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.
“This action is warranted by the fact that the ICC, despite being called the International Criminal Court, is in fact an International Caucasian Court for the persecution and humiliation of people of color, especially Africans,” he said on state television.
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.
