Global Network Of Civil Society Organizations Working To Support A Fair, Effective, And Independent ICC

Global Network Of Civil Society Organizations Working To Support A Fair, Effective, And Independent ICC

All attempts to persuade the Cameroon Gov’t to ratify the Rome Statute of the ICC have so far failed. But the Gov’t has never declared that it does not want to ratify the Statute. However, from the look of things, that will not happen during Paul Biya’s tenure as President.

A couple of years after the creation of the International Criminal Court, ICC, some civil society organizations from different parts of the world, that support a fair, effective, and independent ICC, came together at The Hague and created the Coalition for the International Criminal Court, CICC.. By the beginning of 2012, the Coalition for the International Criminal Court had become a global network of over 2000 civil society organizations.

Continental Coalitions for ICC were created in the different continents of the world for the sensitization and vulgarization of the mission of the Coalition for the ICC at the continental level, as well as to encourage or persuade countries in the different continents that had not yet ratified the Rome Statute of the ICC to do so. The Continental Coalitions for the ICC were also to see the implantation of the Coalition in different countries in the different continents, with the creation of National Coalitions for the International Court of Justice. The National Coalitions of the ICC were charged with the mission to carry out vulgarization and sensitization of local civil society organizations on the mission of the Coalition for the International Criminal Court.

National Coalition For The International Criminal Court In Cameroon

One of the first African members of the Coalition for the International Criminal Court was Cameroonian born international legal luminary, Barrister Roland Abeng, a member of the Cameroon Bar Association as well as a member of the American Bar Association. Barrister Abeng also became a member of the first Executive Committee of the African Coalition for the ICC. Roland Abeng was charged to create a national structure of the Coalition of the ICC in Cameroon. A temporary structure and an executive bureau were initially put in place, followed by the creation of a permanent structure with the amendment and adoption of the Statute on June 2, 2012, simultaneously with the putting in place of an elected Executive Bureau which passed from five to seven members.

The Executive Bureau of the Cameroon Coalition for the ICC had as National Coordinator Barrister Roland Abeng of Aba – Africa Committee, with Barrister Eliezert Nguopetsuo of Afrique Justice as Secretary General. The head office of the Cameroon or National Coalition of the ICC was in Yaounde.

Unfulfilled Promises By Cameroon Gov’t

Meanwhile, the National Coalition for the ICC in Cameroon has over the years struggled hard to persuade the Cameroon Government to ratify the Rome Statute of ICC, but till date the Biya Government has not done so. At one point the Africa Coordinator of the Coalition for the ICC visited Cameroon to support the efforts of the National Coalition for the ICC. He was accompanied by the National Coordinator, Roland Abeng, and the Secretary General, Eliezert Nguopetsuo, to meet some senior Government officials, especially the Minister of External Relations, as his ministry is in fact the one charged with such a file. But as usual, all the Government officials did was repeat Government promises.

The fun with the Cameroon Government in this whole thing is that the Government has never said no. That is, the Government has never said that Cameroon does not want to ratify the Rome Treaty of the ICC. Rather Government officials always say that a decision will soon be taken or that Cameroon will ratify the Rome Statute soon, but then nothing happens.

Some dependable sources in Government say some members of the regime that are close to President Biya have been scaring him from accepting that Cameroon should ratify the Rome Statute of the ICC, with nightmarish stories that ICC might come after him for alleged crimes against humanity. Some opposition parties as well as some local human rights organizations have also been amplifying the fear with allegations that Biya and some of his men will be charged for crimes against humanity.

Suffice it to say, from the look of things, Cameroon will NOT ratify the Rome Statute of the ICC as long as the Biya regime or Government is in power.