Member Country News
On 14 March, the Republic of Madagascar formally joined the International Criminal Court (ICC) by depositing its instrument of ratification to the Rome Statute, the founding treaty of the ICC, at the United Nations. Madagascar is the 106th state party, and the 30th African state to join the Court.
“As the International Criminal Court presses on with its four investigations on the continent–Uganda, DRC, Darfur and the Central African Republic–it is now crucial that African nations join in solidarity with victims of these brutal crimes to ensure justice nationally and internationally,” said Brigitte Suhr, director of regional programs for the Coalition for the International Criminal Court. “Madagascar’s ratification today brings us one important step closer to universal support for the ICC in Africa.”
Madagascar’s ratification of the Rome Statute comes almost ten years after the state initially signed the treaty on 18 July 1998, one day after the historic adoption of the Rome Statute. A number of legal and constitutional hurdles delayed the process.
Civil society organizations in Madagascar played a significant role in campaigning for the ratification of the Rome Statute and the adoption of the constitutional referendum allowing ratification. Civil society was also instrumental in broadly publicizing the referendum once it had been adopted in order to put further pressure on the government to finalize the ratification process.