AFRICA/CONGO DR - The creation of an African Criminal Court is urgently needed" said a scholar at the Catholic University of Congo

Kinshasa (Agenzia Fides) – It is necessary to create an African Criminal Court to bring to justice those political and military leaders of the continent that are responsible for serious human right violations. This is what was proposed by prof. Toussaint Kwambamba of the Catholic University of Congo (UCC), during a conference held on 28 March in Kinshasa, regarding the vision of Africans on the work carried out by the International Criminal Court (ICC). The event, organized in collaboration with the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, is topical given that the ICC has accused some African leaders currently in office.
"In the absence of an impartial and effective African criminal court, the International Criminal Court (ICC) now plays an important role of intimidation against the current leaders of the continent, and remains the only consolation of the African peoples as well as other Third World countries that witness the abuse of their rights often with the consent of public authorities", recalled Prof. Kwambamba. According to the scholar, the ICC, based in The Hague (Netherlands), however, encounters some difficulties in working against African leaders.
"The creation of the ICC was greeted with satisfaction", said Prof. Kwambamba. "But since the Court's jurisdiction extends only to crimes committed after its entry into force, given the fact that so far only Africans have been judged, given the difficulty to initiate judicial proceedings on behalf of the authorities of the States that have not adhered to the ICC, given the choice of the Court to prosecute perpetrators of some crimes but not others, the creation of an African Criminal Court is of vital importance" concluded the scholar. (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides 31/03/2014)