ICC: We’re protecting not targeting Africans

Fatou Bensouda, deputy prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, denied claims on Wednesday that Africans are being unfairly targeted through the cases it pursues.

Bensouda pointed out that the victims in the referred cases were African and indictments were led by referrals from Africans themselves. She also said that the high rate of referrals in Africa could show that leaders on the continent were taking their responsibilities to international justice seriously.

Double Standards
Critics including African Union president Jean Ping have accused ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo of double standards for so far only targeting crimes committed in Africa.

"Any time I hear this about ICC targeting Africa, ICC doing double justice (standards), it saddens me, especially as an African woman," she said. "Most of these conflicts are happening on the continent ... The ICC's concentration on Africa is always as a result of the engagement of the African people with ICC."

African Union
In January, the African Union backed a plan by Kenya to call for the UN Security Council to defer or suspend trials from taking place for serious crimes committed during its disputed vote at the end of 2007, in which 1,200 people were killed.

Kenya wants to try them in its own courts, but the ICC prosecutor argues it failed to take action for years afterwards.

"We say that ICC is targeting Africans, but all of the victims in our cases in Africa are African victims. They are not from another continent. And they're the ones who are suffering these crimes," Bensouda said.

Cooperation accord
She signed a cooperation accord with Ivorian authorities on Tuesday that could pave the way for an investigation into its own armed conflict over a disputed November election. The prosecutor requested authorisation from judges last week.

That election degenerated into violence ending in a war that killed at least 3,000 people before Gbagbo, who refused to step down despite losing the poll, was finally ousted in April.

Government referrals
The Gambian deputy prosecutor said the first three cases it took on -- Uganda, Central African Republic and the Democratic Republic of Congo -- were all referrals from governments.

"Now if you are telling me that, if we have those referrals from these states, we should say 'we won't go there because they are African states', I am sorry, we will not do that," said Bensouda.

ICC defenders have also argued that many states still do not have the legal capacity to deal with crimes on such a big scale. Bensouda said the court "takes a back seat" when they do.
Source: Reuters