Many in government and the opposition are united in proclaiming South Africa’s reluctance to arrest Putin when he visits in August.
On Tuesday, South Africa’s Justice Minister Ronald Lamola criticised the International Criminal Court (ICC), saying it was inconsistent in its work.
“The fact that an investigation into the atrocities in Palestine has not been completed while the one in Ukraine, opened later already has a referral against a non-member state is an injustice,” Lamola said while addressing Parliament.
His stance is the latest from the South African government since March when the ICC issued an arrest warrant against Russian President Vladimir Putin, accused of committing war crimes including against young children since the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Russia is not an ICC member state but Putin has been invited to attend a summit in South Africa, an ICC signatory, in August. That has led to a debate, locally or internationally, about whether he will be arrested or not.
The summit is a convergence of countries in BRICS (Brazil, Russia India, China, and South Africa), a group of emerging economies.
As a signatory to the ICC’s Rome Statute, South Africa is legally obliged to act on the warrant if Putin arrives in the country. This has raised questions about the role of the ICC and its relations with Africa.
We will explore various options with regard to how the Rome Statute was domesticated in our country including the option to look at extending customary diplomatic immunity to visiting heads of state in our country,” Lamola was quoted as saying in local daily BusinessDay.
Here are the essentials:
What is the Rome Statute and why is it being criticised?
In July 1998, 120 countries adopted the Rome Statute, the legal basis for establishing the ICC.
The court’s founding treaty entered into force on July 1, 2002, and is binding on all its 123 current members.
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