ESQ Legal Practice Magazine JUNE 2014 EDITION | Page 32

ICC CONFIRMS
CHARGES AGAINST
FORMER IVORY
COAST PRESIDENT

T

he
International
Criminal
Court (ICC)
[official
website] on Thursday
confirmed charges
[decision, PDF; press
release] against
former
Ivo

ry Coast president Laurent
Gbagbo [BBC profile; JURIST
news archive], referring him
for trial. Gbagbo faces four
charges of crimes against
humanity including murder,
rape and persecution. After
reviewing evidence, including
statements from more than
100 witnesses and 22,000
pages of documents, the pretrial chamber concluded that
there is sufficient
evidence to support
Gbagbo's criminal
responsibility for
violence following
his 2010 election
defeat. Gbagbo
remains in
detention
[JURIST

report], and a trial has yet to
be scheduled.
The ICC issued a warrant for
Gbagbo's arrest on charges of
crimes against humanity
[JURIST report] in November
2011. In November 2010
Gbagbo ran for reelection
against former prime minister
Alassane Ouattara [BBC
profile]. The EU recognized
that Ouattara defeated
Gbagbo, but Gbagbo refused
to concede victory. Gbagbo
has been accused [JURIST
report] of starting a civil war
after losing the presidency,
which resulted in 3,000 deaths
and one million people
displaced.

REPORT: WEST
AFRICAN GOVERNMENTS
SHOULD DECRIMINALIZE
DRUG USE

W

est African
governments
should
decriminaliz
e drug use
and treat it as a public health
issue, according to a report
[text, PDF] published
Thursday by the West Africa
Commission on Drugs
[advocacy website]. The report
also recommends that
governments try to confront
corruption so that traffickers
cannot exploit corrupt
officials. The report,
commissioned by former UN

www.esqlaw.net

secretary-general Kofi Annan,
states, "[w]e believe that the
consumption and possession
for personal use of drugs
should not be criminalised.
Experience shows that
criminalisation of drug use
worsens health and social
problems, puts huge pressures
on the criminal justice system
and incites corruption." The
commission also noted that,
while West Africa is mainly
used as a transit point for
smuggling drugs, the West
African poor are now using
and suffering the effects of the

drugs that are being smuggled
to Europe and the US.
According to the report,
although data is scarce, the
most popular drug used in
West Africa is marijuana,
which the report states that is
less harmful than other
popular drugs such as cocaine
and heroine. The commission
also released a press release
[text, PDF] stating, "[w]e
caution that West Africa must
not become a new front line in
the failed 'war on drugs,'
which has neither reduced
drug consumption nor put

traffickers out of business."
West Africa is mainly used as
a transit point for trafficking
drugs to Europe. In February
2012 UN Secretary-General
Ban Ki-Moon expressed
concern [JURIST report]
"about reports stating that
terrorist groups, such as al
Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb,
have formed alliances with
drug traffickers." West Africa
has also faced criticism for
human trafficking [JURIST
backgrounder].

EsQ legal practice I 32