On 4th of March 2019, Malaysia became a state party to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC). Africa Legal Aid (AFLA) applauds Malaysia’s accession to the Rome Statute as a positive step towards strengthening international criminal justice in the Asia-Pacific region. Malaysia’s accession to the Rome Statute comes at a time when…

Gbagbo and Blé Goudé’s Release: Too Little, Too Late  On 15 January 2019, Trial Chamber I of the International Criminal Court (ICC) acquitted Laurent Gbagbo (former President of Côte d’Ivoire) and Charles Blé Goudé (former Youth Minister in Gbagbo’s government) from all charges of crimes against humanity committed in Côte d’Ivoire in 2010 and 2011. It…

The Appeals Chamber (AC) has decided to conditionally release Gbagbo and Blé Goudé pending its resolution of the OTPs appeal. Gbagbo has already been released, with Belgium agreeing to the AC’s conditions. No word on which state, if any, will agree to take Blé Goudé. (Source: OpinioJuris) To read more, click here.…

To read the June 2014 dissenting opinion on the charges against Laurent Gbagbo of Judge Christine Van den Wyngaert, please click here.…

On February 1, the Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Court may decide if it confirms the release of Laurent Gbagbo and Charles Blé-Goudé, who were acquitted on January 15 by a Trial Chamber. Scholar Thijs Bouwknegt goes back into a case that has shaken the ICC and exposed a highly vexed Office of the…

A Historic Acquittal of Laurent Gbagbo and Charles Blé Goudé Laurent Gbagbo and Charles Blé Goudé (Photo credit: Coalition for the ICC). ICC Trial Chamber I has this morning acquitted Laurent Gbagbo, former President of Cote d’Ivôire, and his co-accused, Charles Blé Goudé, former Youth Minister, from all charges of crimes against humanity committed in Cote d’Ivôire in…

For AFLA’s Executive Director, Evelyn A. Ankumah’s views, find here her address at an ASP event, commemorating the 20th Anniversary of the ICC, that was held in Tokyo, to coincide with the 57th Annual Session of the Asian-African Legal Consultative Organization (AALCO), on 11th October 2018.…

A powerful campaign dubbed Jammeh2JusticeGhana has been launched in Accra, the Ghana capital, calling for prosecution of former Gambian leader, Yahya Jammeh, for the 2005 massacres of 44 innocent Ghanaian migrants in the Gambia, who were on their way to seek greener pastures in Europe and were allegedly mistaken for coup plotters by Jammeh’s intelligence.…

D. Davies – The Gambia, May 9 2018. Banjul (The Gambia) Regional Courts in Africa should be allowed to prosecute international crimes as a way of strengthening complementarity on the Continent, Chief Justice Hassan Jallow of The Gambia suggested. “I remain convinced that complementarity can and should be taken a notch higher by vesting African…

Africa Legal Aid (AFLA) in cooperation with the Attorney General’s Chambers and Ministry of Justice of the Gambia, convened a West Africa Stakeholders’ Meeting on Emerging Trends on Complementarity, as well as a 20th Anniversary Commemoration of the Rome Statute of the ICC. The meetings were held in Banjul, the Gambia from 25-26 April 2018. Participants…

Six new judges will be elected to the International Criminal Court at the ongoing session of the Assembly of States Parties (ASP) of the ICC at the United Nations Headquarters in New York. So far the Assembly has elected two new judges, namely Akane Tomoko from Japan and Ibañez Carranza Luz del Carmen from Peru, both…