Incorporation of Rules Governing the Enforcement of Prison Sentences Imposed by the International Criminal Court ICC: An African Perspective

Because of the tumultuous relations between Africa and the International Criminal Court (ICC), the implementation of its Statute by African states remains topical. The author assesses the legislative incorporation of the provisions of Article 106 of the ICC Statute by the laws of eight African state...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Etienne Kentsa
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Istanbul University Press 2023-06-01
Series:Public and Private International Law Bulletin
Subjects:
Online Access:https://cdn.istanbul.edu.tr/file/JTA6CLJ8T5/6D62490B718C4E90926C5EBCCC0EF72A
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Because of the tumultuous relations between Africa and the International Criminal Court (ICC), the implementation of its Statute by African states remains topical. The author assesses the legislative incorporation of the provisions of Article 106 of the ICC Statute by the laws of eight African states (Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, DRC, Kenya, Mauritius, Uganda, South Africa, and the Union of the Comoros). Since it seems relevant to assess the conformity of national cooperation legislation with the statements of the Rome Statute on cooperation and judicial assistance, the analysis requires both the comparison of the African legislations with the Rome Statute and that of African legislations with each other. He notes the hesitant acknowledgement of the ICC’s supervisory power over the enforcement of prison sentences by African laws. He then elaborates on the mixed incorporation of the principle of application of the national legislation to the conditions of detention and related guarantees, that is, the compliance of these conditions with widely accepted international treaty standards on the treatment of prisoners, the equality of treatment of persons sentenced by the ICC and domestic prisoners and, the freedom and confidentiality of communications between the sentenced person and the ICC. Finally, the author argues that since most of the African states’ cooperation laws incorporate the requirement of freedom and confidentiality of communications between the sentenced person and the ICC, it can be inferred that the states concerned generally acknowledge the ICC’s power of supervision.
ISSN:2667-4114