The International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin last week for the alleged war crime of forcibly removing children from regions of Ukraine that were under Russian control and sending them to other regions of the Russian Federation.
The ICC’s arrest order for Putin has been condemned by Moscow, but it is being backed by nations assisting the Ukrainian war effort. The conflict in Ukraine is changing the geopolitical environment, and South Africa’s decision to abide by the mandate of the International Criminal Court is under scrutiny.
Putin’s ICC arrest warrant: South Africa and the court’s authority
One of the 123 nations that have ratified the Rome Statute, which created the International Criminal Court, is South Africa. This indicates that if the Russian president enters any of these 123 nations, they have the authority to have him detained.
The BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) meeting is scheduled to take place in Durban, South Africa, in August of this year. Vladimir Putin’s potential attendance at the conference is still unknown. If he does, President Cyril Ramaphosa’s administration will be faced with a challenging geopolitical conundrum.
Putin would be “welcome” in South Africa, according to Julius Malena, the leader of the Economic Freedom Fighters political party in that country. President Cyril Ramaphosa has not yet spoken.
Is there a precedence for Vladimir Putin’s ICC arrest warrant?
Omar al-Bashir, the president of Sudan, appeared in South Africa in 2015 for an African Union gathering. He was wanted by the ICC, much like Putin is right now. All of the attendees, however, were granted amnesty by the South African government. Al-Bashir had already boarded his flight home by the time the legal challenges and appeals were resolved.
On the “double standards” presented by the ICC’s Putin warrant
China has been one of the most outspoken opponents of the ICC’s arrest warrant. Beijing appealed to the International Criminal Court (ICC) earlier this week to avoid what it defined as “double standards” and preserve the immunity of heads of state.
At the same time, neither Russia nor Ukraine has signed the Rome Statute, which founded the International Criminal Court in 1998. Despite not being a signatory to the relevant agreement, it is unclear how Kyiv has granted the ICC the right to act against suspected war crimes on Ukrainian territory under Russian control since Moscow launched its attack last year.
