Thursday, October 31, 2013
The United Nations Security Council should reject the African
Union's request for a deferral of the International Criminal Court cases
against Kenya's leaders, Amnesty International said on Wednesday.
The rights group's statement was issued on the eve of an "interactive dialogue" on the Kenya cases.
AU representatives and the Security Council delegates arte scheduled to discuss the deferral request on Thursday.
“UN
Security Council members must not back down on the principle that
victims of the world’s most serious crimes have a right to obtain
justice," said Netsanet Belay, director of Amnesty's Africa programme.
"Kenya’s
authorities have repeatedly proven they are unable or unwilling to
deliver justice in these cases – so the ICC trials must be allowed to
proceed without further hindrance.”
The AU is urging
the Security Council to exercise its power to grant a one-year stay of
the proceedings involving President Uhuru Kenyatta and Deputy President
William Ruto.
The council can order such a deferral
only if it determines that allowing the ICC cases to proceed would be
inconsistent with maintenance of international peace and security.
Kenya
and the AU argue that the recent terror attack on the Westgate Mall
demonstrates the threat to international peace posed by al-Shabaab
militants in Somalia.
Mr Kenyatta and Mr Ruto must be
allowed to focus squarely on combating that threat rather than being put
on trial in The Hague, the AU has said.