'We chose Africa': South Africa and the regional politics of cooperation with the International Criminal Court

This article examines state cooperation with the International Criminal Court (ICC) through a case study of South Africa’s non-arrest of ICC suspect-at-large, Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir, in June 2015. Al-Bashir’s visit to South Africa brings attention to the question of why initially Court-su...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Boehme, Franziska (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
Published: March 2017
In: International journal of transitional justice
Year: 2017, Volume: 11, Issue: 1, Pages: 50-70
Online Access: Volltext (Verlag)
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Keywords:
Internationaler Strafgerichtshof
Afrikanische Union
Internationale Politik
Politisches Verhalten
Mitgliedsstaaten
Internationale Organisation
Internationales Recht
Rechtsanwendung
Strafverfolgung
Internationales politisches System
Position
Südafrika
Description
Summary:This article examines state cooperation with the International Criminal Court (ICC) through a case study of South Africa’s non-arrest of ICC suspect-at-large, Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir, in June 2015. Al-Bashir’s visit to South Africa brings attention to the question of why initially Court-supportive countries fail to cooperate with the ICC. Confronted with noncooperation pressure by the African Union (AU), South Africa faced a loyalty conflict in which it had to choose between its commitment to the AU and its commitment to the ICC. I argue that the South African executive’s non-arrest decision prioritized the country’s regional political reputation over its global reputation as a human rights supporter. By investigating a specific cooperation incident years after South Africa’s initial commitment to the ICC, the article highlights the temporal dimension of compliance. Incidents like these can point to potentially new perspectives on compliance and noncompliance.
Item Description:Literaturhinweise
ISSN:1752-7724
DOI:10.1093/ijtj/ijw024