The ICC’s docket points to a serious problem – but not the one that African leaders are complaining about.
This weekend, officials from 34 African nations are convening in Addis Ababa to discuss whether or not to withdraw from the International Criminal Court (ICC). The problem with the Hague-based court, according to African Union (AU) Chairperson Hailemariam Desalegn, is that it is “race-hunting” Africans.
It is true that the 32 people charged by the court to date are all from the African continent. But the problem this reflects is not racism by the ICC chief prosecutor. (Currently, the prosecutor is Fatou Bensouda of The Gambia who has faced her fair share of criticism from fellow Africans for the composition of the court’s caseload.) Rather, there is a more systemic driver behind the court’s docket: the debilitated state of the judiciary in so many African nations.
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