CSOs in a group picture with Ms. Fatou Bensouda after the meeting, which was organized by the Volunteer Partnerships for West Africa and Child Research and Resource Center.
[dropcap]M[/dropcap]r. William Nyarko, Executive Director of the Africa Centre for International Law and Accountability (ACILA) has stated that ACILA is a big supporter of international justice and the International Criminal Court (ICC).
He made this revelation on his Facebook post after he attended CSOs’ meeting with the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Ms. Fatou Bensouda in Accra. The meeting was convened by the Volunteer Partnerships for West Africa (VPWA) and Child Research and Resource Center (CRRECENT).
[ads1]Support for the ICC is critical as the African Union (AU) had earlier this year adopted a non-binding resolution indicating a “roadmap strategy” for mass withdrawal from the ICC. Although some countries had threatened to withdraw and South Africa went through a legislative process to withdraw, yet to date no African member State of the ICC has withdrawn from the Rome Statute of the ICC.
After the AU’s non-binding resolution was announced, ACILA held a roundtable discussion on the issue and brought together leading international justice experts in civil society,academia, government, Parliament, media and the Diplomatic community to, among other things, discuss the legal and political implications of the AU’s resolution and foster a re-framing of the issue to provide justice for victims instead of protection for alleged perpetrators of international crimes.
In addition, ACILA spoke against the immunity provision in the Malabo Protocol that seeks to grant immunity from prosecution to serving heads of state and senior government officials in the proposed African criminal court.
ACILA is incorporated under US law as a 501 (c)(3) research and education, non-partisan, and non-profit think tank and also under Ghana law as a non-profit and non-governmental organization. Its focus areas are International Law, International Justice, monitoring of African States’ compliance with regional and international instruments, International Human rights, Good governance, and Anti-corruption, according to information on its website.
Read what Mr. William Nyarko posted:
This a.m, I and a select group of CSOs in international criminal justice met with the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Ms. Fatou Bensouda in Accra. As some of you know, ACILA is a big supporter of international justice especially for victims of international crimes in Africa. In this respect, we support the work of the ICC and Africa-based organizations that seek genuine justice for victims.
It was a great meeting as we explored, among other things, opportunities for improving the international justice framework for victims and stepping up public education, a key self-imposed mandate of ACILA.
The Prosecutor is also expected to meet with the Executive branch of Government, academia, and other key stakeholders.