Global Amnesty Watch, GAW, an International human rights organisation, Monday, urged the Federal Government to exit the International Criminal Court, ICC, saying it was the only way that on-going war against terrorism in the country could be won without repercussions.
The Geneva based group made the call in a communique it issued at the end of the 2nd International Human Rights Conference on Local Armed Conflict in Nigeria, held in Abuja.
The conference, with the theme: “Assessing Nigeria’s response to the global security threats & its implications for world peace”, was organised in partnership with Institute for African Studies, University of Nigeria, Nsukka.
The group berated the Amnesty International which it accused of hampering the fight against Boko Haram by constantly blackmailing the Nigerian military with the ICC.
It said: “The International Criminal Court is constantly used to harass and intimidate military commanders and troops to discourage them from being committed to defeating Boko Haram. The myriads of false reports from Amnesty International and other groups usually have built in texts that threaten military personnel with arraignment for war crimes and crimes against humanity before the International Criminal Court.
“It was noted that South Africa, Burundi, Kenya and the Gambia are countries that have taken different steps towards exiting the court created by the Rome Statute because of its confirmed selective justice and usage as a tool for modern day colonialism.
“We demand that the Federal Government immediately activate the necessary steps for Nigeria to exit the Rome Statute and its creation, the International Criminal Court, to ensure that the military can fight terrorism without the cloak of blackmail constantly hanging over them.
“The Government must in the interim, assure that the military is insulated from the International Criminal Court in view of its operations meeting international standard of rules of engagement”.
Security experts at the conference further okayed the setting up of a special task team to review and respond to any report emanating from Amnesty International, UNICEF and/or their associates.
“The task team is to help citizens understand when they are being willfully misled by these entities. The task team is made up of representatives from the CSOs that attended the conference.
“During the conference, participants and resource persons evaluated Nigeria’s war on terrorism in the three years from 2015 till date, the period the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration has been in office.
“According to them, the war against terrorism made progress in the three years under review during which senior commanders of the terror group have been killed arrested or surrendered; remnants of the group have resorted to sporadic cross border raids – they launch attacks from neighboring Niger, Chad and Cameroon as well as retreat back to these places once the Nigerian military is in pursuit.
“It is regrettable that there has been a stall in the efforts to totally eradicate Boko Haram insurgents owing to several external interference.
“These interference include strategic support for the terrorists by international NGOs like Amnesty International and other groups representing its interests in Nigeria and the failure of Nigeria’s neighbors to honor international and regional commitments.
“The support from these NGOs has ensured that Boko Haram continues to get sympathy to use as propaganda for recruiting and radicalizing new members and continue to attempt occasional attacks on soft targets. It has in this regard moved from using hardened fighters to deploying underage girls that are able to evade security scrutiny to carry out attacks”, read the Communique which was signed by Chairman and Secretary of the drafting committee, Dr. Mutiullah Olasupo and Maxwell Gowon, respectively.
Local and international speakers at the conference included the President of GAW, Mr. David Falt, Professor Pita Ogaba Agbese, University of Northern IOWA, [USA]; Mary Johnson, Human Rights lawyer, [USA]; Dr Malfouz Adedimeji, former Director, Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies, University of Ilorin Kwara State and Mr. Stuart McGhie, senior, expert/practitioner in Humanitarian Law, London.
Others were Professor Emmanuel O. Ezeani of the Conflict Resolution and Peace Building Unit, Institute of African Studies, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Enugu State and Dr. Udenta O. Udenta as the conference moderator.
