Table Of ContentOvo Catherine Imoedemhe
The
Complementarity
Regime of the
International
Criminal Court
National Implementation in Africa
The Complementarity Regime of the International
Criminal Court
Ovo Catherine Imoedemhe
The Complementarity
Regime of the International
Criminal Court
National Implementation in Africa
OvoCatherineImoedemhe
Leicester,UnitedKingdom
ISBN978-3-319-46779-5 ISBN978-3-319-46780-1 (eBook)
DOI10.1007/978-3-319-46780-1
LibraryofCongressControlNumber:2016960328
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I would like to dedicate this book to the
memories of my father David Obowhodo
Ojarikre who passed away on 20 July 2012
and my brother Emmanuel Ariomaghwa
Ojarikre whose untimely death in an auto
crash on 16 June 2016 robbed the world of a
humane,kindandcompassionatevibrantman
whowouldhavecontributedimmenselytothe
promotion of a world full of laughter,
kindnessandpeace.Thedemiseofmybrother
is a huge lesson to me and to all who knew
him of the futility and vanity of all the
struggles of life. Whilst I still have breath, all
that counts is ensuring togetherness, peace,
love and joy to every soul, and I am highly
motivated in the pursuit of friendship and
togetherness as epitomised in the
complementarity regime of the International
Criminal Court to stamp out atrocities and
ensure peace in our world.
Acknowledgements
Iappreciatethehelpanddivineguidanceofmyindwellingpartner,theHolySpirit.
I am thankful to the Lord God Almighty and my Saviour Jesus Christ who
preserved and sustained me and provided the resources that were necessary to
completethisbook.
ThisbookisanoffshootfrommyPhDthesis,andIamimmenselygratefultomy
supervisors,DrsTroyLaversandEkiOmorogbe,fortheirtirelessefforts,encour-
agementsandsupport.IamalsogratefultoDrsLovedayHodson,PaoloVargiuand
YassinBrungerandProfessorsKatjaZieglerandElizabethWicksoftheSchoolof
Law, University ofLeicester, for their huge support. The completion of this book
wouldnothavebeenpossiblewithoutthesupportofmyspiritualfatherRevDrEfe
ObukeandhisfamilyinLouisiana,UnitedStatesofAmerica.Thankyouforyour
immensesupportineveryway.
I would like to thank Dr Solomon Ukhuegbe, Professors Atsegbua, Chianu,
Inegbedion, Omoruyi, Idubor, Odiase-Alegimenlen, Aniekwu, Kalu and
AigbokhaevboalloftheFacultyofLaw,UniversityofBenin,BeninCity,Nigeria,
for their mentorship and guidance in completing this book. I also appreciate the
mentorship of Professor Chris Ohurogu whose insights into ICL and IHL were a
great impetusforme topursuethisambition;thanksalso toDr Ngozi Stewartfor
beingavitalpartoftheprocess.
I would also like to thank my mother Agnes Ojarikre and my siblings, Aaron,
Benedict, Ese, Obruche, TG and Gift, for their prayersand encouragements. I am
indebtedtomyfamily,especiallytomyhusbandWalter,whowasnevertoobusyto
readanddiscusspertinentissuesrelatingtothisbook,therebycoaxingtheworkto
completion; thank you ‘my love and my lord’ for your unflinching support. Big
hugs to my princess Oyarelemi, who took charge of the home when I became
extremelybusyandimmersedinwriting,becoming‘mom’toeveryone,including
me, whilst also excelling in her academics. I am so proud of you Lemmy! Thank
you. Special hugs and thanks to my ‘Anointed Generals’ Oghenakogie and
Aghunopua,towhomIoweeverything.
