and trials. This has led many Africans, including state leaders, to question the integrity of the Court. While most explanations of the ICC’s focus on Africa have bordered on the political, this work attempts to find out the reason for the Court’s slant towards Africa in the very Statute by which it was established. Therefore, this paper finds that of the four broad crimes that the ICC has jurisdiction to try, three (crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide) are more likely to occur in Africa, while the fourth (the crime of aggression), will more likely be perpetrated by or at the instigation of individuals in powerful States.

Keywords

• international criminal court
• africa
• bias
• withdrawal
• continued relevance