The Secretary General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon has hailed Uganda for passing a law to operationalise the implementation of the International Criminal Court statute in Uganda.
The Parliament of Uganda
Ban Ki-moon who arrived in Uganda on Sunday was speaking after participating in a commemorative football match that also included Uganda President, Yoweri Museveni, war victims and delegates from different countries in Kampala to attend the 12-day ICC review conference which opens on Monday 31st May.
The UN Secretary General said that Uganda is one of the key supporters of the UN led International Criminal Court, which the East Africa country demonstrated by recently enacting an ICC law.
The Parliament of Uganda last week passed the ICC Bill. President Museveni assented to the bill a few days ago and the ICC law is now active in Uganda, allowing the ICC laws to be duly implemented in Uganda.
Ki-moon says this act is expected to serve as an inspiration to Africa countries- on a continent where most of the IC has received criticism for indicting some leaders, especially Sudan President, Omar El basher and Democratic Republic of Congo’s Jean-Pierre Bemba.
Three Ugandans, Lord’s Resistance Army leader, Joseph Kony, Dominic Ongwen and Raska Rukwiya are already indicted by the Hague based ICC.
The passing of the ICC law will now allow for Uganda to arrest anybody indicted by the ICC and allows Uganda to meet its obligations under the Rome Statute that established the ICC in 2010.
The ICC bill was presented by Fredrick Ruhindi, the Deputy Attorney General/Minister of State for Justice & Constitutional Affairs, debated and passed by the Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee chaired by Steven Tashobya, before being presented and passed by Uganda’s Parliament.
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