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    • Ghana: Establish a sovereign legal system to prevent ICC intervention in African countries
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    Ghana: Establish a sovereign legal system to prevent ICC intervention in African countries

    Pabio Posted on

    Ghana believes that the best form of support for the International Criminal Court (ICC) is for African countries to develop sovereign legal systems to prevent ICC intervention, Attorney General and Minister Godfred Yeboah Dame had said of Justice.

    He said that when democracy reigns and is practiced in its true form, citizens feel a sense of fulfillment of their citizenship rights – freedom of expression, security, respect for constitutional requirements for governments without attempted manipulation – of Concerns regarding the commission of genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and impunity in general would be non-existent.

    Mr Dame was speaking on Monday at the Annual Conference of States Parties to the International Criminal Court held in The Hague, Netherlands.

    The Attorney General who led a delegation including Ghana’s Ambassador to the Netherlands, Francis Danti Kotia, and Deputy Head of Mission Yaowi Senalor, told Member States that the practice of democracy in Africa enjoins the establishment of systems strong justice systems and the creation of facilities for the investigation and trial of cases of interest to the ICC.

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    According to the Attorney General, this is undoubtedly consistent with the stated objective of the ICC as it furthers the principle of complementarity enshrined in the Rome Statute.

    Mr. Dame commended the Court and States Parties for their collaborative efforts to deepen cooperation and complementarity towards justice for victims of atrocities.

    He said Ghana affirms the need for effective operationalization of the principle of complementarity towards the full realization of the objectives of the authors of the Rome Statute at the national level.

    Mr. Dame said the primacy of domestic jurisdiction over the prosecution of crimes requires states to have strong and effective legal and judicial systems to investigate and prosecute international crimes, as the ICC itself does not have the capacity to investigate and prosecute all international crimes committed in the territories. states.

    Furthermore, he stressed that the national laws of African countries must recognize war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide as specific offenses.

    “This can be achieved either by incorporating the Rome Statute into our laws, such that national courts assume jurisdiction over offenses created by the Rome Statute, or by adopting specific legislation affirming the creation of such offenses with duly prescribed penalties in accordance with international standards and a forum for punishing them within our respective national legal jurisdictions, duly stipulated,” Mr. Dame said.

    The Attorney General said Ghana welcomed the opening of preliminary investigations by the Court into several situations outside the African continent and the establishment of OTP offices abroad.

    “This development and its visible results could help dispel the perception that the Court is unduly focused on Africa, especially since the international crimes covered by the Statute know no geographical boundaries. genocide, crimes against humanity and crimes of aggression unequivocally committed everywhere,” added Mr. Dame.