CILPA developed an International Criminal Court in Africa Project as one of the central aspects of its research mission. The main objectives of the ICC and Africa project were as follows. First, the project generated new knowledge in an independent and non-partisan way, since CILPA is not an advocacy organization but rather a think tank. Second, the development of new knowledge, which could be used by other African civil society organizations to direct their advocacy on ICC reform, entailed the preparation of expert papers; the holding of expert workshops, virtual and or in person, to provide the authors and invited participants the opportunity to engage in a focused dialogue that generates recommendations on reforming the ICC from an African perspective; and lastly, disseminating the research results to key stakeholders, including the ICC States parties and African governments and African civil society organizations.
The crux of the ICC in Africa grant is Bringing the African Perspective to the ICC Reform Discussion, and entails a three-pronged project:
A. Research Consultancy.
In June of 2022, CILPA officially commissioned three pan-African expert consultants to write papers on The Missing Link in the ICC Reform Report and Follow-up Process, that seek to highlight the African State party concerns for reform and how they could be addressed and integrated going forward.
i. Mr. Sètondji Roland Adjovi: Background Paper on the Relationship between African States and the ICC
ii. Mr. Geoffrey Kevins Lugano: Examining the Role of African States in Supporting ICC Investigations, and Issues of Cooperation and Complementarity under the Rome Statute
iii. Ms. Lorraine Smith van Lin: Examining the Domestic Legal Framework in the African States that Today Form Part of the Situational Docket of the ICC.
B. Workshop
A successful 2-day Workshop on Bringing the African Perspective to the ICC Reform Discussion was hosted by CILPA, with the assistance of our institutional partner, the Center for Accountability and the Rule of Law in Sierra Leone (CARL), on Friday, October 7, and Saturday, October 8, 2022, at the Radisson Blu Mammy Yoko Hotel, 17 Lumley Beach Road, in Freetown, Sierra Leone. The research and analysis carried out by the consultants during the first part of the project formed the basis of a comprehensive analysis of the success and limitations encountered by the ICC in its ongoing reform process. Bringing together the consultants and invited legal experts, the Workshop was a working session with a detailed examination of specific themes and provisions identified by the consultants.
A lead discussant was assigned to each consultant to provide substantive feedback on the papers which were shared in advance of the Workshop) before opening the floor to the approximately 25 experts who attended in person and online. The Workshop was also attended and reported on by local media.
Over the course of the workshop, the expert invitees provided feedback and input to the consultants’ papers. It provided an opportunity for participants to express views on how the reforms could be carried out to ensure more transparency and inclusivity of African concerns. The expert participants reassessed, and as necessary, helped provide ideas for revision and finalization of the draft papers. Based on these contributions the consultants were able to make the relevant adjustments to their respective papers before their various reform recommendations were published by CILPA.
C. Publication and Dissemination
Based on the feedback received during the Workshop and comments provided by the Founder of CILPA, Prof. Charles Jalloh, on the consultant’s work, the consultants updated their papers and delivered the same to CILPA during December 2022 to February 2023. As the papers were received, they underwent an internal review as well as an external peer review by an expert in the field, after which the consultants were paid the remainder of the consultancy fee.
After an internal editing process the three papers were published as open-source Occasional Papers on CILPA’s website on 28 September 2023, which can be viewed and downloaded here.
It is intended that the three papers, along with a paper written by Prof. Charles Jalloh on The ICC Reform Process and the Failure to Address the African State Concerns on the Sequencing of Peace with Criminal Justice Under Article 53 of the Rome Statute, will also be published by CILPA in two successive special issues of the African Journal of International Criminal Justice, a peer- reviewed academic journal focusing on human rights and rule of law issues in Africa, co-published in collaboration with Eleven International Journals. The papers are currently undergoing formatting and editing by Eleven Publishing and the intention is for the first issue to be published before the end of 2023 and the second one in eary 2024.
First issue
Mr. Sètondji Roland Adjovi – Background Paper on the Relationship between African States and the ICC
Mr. Geoffrey Kevins Lugano – Examining the Domestic Legal Framework in the African States that Today Form Part of the Situational Docket of the ICC
Second Issue
Ms. Lorraine Smith van Lin – Examining the Role of African States in Supporting ICC Investigations, and Issues of Cooperation and Complementarity under the Rome Statute.
Prof. Charles C. Jalloh – The ICC Reform Process and the Failure to Address the African State Concerns on the Sequencing of Peace with Criminal Justice Under Article 53 of the Rome Statute.
CILPA, with the co-sponsorship of the Permanent Mission of the Republic of Sierra Leone to the United Nations also held a side event to the twenty-second session of the Assembly of States Parties to the International Criminal Court (ICC) providing an opportunity for the consultants to present their research and analysis in conjunction with a discussion with the State representative members of the Review Mechanism with the aim of bringing African perspectives to the ongoing ICC reform discourse, and determining the extent to which previous African State proposals were addressed by the IER.
