Gambia has announced that it will withdraw from the International Criminal Court, the third African country to declare its departure in just two weeks.
Explaining the country’s decision, Gambian Information Minister Sheriff Bojang said on state television late Tuesday that the global judicial body was really “an International Caucasian Court for the persecution and humiliation of people of color, especially Africans.”
Last Tuesday, Burundi announced its own intention to leave the court, and on Friday South Africa did the same. Then came Gambia, the tiny West African country. There are worries that this could be the beginning of an African exodus from the court, a dwindling membership on a continent with a long list of conflicts and human rights abuses to adjudicate.
Experts believe Kenya, Namibia and Uganda could be among the next countries to leave the court.
For years, many African nations have claimed that the ICC, which was established in 2002, is biased against the continent’s leaders. Nine of its 10 current investigations involve African countries.
The decision of three successive countries to leave the court could mark a watershed moment for an institution whose legitimacy is derived largely from its members’ consent. No country had previously withdrawn from the ICC.
Gambia’s announcement to withdraw might have been the most acerbic of the three countries.
“There are many Western countries, at least 30, that have committed heinous war crimes against independent sovereign states and their citizens since the creation of the ICC and not a single Western war criminal has been indicted,” Bojang said.
Gambia's own human rights record has frequently come under scrutiny, particularly the government’s decision this year to crack down on some political opponents of President Yahya Jammeh, who has ruled the country since taking over in a coup in 1994.
In July, opposition leader Ousainou Darboe and 18 others were sentenced to three years in prison for taking part in an unauthorized demonstration. In April, another opposition leader, Solo Sandeng, was allegedly beaten to death by members of the Gambian security services after being arrested for leading a demonstration in favor of electoral reform.
Gambia’s grinding poverty has resulted in an outsized portion of its population seeking better lives in Europe. Many have died in the Mediterranean along the way.
Washingtonpost
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