State Sovereignty vs International Law
State Sovereignty vs. International Law
A Look at Kenya in the International Criminal Court
Shana Le
25 November 2014
IR 7300 A: Ethical Issues in IR
Dr. Aaron Tyler
Le, 1
Imagine a world where the United States had its authority and jurisdiction to try its own criminal cases stripped away from her. Where cases of domestic terrorism by Timothy McVeigh,
US Army Major Nidal Hasan, and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev are decided by the United Nation’s
International Criminal Court (ICC) due to the US’s participation in the ratification of the Rome
Statute of the International Criminal Court. By participating in this ratification, the US has willing given its consent for the ICC to step in and take control of any cases it sees fit. However, the Rome Statute offers the State some avenues for it to gain its sovereignty back. If the Statute didn’t, one could imagine that there would be rioting in the streets, at the very least. 1
Of course, this would never actually happen for several reason. First, because although the US signed the Statute, she never ratified it. 2 Second, the ICC can only investigate and prosecute the four core international crimes: genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression. 3 Lastly, the case in question deals with the State of Kenya and the ICC.
Background
Due to alleged electoral manipulation in the 2007 presidential election and the incumbent
President Mwai Kibaki declared the winner, mass nonviolent protests began. 4 However, these quickly escalated to opposition supporters going on a violent rampage killing Kikuyus in several
1
This is America and the American people wouldn’t be able to stand for its lack of sovereignty for long.
The US signed the Statute on 31 December 2000 and on 6 May 2002, the US Government sent the UN SecretaryGeneral a communication stating that she had no wish to become party to the treaty. http://www.amicc.org/icc/ratifications/#* 3
Genocide is any “acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole
A Look at Kenya in the International Criminal Court
Shana Le
25 November 2014
IR 7300 A: Ethical Issues in IR
Dr. Aaron Tyler
Le, 1
Imagine a world where the United States had its authority and jurisdiction to try its own criminal cases stripped away from her. Where cases of domestic terrorism by Timothy McVeigh,
US Army Major Nidal Hasan, and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev are decided by the United Nation’s
International Criminal Court (ICC) due to the US’s participation in the ratification of the Rome
Statute of the International Criminal Court. By participating in this ratification, the US has willing given its consent for the ICC to step in and take control of any cases it sees fit. However, the Rome Statute offers the State some avenues for it to gain its sovereignty back. If the Statute didn’t, one could imagine that there would be rioting in the streets, at the very least. 1
Of course, this would never actually happen for several reason. First, because although the US signed the Statute, she never ratified it. 2 Second, the ICC can only investigate and prosecute the four core international crimes: genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression. 3 Lastly, the case in question deals with the State of Kenya and the ICC.
Background
Due to alleged electoral manipulation in the 2007 presidential election and the incumbent
President Mwai Kibaki declared the winner, mass nonviolent protests began. 4 However, these quickly escalated to opposition supporters going on a violent rampage killing Kikuyus in several
1
This is America and the American people wouldn’t be able to stand for its lack of sovereignty for long.
The US signed the Statute on 31 December 2000 and on 6 May 2002, the US Government sent the UN SecretaryGeneral a communication stating that she had no wish to become party to the treaty. http://www.amicc.org/icc/ratifications/#* 3
Genocide is any “acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole