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NGO Brings International Criminal Court to Abuja -Global Policy Forum- NGOs NGO Brings International Criminal Court to Abuja
By Mary Ekah
allAfrica
July 8, 2002
A non-governmental organization, Legal Assist-ance Project (LE-DAP), a group of professional lawyers offering free legal service to victims of injustice in Nigeria, in collaboration with the Nigerian Coalition on International Criminal Court (NCICC) has established the International Criminal Court (ICC) otherwise called the Rome Statute, in Nigeria.
The court which came into force early last week is to bring perpetrators of crimes against the state and the people to justice.
In a communiqu‚ made available to THISDAY, the group stated that in the last 50 years, and most especially in the very recent time, there have been many instances of crimes against humanity, genocide and war crimes for which no individual has been held accountable, adding that bringing these perpetrators to justice was one of the basic objectives of ICC.
The communiqu‚ jointly issued out by LEDAP's legal officer, Ahaoma Okoro Esq. and Ameen Ayodele, a member of the organization, stated that the court shall be a permanent institution and shall have the power to exercise its jurisdiction over persons for the most serious crimes of international concern and shall be complementary to national criminal jurisdictions. Such crimes, it stated, include the crime of genocide; crime against humanity; war crimes and the crime of aggression.
The communiqu‚ went further to explain the operations of the court among other things.
" The court shall apply equally to all persons without any distinction based on official capacity. In particular official capacity as a Head of state or Governor, a member of a government or parliament, an elected representative or a government official shall in no case exempt a person from criminal responsibility under this status, nor shall it, in and of itself, constitute a ground for reduction of sentence.
Immunities or special procedural rules which may attach to the official capacity of a person, whether under national or international law, shall not bar the court from exercising its jurisdiction over such a person", it stated.
It also stated that the application of law pursuant to the court shall be consistent with internationally organized human rights, adding that, it shall be without any adverse distinction founded on grounds such as gender, race, color, language, religion or belief and political opinion.
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