Mali to lead Africa in enforcing ICC sentences
By John Stephen Katende
23rd January 2012:
West African country Mali has become the first African nation to conclude an agreement that will see it enforce sentences of imprisonment handed down by the International Criminal Court (ICC).
The agreement was signed by Fatoumata Dembele Diarra, the First Vice-President of the ICC, and Soumeylou Boubeye Maiga, Mali’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation in the West African country’s capital Bamako last week.
“…The enforcement of sentences is a crucial element of a well-functioning justice system, and the ICC is grateful to every State party that expresses its willingness to accept persons convicted by the Court,” said Ms. Diarra.
She also said the agreement with Mali was “particularly significant” because the principle enshrined in the Statute and Rules of the ICC require state parties to share responsibility for enforcing ICC sentences of imprisonment in accordance with principles of equitable geographical distribution.
The Rome Statute, the founding treaty of the ICC, provides that sentences handed down by judges “…shall be served in a State designated by the Court from a list of States which have indicated to the Court their willingness to accept sentenced persons.”
In addition to the agreement with Mali, the ICC has also signed agreements on the enforcement of sentences with the governments of Austria, United Kingdom, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Serbia and Colombia.
The ICC is the first permanent, treaty-based, international court established to help end impunity by perpetrators of the most serious crimes of concern to the international community, namely war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide.
The Court currently has seven situations under investigation, all of them in Africa: Central African Republic (CAR), Côte d’Ivoire, the Darfur region of western Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Kenya, Libya and Uganda. END: Please login to www.ugandacorrespondent.com every Monday to read our top stories and anytime mid-week for our news updates.
