New bill set to fill void left by SA’s withdrawal from Rome Statute
The government has introduced a new bill that is set to fill the void left by SA’s decision to withdraw from the Rome Statute. The International Crimes Bill also aims to prevent SA from becoming a safe haven for international criminals. The government said it was "hindered" by the Rome Statute and that withdrawing would "create a lacuna in our domestic law concerning the prosecution of genocide‚ war crimes and crimes against humanity". The Rome Statute compels signatories to arrest foreign leaders wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC). The ICC issued a warrant for Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir’s arrest after he was charged with crimes against humanity‚ war crimes and genocide. SA failed to arrest Bashir during his visit to SA in June 2015 for a meeting of the AU. The ICC made a unanimous ruling on July 6 this year that SA had a duty to arrest Bashir and had failed to adhere to the Rome Statute. Opposition parties and civil society groups lambasted the government for i...
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