Anti-impunity vs. Sovereignty: Why the planned African mass exodus from the ICC failed to materialise

Abstract

The establishment of the International Criminal Court as a permanent court that can dispense justice in the interest of all peoples came after a century of devastating human loss and human terror. African States were enthusiastic about the creation of the Court and ensured that certain Human Rights provisions were included in the Court’s founding document, the Rome Statute. Behind this rosy image of all countries working towards a common goal, however, the seeds of discord between the Court and its Member States were inadvertently sown. In 2009, the International Criminal Court issued its first arrest warrant for former Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir. In the years that followed, resistance to the ICC grew within Africa and eventually resulted in calls for a mass withdrawal of African states from the Rome Statute. Bias and disregard for sovereign immunity of African heads of states became the tagline reasoning for why Africa should no longer be a part of the ICC. A regional alternative was sought and against this backdrop, three African States formally issued notices of withdrawal. In the end, the regional alternative was created but not ratified, and only one African country withdrew from the ICC. By the end of 2017, the momentum for a mass withdrawal had been lost and African states seemed once again willing to cooperate with the institution. This dissertation explored this unique phenomenon against the backdrop of only around 200 voluntary withdrawals from any international institutions to date. Much research exists into why states join international institutions. However, far less research is focused on why states voluntarily leave international institutions. Even less focuses on the motivations for blocs of countries to withdraw from an institution and therefore this study attempt to analyse the case study of the failed mass withdrawal of African states from the ICC after 2015. By using historical and documentary data, the identities and therefore preferences of African states were constructed, and their goals explained. Through this, the conclusion was reached that the mass withdrawal was not truly an effort to withdraw from the ICC, but rather an exercise in diplomacy that yielded cooperation and open channels between African Member States of the Rome Statute and the International Criminal Court.