The Malawi government has been treading carefully on calls from Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe to withdraw as a member of the International Criminal Court (ICC) a head of the 25th African Union Summit scheduled to take place in South Africa from June 7-15, 2015.
This comes amid threats President Mugabe made in January this year to push for African ICC members including Malawi to withdraw from ICC at the forthcoming summit saying there was a need to form an African version of ICC.
During the 25th African Union Assembly in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia where President Mugabe ascended to the seat of Chairperson he appealed for all African countries to cease being part of ICC citing the court’s custom of prosecuting Africans only instead of ensuring universal justice.
But Malawi’s Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs Samuel Tembenu as well as Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Spokesperson Quent Kalichero said Malawi still remain with ICC despites calls from Mugabe to withdraw its membership.
On May 25, 2015 a group of 35 African civil society bodies hailed Malawi for expressing its strong support for the ICC through joint letter addressed to foreign an justice ministers in Africa whose states are parties to the ICC, instead the CSOs are urging Malawi and other states to express support in African Union discussions where the ICC comes under attack rather calling individual countries to take such stand.
Malawi’s Centre for Human Rights and Rehabilitation (CHRR), Human Rights Watch, Southern African Litigation Centre (SALC), Kenya Section of the International Commission of Jurists, International Commission of Jurists are some of CSOs signatory to such a letter and campaigning for the domestication of the Rome Statute of ICC.
In the said letter, the CSOs urged Justice and Foreign Ministers to take advantage of the AU Summit which has been organised to highlight African’s tangible progress in ensuring justice for gravest crimes and areas where the leadership of such states is needed for accountability support.
“Our organisations are amongst the most active partners of an informal group of African CSOs and international organisation with a presence in Africa that work to ensure the fight against impunity succeeds whenever serious crimes in violation of international law are committed.
“We are aware that many African ICC members support the ICC and regularly express that support at the ICC’s Assembly of States Parties. Although imperfect, the ICC is a crucial court that can strengthened and should be supported”, appeals the grouping.
Malawi signed and ratified the Rome Statute on March 3, 1999 and September 19, 2002 respectively and meanwhile CHRR has partnered with Malawi Law Society (MLS) to jointly urging Malawi government to come up with a domestication legal frame work to support the ICC.
