Tunisia Becomes a Party to the International Criminal Court Statute

Tunisia has become the 116th State to become a party to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. It also acceded to the Agreement on Privileges and Immunities of the ICC. The new government of Tunisia (post the Arab Spring) submitted its instrument of accessions on Friday and the Statute will come into force for Tunisia on 1 September 2011. Tunisia’s accession is a direct result of the Arab Spring and the change of government in that country. Tunisia becomes the second Arab State (after Jordan) to become a party to the ICC Statute. It remains to be seen whether other countries in the region will follow suit. In April, it was reported that the Egyptian Foreign Minister Nabil El-Araby (on which see post below) had stated that  “Egypt is currently taking the required steps to join all United Nations agreements on human rights and to join the International Criminal Court.” No instrument of accession has been submitted yet.