Gambia accused the International Criminal Court of ignoring “war crimes” Tuesday as it withdrew from the institution Tuesday, following in the footsteps of South Africa and Burundi, which withdrew from the court earlier this month.
Gambia's Information Minister Sheriff Bojang accused the court system of being racist and unfairly targeting Africans for prosecution.
All but one of the 10 investigations launched so-far by the ICC have taken place in African countries, leading some in Gambia to believe it was ignoring crimes in other countries.
"There are many Western countries, at least 30, that have committed heinous war crimes against independent sovereign states and their citizens since the creation of the ICC and not a single Western war criminal has been indicted," the Gambian government said in a statement.
Earlier this week, Gambian President Yahya Jammeh asked the court to investigate African migrant deaths in the Mediterranean Sea. In its statement, Gambia said it asked the court to bring charges against the European Union over the migrant deaths, but received no response.
冈比亚星期二指责国际刑事法院无视“战争罪行”,因此要退出这个国际机构;成为继南非,布隆迪本月早些时候退出后,又一个退出国际刑事法院的非洲国家。
冈比亚资讯部长博江指责国际刑事法院种族歧视,以不公正的方式针对非洲人进行起诉。
国际刑事法院的10项调查9项涉及非洲国家, 因此一些冈比亚人认为国际刑事法院无视其他国家发生的罪行。
冈比亚政府在声明中说,“自国际刑事法院成立以来,很多西方国家,至少有30个,对其他独立主权国家和它们的公民犯下罪行,但是没有一个西方战争罪犯被起诉。”
冈比亚总统叶海亚∙贾梅本周早些时候要求国际法院调查非洲移民死于地中海的事件。冈比亚政府在声明中说,他们要求法院起诉欧洲联盟,但是未收到回复。
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