International Criminal Court (ICC) and the Politics of Imperialism.

Abstract

ICC was established pursuant to the Rome statute of 2002, to try offenders who have committed genocide, war crimes and crime against humanity.  Its emergence was to checkmate the horrendous  imposition of terror, fear and pain on people by terrorists and warlord through their  heinous activities.    The  success  of  the  Nuremberg  trial  of  1946  which  tried  the  perpetrators  of  the  Second  world  war(Sww) blossomed  the interest  to  establish  a   court  that  would    bring  those  who  commit  genocide  to  justice. Regrettably, its activities have severely come under intense criticisms  from Africans.  They argue strongly    that   it  has become another  tool  in the hands of Western powers to prosecute leaders whose  pronouncement, and  actions are anti-imperialist.  More  important  is the fact that  Western personnel and their leaders are shielded from the jurisdiction of ICC.  This has deepened the impression that ICC was created to achieve an imperial  agenda.  This work seeks to examine the correctness of this assertion.  We relied on two sources for data collection. Primary and Secondary sources.  The primary sources include personal interviews and discussions, while the secondary sources include desk research, newspapers, and magazines.  It was discovered that majority of those prosecuted are from Africa  and   many Western powers do not subscribe to ICC statute. We, therefore recommend that to free ICC from racial and ideological bias, its jurisdiction should cover all the countries that subscribe to the UN charter.  This will enhance its credibility and global   acceptability .