Africa and the International Criminal Court by Hope Coulter

Source: dw.com

On October 26th, Gambia became the third country to leave the International Criminal Court this week when it formally began the process of withdrawing from what the country’s Minister of Information, Sheriff Bojang, has called the “International Caucasian Court”. Gambia follows in the footsteps of South Africa and Burundi, who have also accused the court of discrimination against African countries. These states are the first to ever have withdrawn from the International Criminal Court, and disapproving global leaders worry that it will spark a mass exodus of African states, which could diminish the Court’s credibility and effectiveness.

The operation of the International Criminal Court is based on the Rome Statute, an international treaty adopted in 1998. Tensions among African nations over the International Criminal Court came to a head in 2015 when South Africa hesitated to arrest Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir, who had been convicted by the Court of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide in the Darfur region of Sudan. Following this incident, South Africa, initially a supporter of the Court, stated that the Rome Statute conflicts with its obligations to members of the African Union, and with its laws regarding diplomatic immunity.

While supporters of the withdrawals are refreshed to see African nations standing up to Western imperialism (all 39 persons convicted by the court since its creation have been from African nations), critics worry that the move is a step backward in ending the devastating genocide and war crimes that have occurred, and are still occurring, in Africa. GenocideWatch.net has issued a Genocide Emergency or Genocide Watch warning for the states of Burundi, the Central African Republic, Nigeria, Somalia, and Sudan.

Disagreement exists among African Union states about the idea of withdrawal. Botswana’s foreign minister Pelomoni Venson-Moitoi, a candidate to become the next African Union chief, urged African states to reform the Court instead of abandoning it. Meanwhile Robert Mugabe, President of Zimbabwe, has said that the African Union should set up its own Criminal Court to demand reparations from the West for war crimes and crimes against humanity inflicted by Western nations, particularly during the colonial era.

The International Criminal Court has urged countries to discuss their discontent within the Court’s Assembly of State Parties, and has pointed out that preliminary investigations are currently taking place in six non-African countries.

(DailySabah.com, Huffingtonpost.com, GenocideWatch.net, ICC-CPI.int, Mgafrica.com, Theguardian.com, BBC.com, Thinkprogress.org, Foxnews.com, Reuters.com)

NWMUN Portland Country Facts by Makena Hulme

We are privileged to send our most experienced delegates to the North West Model United Nations conference in Portland for the first time ever next year. In order to get ready for the vigorous conference, it is essential that we do excellent research, keep up on current events, and write wonderful academic paperwork.

Bolivia

Basic Facts

Capital: La Paz

Population: 10,800,882 (2015)

Currency: 1 boliviano (B$) = 100 centavos

Current Events

• Experts seek underlying cause for persistent health inequalities in the Caribbean
•  United Nations Paris Climate Agreement goes into effect on November 4^th
•  Bolivia’s Morales accuses Chile of restricting access to ports
• The disappearance of Lake Poopo destroyed the livelihoods of hundreds of fishing families and has added to a new category of climate refugees
• In Bolivia, drinks made from the endangered Titicaca water frog are promoted as a cure for many ailments, without scientific support
• Thousands of fish are dead in Lake Alalay and scientists are researching what caused oxygen levels in the lake to drop so rapidly
•  Evo Morales loses bid to seek a fourth term
• Morales’ secret dead son has been found alive and in good health
•  Bolivia’s health ministry has recommended eating llama instead of processed meat, after the World Health Organization warned an excess of red meat could cause cancer
• Anger in Chile ensues as International Court of Justice at the Hague declares it has jurisdiction to rule on Bolivia’s claim to a strip of the land in the Pacific Ocean

Spain

Basic Facts

Capital: Madrid

Population: 48,146,136

Currency: euro

Current Events

• List of new Catholic cardinals named by Pope Francis
•  Euro zone economy resilient to recent shocks
• More than 100 African migrants were saved from the Mediterranean off the coast of Spain
• Spain has plodded along without an elected national government for a year as of October 2, 2016  (New York Times)
• Barcelona is using superblocks as a transportation initiative to ease traffic and pollution and make better use of public spaces
• Hundreds of thousands of Catalans took to the streets of four major cities to urge their leaders to push for separation from Spain
• A hospital patient in Madrid died of Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever in Spain without having traveled to an endemic area.
• Spain’s Socialist leader Pedro Sanchez steps down to clear way for formation of government
• Spain’s Donana coastal wetlands being added to UNESCO danger list
• The chef Jamie Oliver’s inclusion of chorizo in paella causes a “paella gate” and unites fractured Spain together against Oliver