Gambia has notified the United Nations (UN) that it is withdrawing from the International Criminal Court ICC).
Gambia decision makes it the third African country to give formal notice of a pullout, a UN spokesman said Monday.
South Africa and Burundi who also ignored appeals from UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to reverse their decisions and have sent letters confirming that they are quitting the ICC.
“We have received the official, formal notification, which has now been processed,” UN spokesman Farhan Haq said.
Banjul’s decision to pull out of the court struck a personal blow against the tribunal’s chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda, a Gambian lawyer and former justice minister.
Gambian Information Minister Sheriff Bojang charged that the ICC had been used “for the persecution of Africans and especially their leaders” while ignoring crimes committed by the West.
Kenya has also been reported as one of the few countries that ere interested in saying goodbye to ICC.
One of the reason behind exit is that majority of targeted countries are African, with ICC not paying attention to other countries outside African continent.
According to the communication, Gambia will be out of ICC by November 2017, one year affter her request was submitted and received.
In October, Gambia’s Information Minister Sheriff Bojang described the ICC as “an International Caucasian Court for the persecution and humiliation of people of colour, especially Africans.”
The ICC’s current chief prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, is Gambian and was an adviser to Gambian President Yahya Jammeh in the early years of his rule after he seized power in a coup in 1994. She later served as justice minister.
The court, which opened in July 2002 and has 124 member states, is the first legal body with permanent international jurisdiction to prosecute genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has expressed regret that South Africa, Burundi and Gambia are leaving the ICC and said it could “send a wrong message on these countries’ commitment to justice.