ICC President Asks US To Join Global Criminal Court. | Nairalaw

The International Criminal Court’s top official has called on
the United States to join and support its work after Washington
recently stepped up its dispute with the global legal body.

ICC president Chile Eboe-Osuji called on the US to “join her
closest allies and friends at the table of the Rome Statute”,
referring to the court’s founding document.

“The past, present and future victims of genocide, crimes
against humanity and war crimes need her to do so,” Eboe-Osuji said
in remarks made in the US capital on Friday, released by the court
on Monday.

The United States has never joined the ICC, whose chief
prosecutor Fatou Bensouda asked judges in November 2017 to
authorise her to open a probe into alleged war crimes in
Afghanistan.

Some legal experts say the case is the Hague-based court’s most
complex and politically controversial investigation to date. It
could be the first time alleged crimes committed by US forces could
be under the spotlight.

In response, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced two
weeks ago that they would deny visas to ICC members involved in any
investigations into actions of US troops in Afghanistan or other
countries.

It was the US’s first concrete action against the ICC since the
White House threatened reprisals against the tribunal in September
last year.

But Eboe-Osuji said: “It is, with all due sense of
responsibility that I directly request the leadership of the United
States to give its support to the ICC.”

The ICC is the world’s only independent legal body set up in
2002 in The Hague to try the gravest of crimes such genocide, war
crimes and crimes against humanity.

It can however only get involved when states are unwilling or
unable to investigate themselves.

It is ruled by the Rome Statute and currently has 122 member
states. Its chief prosecutor can initiate investigations on her own
if the probe involves at least one member state — in this case
Afghanistan.

Relations with various US administrations have been strained
since the court started its work.

The US Congress in 2002 passed the American Service Members
Protection Act, which contained a number of provisions should a US
citizen ever be put before the ICC.

Also known as the “Hague Invasion Act,” one provision within the
federal law allows for the US president to authorise military force
to free any US personnel held by the ICC.

AFP

Minister Seeks Improved Allocations to Address
Environment Challenges

The Minister of Environment, Suleiman Hassan Zarma, has appealed
for improved budgetary allocation to the environmental sector, so
as to facilitate the execution of more intervention programs and
projects for diverse ecological habitats across the country.

He noted that additional budgetary funds will also enable the
ministry carry out some of its core mandate effectively, saying
“sufficient allocation of funds to the Ministry will help us raise
the level of environmental consciousness in the mind of Nigerians,
while implementing best global practices to address environmental
issues.”

The Minister made the call while defending the Ministry’s 2019
budget budget estimate before the House of Representatives
Committee on Environment and Habitat, in Abuja.
Zarma stressed that inadequate budgetary provision is hindering the
successful implementation of key projects and ecology-preservation
initiatives conceptualized by the Ministry.

He explained that the problems of desertification, erosion, and
pollution, among others, will continue to ravage Nigeria’s vast
environment if adequate funds are not provided to the Ministry and
its agencies.

Presenting the 2019 Budget estimate to the Committee, Suleiman
Zarma, explained that the environment pillar was hinged on three
basic policy objectives that include National Environment
Management, Pollution Control, Waste to Wealth, Industrial Oil
Management and Climate Change adaptation.

In this connection, he said, “the 2019 Budget Estimate that is
before the National Assembly consists of programmes and projects
that are in line with the ERGP goals. As a matter of fact, the
Ministry is among the six line Ministries, and its projects, which
are spread across the country, are critical to the life of the
citizenry.”

He added that the Ministry’s “2019 Budget of Economic Recovery
and Growth”, if properly funded and executed, will reposition the
environment, strengthen regulatory environment, create decent jobs
and livelihoods, increase forest cover, promote renewable energy
initiatives and The preparation and issuance of Green Bonds.

Zarma, also appealed to the Committee to passionately look at
the disturbing issue of inadequate office accommodation affecting
the workings of the ministry and its agencies, saying “almost all
of us are working in either borrowed or rented buildings”.

Responding, the House Committee on Environment’s Chairman, Hon.
Obinna Chidoka, supported the call for the Ministry to be given
better allocation in the 2019 budget.

”The envelope of the Ministry is too lean to enable it
meaningful impact on our environment that is highly ravaged and
devastated. We must look for ways to increase the funding of this
all important sector,” he emphasized.

Chidoka disclosed that some experts within the sector are doing
great works to address severe problems affecting the environment,
hence they should be supported and appreciated by both Government
and relevant stakeholders.

Earlier, the Heads of Agencies and Parastatals under the Federal
Ministry, while making their presentations bemoaned the lean
budgets they got in the past, soliciting the lawmakers’
intervention to remedy the ugly situation.

(Signed)
Saghir el Mohammed
Director Press
Federal Ministry of Environment