On the Shores of Lake Victoria

Professor Leila Sadat, of Washington University, has written 'On the Shores of Lake Victoria: Africa and the Review Conference for the International Criminal Court', in which she reflects upon the establishment of the Court and particularly its relationship to Africa. She writes:

Bringing the ICC Review Conference to Africa is an important symbolic and practical gesture. It reassures Africans that this is 'their Court' not something imposed upon them from the outside; it brings non-Africans to the heart of Africa to listen and debate what this Court means (and does not mean) to victims of atrocity crimes. Yet the tensions that swirl around the existence and the operation of the ICC remain, and some may even be intensified by the African venue. Charybdis looms large. The great powers, unwilling to relinquish their prerogatives, may stymie progress on the crime of aggression and other important agenda items for the Review Conference; African leaders may wish the Court to become more pliable and sensitive to their political realities.

See the whole article.