Unequal debates on ethics leadership around the world
Issued by SABC Education Digital Online: Africa is one of the major players in global politics. Like all other players, African countries are subject to international codes of good practice, politically and otherwise.
One of the debates raging across Africa in the recent past concerns the International Criminal Court (ICC). Since its inception in July 2002, the ICC’s Office of the Prosecutor (OTP) has faced two primary critiques: first that it has been inefficient, and second that it has preoccupied itself with Africa and failed to investigate equally severe conflicts elsewhere. These criticisms do not arise in a vacuum, however, and must be understood within the context of the court’s recent creation, administrative and personnel challenges, legal impediments imposed by the Rome Statute, and external pressure to prosecute as many cases as possible in order to satisfy its value-oriented goal of “guarantee[ing] lasting respect for and the enforcement of international justice.”