Universalising international criminal law: the ICC, Africa and the problem of political perceptions

The aim of this paper is to discuss the universal reach and aspirations of the world’s first permanent International Criminal Court (ICC), why the ICC’s reach thus far has been focused exclusively on the African continent, and how this has affected African perceptions of international criminal justice.

The paper notices that it has become fashionable to criticise the ICC for its exclusive focus on African cases. However, if one considers that the true voice of Africa is its people and not its leaders, this may bring into question the legitimacy of an ‘African’ perception of the ICC.

Nevertheless, the document indicates that critics of the ICC’s focus on Africa are able to decry the ICC’s lack of universalism. By failing to universalise international criminal justice, the ICC would create a lose-lose situation, where non-African countries would suffer without the assistance of the court, and African victims of international crimes would suffer under leaders who have been able to escape justice.

Conclusions are that:

• an ICC’s narrow application of international criminal law gives rise to a perception problem, which threatens to undermine the credibility of the court
• for the ICC to do justice, a delicate geographical balancing act is required
• by doing so, the court will deny the powerful African elites the diversion that they use to cover up their crimes