Resolution on the fight against impunity and on the effectiveness of the International Criminal Court in Africa

We, the Participants at the Forum for the Participation of NGOs at the 41st Ordinary Session of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights,

Having noted the grave consequences of impunity in its diverse forms and its proliferation in Africa;

Recalling the various mechanisms for the fight against impunity existing at the national, sub-regional and international levels;

Noting the diverse initiatives taken by the international community in the fight against impunity and the effectiveness of the International Criminal Court in Africa;

Further keeping in mind the various resolutions of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the ratification of the Statute of Rome of the International Criminal Court;

Taking note of the investigations opened by the Prosecutor in the Democratic Republic of Congo, in Sudan and in Uganda;

Recalling the seizure of the ICC by the Central African Republic and the recognition of the competence of the Court by Cote d’Ivoire;

Particularly concerned by the fact that the African Union has not yet signed the Cooperation Agreement with the International Criminal Court;

Recommend to the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights:

I – On Impunity:

– At the national level

To remind the States of their obligation to apply the national laws and to institute legal proceedings against the perpetrators of the crimes;
To encourage the States to reinforce their judicial apparatus and to put in place national structures such as national human rights commissions in the countries where they do not exist, in conformity with the Paris Principles governing the national institutions of protection and promotion of human rights;
To encourage the application of international legal instruments;

– At the sub-regional level

To remind all concerned that the sub-regional mechanisms should play their full role in the fight against impunity;
To encourage the implementation of the resolutions made at the sub-regional level for the promotion of the fight against impunity;
To urge the regional and sub-regional bodies to be actively involved in the process of settlement of conflicts with a view to putting an end to impunity;

– At the regional level

To cooperate more closely with the Peace and Security Council of the African Union;
To encourage the States to ratify the African Charter for the attainment of democracy, good governance and free, democratic and transparent elections;
To designate a Special Rapporteur to be in charge of the fight against impunity and the effectiveness of the International Criminal Court in Africa;
To accord special attention to the subject of the fight against impunity during its examination of the Periodic Reports and to examine the possibility of drafting guidelines relative to the fight against impunity in Africa;

II – On the International Criminal Court:

To urge the African States which have not yet ratified the Rome Statute to do so;
To call on the State Parties to the Statute of Rome which have not already done so to enact laws allowing the domestication of the said Statutes in their national laws;
To urge the States to cooperate fully with the ICC, notably for the purpose of executing the arrest warrants issued against the presumed perpetrators of international crimes, in Darfur in particular;
To request the Prosecutor of the ICC to open investigations on the situations in the Central African Republic and in Cote d’Ivoire;
To call on the African Union to sign an agreement of Cooperation with the International Criminal Court.

Done in Accra, May 14th , 2007