Regional International Criminal Courts: An Idea Whose Time Has Come?

Authors

Firew Kebede Tiba, Deakin School of Law

Abstract

Regionalism in international relations is a fact of life. Regional judicial implementation of international norms is relatively common in the fields of international human rights, international investment, and trade laws. There are attempts to break ground in the realm of international criminal law by creating a regional international criminal court, such as the proposed addition of the criminal jurisdiction to the African Court of Justice and Human Rights. Although there was momentum in creating a universal permanent international criminal court, the enthusiasm for the tribunal's exercise of jurisdiction has not continued. The International Criminal Court ("ICC") will remain short of its promises in the foreseeable future, as long as the UN Security Council's ("UNSC") notable veto wielding states largely remain outside it, while prosecutions remain focused on weaker member states, due to the sheer size of global conflicts. Furthermore, the ICC, during its existence of a little over a decade, has only managed to secure two convictions at a price tag of $1 billion US dollars. State cooperation, in relation to some of the indictments regarding cases in notable situations in Sudan and Libya, has not been forthcoming. The refusal by South Africa in June 2015 to execute the arrest warrant issued against President Omar al Bashir of Sudan, while the latter was attending the African Union Heads of States Summit, and African National Congress's ("ANC") decision in October 2015 to withdraw from the Rome Statute are the latest blows to the ICC. The ad hoc international & internationalized courts had played their roles, but their roles are limited in time and space. Consensus for establishing UN backed ad hoc tribunals is proving very difficult, as shown in the failure to refer the Syrian situation to the ICC. In view of these, as well as the proposed establishment of a criminal division of the African Court of Justice and Human Rights, this paper queries whether the time for the establishment of regional courts has come, at least in Africa's regional context. It does so by examining the theoretical basis for regionalization of international criminal law enforcement, the possible mechanisms for doing so, and critically examining the viability of the proposed African Court with criminal jurisdiction.

Disciplines

Courts | Criminal Law | Criminal Procedure | Dispute Resolution and Arbitration | International Law | Law | Law and Society | Rule of Law

Recommended Citation

Firew K. Tiba, Regional International Criminal Courts: An Idea Whose Time Has Come?, 17 Cardozo J. Conflict Resol. 521 (2016).
Available at: https://larc.cardozo.yu.edu/cjcr/vol17/iss2/9