ICC: African States Parties to the Rome Statute reaffirm their commitment to justice and their support to the ICC

• Press release in Italian

"African States parties to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) met in on 8-9 June 2009 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to discuss their position on the ICC and international criminal justice. The meeting had been called by Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, who holds the current Chairmanship of the African Union, in an attempt to get African States to withdraw their support from the ICC, following the ICC arrest warrant against the Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir for crimes against humanity and war crimes in Darfur. Instead, the Ministerial-Level meeting, from which Libya, Sudan and other non-States Parties were excluded, reaffirmed the commitment of African ICC Member States to the Rome Statute and to the fight against impunity.
 
 
Statement by Sergio Stanzani and Niccoló Figa-Talamanca, President and Secretary General of No Peace Without Justice:
 
"As the meeting draws to a close, No Peace Without Justice and the Nonviolent Radical Party, Transnational and Transparty welcome the strong and forthright support that African ICC States Parties have reaffirmed to the integrity of the Rome Statute, as a means to put an end to impunity for the most serious crimes of concern to the international community.

Sudan’s own history demonstrates that impunity for serious crimes only encourages the perpetrators to repeat such crimes. Africa is the largest regional group of a total 108 States Parties of the ICC Statute, African States have been the most active in referring cases to the Court.

NPWJ and NRPPT are gratified that African states parties to the Rome Statute refused to heed the call of the likes of President Al-Bashir and Colonel Gaddafi and rally behind perpetrators of systematic human rights violations, but chose clearly to stand on the side of their victims, and on the side of justice.

NPWJ and NRPPT call on all States to cooperate with the International Criminal Court in bringing perpetrators of the worst crimes under international law to justice".

For further information, contact Alison Smith on asmith@npwj.org or +32-486-986 235 or Nicola Giovannini on ngiovannini@npwj.org or +32-2-548-3913.
 
 
No Peace Without Justice is an international non-profit organisation that works for the protection and promotion of human rights, democracy, the rule of law and international justice. For further information, visit our website: www.npwj.org