vii
Contents
1 TheInternationalCriminalCourtastheNewParadigm
toCloseImpunityGaps. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.1 TheDifferentPhases:FromNuremberg/TokyoIMTs,Yugoslavia
andRwandaAdHocTribunalstotheComplementarity
oftheICC. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.1.1 Nullumcrimensinelege,nullapoenasinelege. . . . . . . 5
1.1.2 IndividualCriminalResponsibility. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
1.1.3 TheEstablishmentoftheICTYandtheICTR. . . . . . . 7
1.2 TheRomeStatuteoftheInternationalCriminalCourt. . . . . . . 10
1.3 TheJourneySoFar:TheICCandAfricanStates. . . . . . . . . . . 12
1.4 Conclusion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
2 TheComplementarityRegimeoftheRomeStatute:AnAnalysis
ofItsComponents. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
2.1 ThePrincipleofComplementarity. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
2.1.1 WhatIsComplementarity. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
2.1.2 ComplementarityintheRomeStatute. . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
2.2 EvaluatingtheTwinConceptsofJurisdiction
andAdmissibility. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
2.2.1 AdmissibilityandTriggerMechanismsforICC
Investigation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
2.2.2 ClarifyingtheElementsofComplementarity. . . . . . . . 30
2.2.3 EvaluatingComplementarityUnderArticles18,19
and20. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
2.3 EmergingModelsofComplementarity. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
2.3.1 PassiveComplementarity. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
2.3.2 PositiveComplementarity. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
2.3.3 ProactiveComplementarity. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
2.4 Conclusion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
ix
x Contents
3 NationalImplementationoftheRomeStatuteoftheInternational
CriminalCourt:ObligationsandChallengesforStatesParties. . . 55
3.1 TheRationaleforImplementingLegislation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
3.2 CooperationLegislation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
3.3 ComplementarityLegislation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
3.3.1 TheMinimalistApproach. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
3.3.2 TheExpressCriminalisationApproach. . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
3.4 States’ImplementingLegislation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
3.4.1 ProceduresforSouthAfrica’sImplementing
Legislation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
3.4.2 SouthAfrica’sComplementarityLegislation. . . . . . . . 79
3.4.3 SouthAfrica’sCooperationLegislation. . . . . . . . . . . . 81
3.5 Conclusion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
4 DomesticProsecutionsinAfricaUndertheComplementarity
RegimeoftheRomeStatute:APracticalApproach. . . . . . . . . . . 89
4.1 DomesticProsecutionsofInternationalCrimesinSelected
AfricanStates. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
4.1.1 DomesticProsecutionintheDemocraticRepublic
ofCongo(DRC). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
4.1.2 DomesticProsecutioninKenya. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
4.1.3 DomesticProsecutioninSudan. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
4.1.4 DomesticProsecutioninUganda. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
4.2 Complementarity-BasedProsecutionintheUnitedKingdom. . . 107
4.3 TheDifferencesBetweenDomesticProsecutionand
Complementarity-BasedProsecution. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
4.3.1 TheDifferencesBetweenInternationalandDomestic
Crimes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
4.3.2 TheTransferofCasesfromtheICTRtoRwandan
NationalCourts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
4.4 Conclusion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
5 UnpackingtheTensionBetweentheAfricanUnionandtheICC:
TheWayForward. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
5.1 ThePoliticsBehindInternationalCriminalLaw. . . . . . . . . . . 126
5.1.1 Selectivity. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
5.1.2 IsAfricaMerelyaLaboratoryoraScapegoat?. . . . . . . 131
5.2 AfricaandtheICC. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
5.2.1 Africa’sModernPerspectiveonPeaceandStability. . . 134
5.2.2 TheCaseagainstPresidentOmarHassanAhmad
Al-BashirofSudan. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
Contents xi
5.3 UnpackingtheTensionBetweentheICCandtheAU. . . . . . . 140
5.3.1 LegalChallenges. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
5.3.2 PoliticalChallenges. . . .. . . . .. . . .. . . . .. . . .. . . . . 147
5.4 TheICC:UnfairlyTargetingAfrica?. . .. . . .. . . .. . . .. . . . . 150
5.5 Conclusion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
6 InstitutionalPreparednessfortheComplementarityRegime:
NigeriaasaCaseStudy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
6.1 TheNigerianCriminalJusticeSystem. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
6.1.1 TheCriminalCode,thePoliceandCriminal
InvestigationinNigeria. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
6.1.2 TheRoleoftheNigerianPrisonServiceintheCriminal
JusticeSystem. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
6.2 TheNigerianJudiciaryandComplementarity. . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
6.2.1 AppointmentofJudgesintheNigerianJudiciary:
TheNeedforFocusedExpertiseintheField
ofInternationalCriminalLaw. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
6.2.2 ProfessionalLegalSkillsandPersonalQualities
RequiredinJudicialFunction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
6.2.3 AppointmentsofJudgesinNigeria:TowardsaMore
RepresentativeJudiciary?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170
6.3 TacklingCorruption:ANecessaryStrategyforImplementing
ComplementarityinNigeria. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
6.3.1 CorruptioninNigeria. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176
6.3.2 CorruptionintheNigerianJudiciary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178
6.3.3 IntimidationandManipulationofJudges. . . . . . . . . . . 180
6.4 Conclusion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
7 MutualInclusivity:ASinequanontoNationalImplementation
ofComplementarity. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
7.1 Conclusions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
7.1.1 TheRelevanceofaMutuallyInclusiveInterpretation
ofComplementarity. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
7.1.2 Complementarity-BasedProsecutionattheDomestic
Level:TheNewFrontlineofInternationalCriminal
Justice. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
7.1.3 InstitutionalPreparednessofStatestoProsecute
InternationalCrimes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204
7.1.4 Corruption,Unemployment,PovertyandBad
Leadership. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206
xii Contents
7.2 Recommendations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208
7.2.1 ThePolicy-OrientedPerspectiveand
Complementarity. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208
7.2.2 MinimumComplementarityThreshold:National
ImplementationStrategies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215
Cases,LegalDocumentsandOtherSources. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217
InternationalInstrumentsandCommentaries. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217
States’Laws. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219
Cases. . . .. . . . . .. . . . . .. . . . . .. . . . . .. . . . . .. . . . . .. . . . . .. 222
AU/UNDocuments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228
