A debate examining the Kenyan cases that are currently before the International Criminal Court is set to be held next week in the US.
The event organised by various US based groups will seek to examine the ongoing cases as well as discuss the twists and turns that have seemingly besieged The Hague based court.
The event which will be held at the American University in Washington DC on Tuesday, February 25, 2014 is a joint project of Council on Africa Studies at American University, the Africa Initiative, the American Bar Association and East Africa Washington Program (EAWP.)
The panellists who are expected to attend include the deputy ambassador of the Kenyan mission in the United Nations Ms Koki Muli and Michael S. Greco, former President of the American Bar Association.
Others are Stephen Arthur Lamony, Human Rights activist and senior advisor on AU, UN and Africa Situations at the Coalition for the International Criminal Court and Dr David Bosco, author of Rough Justice: The International Criminal Court in a World of Power Politics and professor at American University, Washington DC.
According to Mr Timothy Kaberia, the founder of the East Africa Washington Programme (EAWP), a new advocacy initiative by Kenyans in the Washington, DC metropolitan area, there is an urgent need to have the Kenyan and other African cases before the ICC highlighted, discussed and debated in Washington for informational and academic purposes.
Though the forum will focus mainly on the Kenyan cases, it will also examine other African cases before the court.
The Hague-based court has recently come under fire from critics who point out that the court only goes after African leaders.
Ironically, Senegal was the first country in the world to ratify the Rome Statute which established the court giving it powers to prosecute individuals for international crimes.
In October last year, the African Union debated a pullout from the ICC amid claims that the court was condescending.
During the debate, the Ethiopian Foreign Minister Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus accused the court of being “a political instrument targeting Africa and Africans.”
Source-nation.co.ke
Related:
-http://ironline.american.edu/faculty/david-bosco/
