I agree. Why the ICC was only investigating Africa matters. One part is that the ICC doesn’t have enough perceived legitimacy or authority for stronger countries to submit to investigations; they rely on their own institutions instead, and the ICC doesn’t have the power to override that. I highly doubt anyone in 2002 honestly expected that, say, the US would support it investigating US military actions in the Middle East (and providing access to classified records for such an investigation), and letting them investigate and punish Bush and Rumsfeld for war crimes.
Five of the African countries actually (at least technically, IDK the details) invited the ICC to investigate, so it’s not clear whether there was foreign imposition there, or to what extent. And since 2016 the ICC has been expanding into investigating in other (still relatively weak) countries in other regions, and in the case of Iraq, (although it decided not to prosecute), it was actually British nationals being investigated.
So, yes, I also feel the moral illusion the OP points out, but once I know enough context, the illusion fades, and I start to see this as a piecemeal strategy of building up momentum and precedent to make it harder to countries that had previously supported the ICC in distant cases to oppose it closer to home. I don’t want to have to wait until 2050 or later for the world to fully get behind international institutions of this sort, but I don’t have a better idea for getting there faster given the world I actually currently live in.
I agree. Why the ICC was only investigating Africa matters. One part is that the ICC doesn’t have enough perceived legitimacy or authority for stronger countries to submit to investigations; they rely on their own institutions instead, and the ICC doesn’t have the power to override that. I highly doubt anyone in 2002 honestly expected that, say, the US would support it investigating US military actions in the Middle East (and providing access to classified records for such an investigation), and letting them investigate and punish Bush and Rumsfeld for war crimes.
Five of the African countries actually (at least technically, IDK the details) invited the ICC to investigate, so it’s not clear whether there was foreign imposition there, or to what extent. And since 2016 the ICC has been expanding into investigating in other (still relatively weak) countries in other regions, and in the case of Iraq, (although it decided not to prosecute), it was actually British nationals being investigated.
So, yes, I also feel the moral illusion the OP points out, but once I know enough context, the illusion fades, and I start to see this as a piecemeal strategy of building up momentum and precedent to make it harder to countries that had previously supported the ICC in distant cases to oppose it closer to home. I don’t want to have to wait until 2050 or later for the world to fully get behind international institutions of this sort, but I don’t have a better idea for getting there faster given the world I actually currently live in.