Egypt wants to join the ICC, but not respect it
According to this story, the new Egypt wants to join the International Criminal Court: Foreign Minister Nabil al-Arabi said on Tuesday that Egypt is to join the International Criminal Court, as post-revolution Egypt works towards becoming a "legally constituted state". "Egypt is currently taking the required steps to join all United Nations agreements on human ...
According to this story, the new Egypt wants to join the International Criminal Court:
According to this story, the new Egypt wants to join the International Criminal Court:
Foreign Minister Nabil al-Arabi said on Tuesday that Egypt is to join the International Criminal Court, as post-revolution Egypt works towards becoming a "legally constituted state".
"Egypt is currently taking the required steps to join all United Nations agreements on human rights and to join the International Criminal Court," al-Arabi said during a joint press conference in Cairo with visiting German foreign minister Guido Westerwelle.
"I think the events that have taken place in Egypt in recent days and the arrest of senior officials is evidence that the state wishes to follow the rule of law… domestically and internationally," al-Arabi said.
But wait! According to this story in the same publication, those indicted by the court will still be welcome in Egypt:
An Egyptian diplomat said Tuesday that Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir would be safe from prosecution in Egypt if the country becomes a member of the International Criminal Court.
At a press conference, Ambassador Mahmoud Ezzat, chief of judicial administration at the Foreign Ministry, said Egypt has had a clear stance on the Rome Statute since it was established.
He said al-Bashir could visit Egypt any time because of the ties of respect between the two countries.
The option of joining the ICC but refusing to arrest those indicted by it is an awfully appealing one to states near Sudan.
David Bosco is a professor at Indiana University’s Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies. He is the author of The Poseidon Project: The Struggle to Govern the World’s Oceans. Twitter: @multilateralist
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