Nairobi — African countries have been urged to support the International Criminal Court to promote justice and peace.

The president of the appeals division at the ICC, Prof Daniel Nsereko, on Thursday said that Kenyans should not give credibility to the false notion that the court was a Western plot to humiliate the continent and subvert the sovereignty of states.

Prof Nsereko said the international criminal justice system sought to confront heinous conduct that violates universally shared values and offends the international community.

Heads of State

"Such conduct includes genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and aggression, which is contrary to the Charter of the United Nations," he told an International Commission of Jurists conference in Mombasa.

Prof Nsereko said even heads of State or top officials were subject to prosecution.

He said that because some countries may not have the capacity to prosecute perpetrators locally, international law had developed the universality principle to address the problem.

"This principle authorises any state to try and punish perpetrators of international crimes, irrespective of the territory where the crimes took place, the nationality of the perpetrator or the victims," he said.