LA POSIZIONE DELLE ORGANIZZAZIONI REGIONALI AFRICANE E DEGLI STATI AFRICANI NEI CONFRONTI DELLA CORTE PENALE INTERNAZIONALE

African States have been the first supporters of the ICC and are the most numerous group among the ICC Member States. Nevertheless, in recent years, the African Union (AU) and numerous African States perceive the ICC as an instrument of a new form of colonialism of the main Powers, which encroach African States sovereignty through the ICC judicial activities. After the indictment of former Sudanese President Al Bashir, the AU urged the UN Security Council to defer the ICC proceedings as it impedes efforts to secure a lasting peace in that country; it decided that its Member States shall not comply with the Al Bashir arrest warrant, and developed a strategy for “collective withdrawal”. Given this backdrop, the paper first connects of this ICC’s “crisis” to the general crisis of multilateralism Then it focuses on the “positive” effects of the African criticism on the development of the ICC most recent judicial activities. It also analyses whether the mentioned Africa Union/African States’ criticism is an effort to claim their own role in managing African affairs and African crimes, and to become a more fundamental part of international politics and institutions. Finally, it ascertains whether the principle of “positive complementarity” may become a useful tool to solve the conflict between the ICC and African States.