Law Society deplores SA decision to abandon international court

The government is facing growing calls to reverse its decision to withdraw from the International Criminal Court.

The Law Society of SA is the latest body to express outrage at the government's decision to withdraw from the Rome Statute, which commits its signatories to recognising the court, which sits in the Netherlands, and complying with its edicts.

Minister of International Relations and Co-operation Maite Nkoana-Mashabane signed the notification of withdrawal on October 19.

The Law Society cast doubt on the government's commitment to fighting human rights abuses and promoting its victims access to legal recourse.

It cited a recent decision by the Southern African Development Community to deny the citizens of its member countries the right to refer disputes between themselves and their governments to the SADC tribunal without first referring them to a national court.

South Africa is joined in the decision to withdraw from the Rome Statute by Burundi and Gambia.

The government has argued that South Africans would not be preju-diced by the decision to withdraw from the ICC because internal courts were sufficiently strong and were independent.