With countries still reeling from the news that Burundi, Gambia and South Africa are seeking to withdraw from the International Criminal Court (ICC), the annual meeting of the 124 states parties of the Rome Statute got off to a surprisingly positive start in The Hague last week.
Most countries affirmed their support for the court, recognized the need for the court to expand its work beyond Africa, and urged the three countries to reconsider. Although they have yet to change their minds, Burundi and South Africa engaged constructively in this dialogue. But any progress made is now threatened by a new effort by 11 states to restrict the court’s funding, which may wreck the court’s efforts to open investigations in other regions. The Court has faced criticism over the fact that all but one of its active investigations are in Africa.
The initiative by Canada, Colombia, Ecuador, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Poland, Spain, UK and Venezuela is part of a damaging long-term effort by the biggest financial contributors to the court to curtail the ICC’s growth, citing the global financial crisis and inefficiencies in the court. This effort ignores the recommendations of an independent expert body that additional funding is needed. It also ignores the devastating impact that reductions of resources requested by the Court in previous years have had on the court’s capacity to conduct investigations and keep pace with crimes committed at alarming rates in new situations.
