ICC membership useless – lawyer

Wed, 12 Apr 2017 06:17:41 +0000

By OSCAR MALIPENGA

THE International Criminal Court (ICC) in its current form is unnecessary and problematic unless if it is restructured, Lusaka lawyer Jonas Zimba of Makebi Zulu Advocates has said.

Mr. Zimba said the ICC was up to no good for African and poor countries.

Speaking when he featured on Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation (ZNBC) programme Sunday Interview, Mr. Zimba said although ICC was not relevant in its current form there was need for Zambia to make a decision on whether or not to withdraw its membership from an informed point of view.

Mr. Zimba said the ICC was biased because he had never seen it reaching out to other leaders of the world apart from those in Africa.

He said in 2005 ICC issued several warrants of arrests on African leaders but that none of the warrants had been effected to date.

He however said the ICC should not be disbanded but only reformed because the basic idea behind the creation of the court was a noble

Mr. Zimba said the way the ideas of its foundations were being carried out were probably what was causing the ongoing debate among the African countries.

“The way they were reinforcing the arrest warrants which they were issuing is another area which needs reformation,” he said.

Mr. Zimba further explained that the United Nations Security Council could recommend that a leader be arrested if even it was not a member of the ICC thereby rendering it pointless to be a member or not.

He said article 127 of the long statues deals with exits from the ICC.

Mr. Zimba said the article provided for any country to withdraw its membership from the ICC after it has made the decision and informs the court at a fee.

“Leaving the ICC only takes effect after a year after the date of the receipt of the notification unless the notification specifies a later date or later date after a year,” he said.

Mr. Zimba said in his view there was no benefit by withdrawing or remaining a member of the ICC.

“The ICC in its current form is unnecessary unless it is reformed then secondly I would say the ICC needs reformation. So it unnecessary and at the same time it is problematic unless it is reformed,” he said.

Mr. Zimba said reformation was the only way to changing the perception that the general world at large had of ICC.