African civil society urges African States Parties to the Rome Statute to reaffirm their commitment to the ICC

A statement by African civil society organizations urging African States Parties to the Rome Statute to maintain their commitment to the International Criminal Court (ICC) and reject an African Union (AU) decision to withhold cooperation in the arrest of Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir.

• On 3 July 2009, the African Union (AU) decided that its members should not cooperate with the International Criminal Court (ICC) regarding the arrest and surrender of Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, who had an arrest warrant issued on 4 March 2009 for alleged crimes against humanity and war crimes in Darfur.
• Civil society organizations argue that the AU's decision to withhold cooperation is a "backward step" that contradicts the AU's own constitutive act against impunity and the treaty obligations of 30 African governments that ratified the Rome Statute.
• The AU justified its decision based on the UN Security Council's failure to respond to a request to defer the ICC case against President al-Bashir; however, the signatories assert this is a matter for the Security Council and does not justify ignoring ICC obligations.
• The statement lists 30 African countries that are Parties to the ICC, including Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Republic of Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia.
• Following the AU summit, the governments of Uganda and Botswana issued statements reaffirming their commitment to cooperate with the ICC.

APA

Institute for Security Studies (2009). African civil society urges African States Parties to the Rome Statute to reaffirm their commitment to the ICC. https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/AFRICANCSOS30JULY.PDF

Chicago

Institute for Security Studies. African civil society urges African States Parties to the Rome Statute to reaffirm their commitment to the ICC. 2009. https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/AFRICANCSOS30JULY.PDF.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |author=Institute for Security Studies |title=African civil society urges African States Parties to the Rome Statute to reaffirm their commitment to the ICC |date=30 July 2009 |url=https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/AFRICANCSOS30JULY.PDF |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{instituteforsecuritystudies2009african, author = {{Institute for Security Studies}}, title = {{African civil society urges African States Parties to the Rome Statute to reaffirm their commitment to the ICC}}, publisher = {Institute for Security Studies}, year = {2009}, month = jul, url = {https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/AFRICANCSOS30JULY.PDF}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }