Ambos: Expanding Focus of the 'African Criminal Court'

Kai Ambos (Georg-August-University Göttingen - Law) has posted Expanding Focus of the 'African Criminal Court' (in Ashgate Research Companion to International Criminal Law, Schabas et al., 2013). Here's the abstract:

To date, all situations where investigations before the ICC have been formally opened since its effective establishment in 2002 originate in the African continent, and also the ICC’s first conviction as well as its first acquittal concerned African nationals. This led to criticism of the ICC as an 'African Criminal Court', criticism which came to a head when an arrest warrant was issued against Sudan’s sitting President Omar al-Bashir. The paper analyses the – not uniform – position of African States towards the ICC and explains the legal and factual reasons which explain the Court’s focus on Africa. It nevertheless argues that the Court must expand its focus beyond the African continent in order to gain broader legitimacy and dispel existing African concerns.