Navi Pillay on the ICC and accusations of bias against Africa

Navi Pillay was awarded the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize for her work promoting peace and international law. A former ICC judge and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, the South African jurist has spent decades fighting impunity, from apartheid-era abuses to the Rwandan genocide. But the International Criminal Court has faced persistent criticism in Africa, particularly Over the perception that it has So years ago, that was the African complaint, that they're being targeted Now, that's a myth and deliberately spread by those in leadership who are afraid of being targeted The ICC does not target countries. It investigates and prosecutes individuals So those individuals in political or military power who have been indicted find it very convenient to Spread fears amongst the populations in Africa that somehow this is targeting the countries concerned They're not. A larger number of investigations occurred in... In Africa, because five African countries asked the ICC to please come investigate rebel crimes committed in our territories, such as Uganda They were the one of the first So let's remember all these factors before we stereotype the court as targeting African countries And maybe some will say that maybe it's up to Africa to develop stronger regional mechanisms for prosecuting war crimes and crimes against humanity. What do you think? I agree with you. When I was High Commissioner for Human Rights, we fully supported regional initiatives such as holding trials in Africa alone. I went myself and addressed the African Union to urge them to undertake this responsibility And one of the outcomes was the African Union instructed Senegal who had custody of his son Hebra from Chad the former president of Chad, who was charged for crimes committed in the neighboring Congo territories And Senegal did put him on trial, found him guilty and he's serving a sentence there. So sometimes these regional initiatives work. We must encourage Africa to take prime responsibility Because if there are national and regional investigations the ICC will not step in. They will only step in when a country concerned is unable to investigate or is unwilling to investigate. And today with conflicts in Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo so what role can the ICC realistically play? Can it deliver justice when, for example, governments and armed groups refuse to cooperate? The lack of cooperation, both from states with regard to the execution of arrest warrants yes, is a serious business for the prosecutor How can they proceed with their cases if they're not allowed? to investigate and execute arrest warrants. So you are quite right. There's lack of cooperation there. But rebel leaders have given themselves up such as the Mali, the accused from Mali, who was charged for damaging the ancient Buddhist statues, you will remember. So sometimes they give themselves up. Sometimes they are arrested and handed over. You know, the ICC is a relatively new system. People have to understand its value. So as we look at the conflicts that you just named in Sudan and the Congo and so on, the first thing the public are crying for is for peace, justice and accountability. And therefore, there is firstly a responsibility from those states to do the investigation and prosecution of these very serious ICC crimes, and if they are unable to do so, to ask the court to intervene. And you can watch the full interview with Nobel Prize laureate Navin Pillay on our program Across Africa on France 24, also available online and on our YouTube channel.