New York, 8th August 2019 – The Office of the Legal Counsel of the African Union held a workshop with the Legal Advisors of the African Group Members of the United Nations in New York to discuss the scope and application of the principle of Universal Jurisdiction, which is on the Agenda of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) since it’s 64th Session.

The mentioned principle allowed some States to claim criminal jurisdiction over crimes against humanity wherever they are committed and with no link between the accused and the State. When the topic was introduced by the African States during 2009, it was aimed at developing clear guidelines on the scope, application and parameters of the implementation of the principle of universal jurisdiction to avoid the abuse or misuse of the principle for political purposes.

Yet, for 10 years now, the matter has been stalled at the Sixth Committee and many ideas on how to move forward needed to be discussed and considered within the Group and with the African Union Commission.

On this background, the OLC led by Amb. Dr. Namira Negm, the Legal Counsel of the African Union held the workshop with the African Group in NY to come up with a strategy on how to move the issue forward and report the outcome to the Policy Organs of the African Union.

In light of these issues, the legal experts of the African Group who have a nuanced understanding of the issues that are tied to Universal Jurisdiction, held in depth legal and political discussions on how to move the debate forward in the Sixth Committee. They came up with recommendations to be put forward to the Open-Ended Ministerial Committee on International Criminal Court which is expected to be held on the sideline of the 74th meeting of the United Nations General Assembly on September 2019.

For further information contact
Directorate of Information and Communication | African Union Commission I E-mail: dic@africa-union.org I Web Site: www.au.int I Addis Ababa | Ethiopia

Follow us
Face book: https://www.facebook.com/AfricanUnionCommission
Twitter: https://twitter.com/_AfricanUnion
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/AUCommission

Learn more at:
http://www.au.int