Nigerian Senate asks executive to abolish war crimes pact with US News
Nigerian Senate asks executive to abolish war crimes pact with US

[JURIST] The Nigerian Senate [official website, in French] has passed a resolution calling for the executive to abolish a pact made with the United States that said neither country will turn over suspected war criminals to the Hague's International Criminal Court (ICC) [official website], which Washington opposes. The two countries signed the agreement in June 2003 under Article 98 of the Rome Statute of the ICC [official PDF text]. Although Senate resolutions are not legally binding, the Nigerian Constitution [PDF text] gives the Senate the right to rule on international treaties and the passage of this resolution reveals the Senate's growing confidence in challenging executive powers. Reuters has more.