Expert Urges Africa to Fix, Not Abandon, the ICC

As debate intensifies over Africa’s relationship with the International Criminal Court (ICC) following the recent withdrawal of the Sahel Alliance countries, legal experts are calling for reform rather than rejection of the court.

Donald Deya, CEO of the Pan African Lawyers Union, acknowledged the ICC’s early bias concerns but argued that walking away is not the answer.

“It is fair to criticise the ICC in its first years that it concentrated on Africa and led to the perception or the reality that it was going for the weak states and avoiding powerful perpetrators. But the way to address it, in my view, is not to walk away, but to reform the practice of the ICC,” Deya said.

He urged the court to rebuild trust and confidence by acting on global atrocities without political bias, communicating transparently with victims, and ensuring investigations are professional and complete.

“The ICC does face a big credibility problem… people are skeptical that it seems to be a tool of powerful states. But people should also look at the accountability gap that would happen if the ICC was not there,” he added.

Deya concluded that Africa should strengthen its own judicial systems — but emphasized the ICC’s vital role when national courts fail.

“It is the obligation of many actors, including the ICC, to strengthen national systems… But where they fail, the ICC should be able to kick in robustly,” he said.

The remarks come as divisions deepen across Africa on whether to reform or abandon the ICC amid mounting concerns over justice and sovereignty.