The Office of the Prosecutor: Seeking Justice or Serving Global Imperialism?

Abstract

The international criminal courts and tribunals, especially the icc, have been strongly criticized for their susceptibility to political influence. Some have argued that the icc has a distinctly Western bias and is participating in a new kind of imperialism in Africa. Others argue that history and the complicity of the West should disqualify the international community from demanding the prosecution of individuals participating in conflicts resulting directly from colonialism. Many have focused on the nature of the creation of the judicial bodies and the inherent political nature of judicial decisions regarding whom to prosecute. In this article, I offer a normative defense of the icc, in which I acknowledge the icc’s structural protections against impermissible political influence, along with the vulnerabilities of the Chief Prosecutor to claims of distributive and substantive injustice.