Is the International Criminal Court Unfairly Targeting Africa? Lessons for Latin America and the Caribbean States

Abstract

Africa, Latin America and Caribbean countries share many common features including a history of colonisation, the ongoing fight against human rights abuses and the resultant pursuance of sustainable peace and justice. One of the tools at these countries’ disposal is the International Criminal Court (ICC) where these two blocks are experiencing different fortunes. Except for the Georgia case, all the other cases dealt with by the ICC were from Africa and the court is yet to open an investigation in Latin America and the Caribbean, a situation which allows for lessons for the latter to be drawn from the former’s relationship with the ICC. Using the decolonial perspective I argue that the targeting of Africa by the ICC is part of the colonial project which started with slavery and is now in the coloniality phase. The conclusion is that willingly or unwillingly, the way the ICC has treated Africa is tantamount to targeting. This perception can only be changed if the ICC successfully opened new cases elsewhere, especially in the west.