Assembly/AU/Dec.590(XXVI) Page 3 undertake consultations with a view to submitting their respective representatives to serve on the Bureau; 11. 12. ii) The Permanent Representatives’ Committee (PRC) be mandated to approve and provide the adequate resources to the Commission, through the Office of the Legal Counsel, to support the work of the Open ended Ministerial Committee in pursuing all political, legal, and strategic avenues in addressing AU’s concerns before the United Nations, the ICC and the International Court of Justice (ICJ); iii) The Open-ended Ministerial Committee will review the ICC’s interpretation of its power pursuant to Article 93 of the Rome Statute that allows the latter to oblige State Parties to forcibly compel unwilling witnesses to testify before the ICC, with a view to rejecting witness compulsion in toto and inform the ICC and the next ASP accordingly; iv) The Open-ended Ministerial Committee’s mandate will include the urgent development of a comprehensive strategy including collective withdrawal from the ICC to inform the next action of AU Member States that are also parties to the Rome Statute, and to submit such strategy to an extraordinary session of the Executive Council which is mandated to take such decision; v) The Commission will continue to engage with relevant stakeholders within the ICC on issues raised in the various Decisions of the AU Policy Organs on the ICC; vi) The Commission, through the AU Mission in Brussels, Belgium, will serve as the secretariat to the Open-ended Ministerial Committee and provide institutional support to the African Group in The Hague, Netherlands to ensure effective coordination of its activities; REITERATES: i) The imperative need for all African States Parties to the Rome Statute of the ICC to continue to ensure that they adhere and articulate common agreed positions in line with their obligations under the Constitutive Act of the African Union; ii) Its call on all AU Member States to sign and ratify, as soon as possible, the Protocol on Amendments to the Protocol of the African Court of Justice and Human and Peoples’ Rights; REQUESTS the Commission in collaboration with all stakeholders to follow-up on this matter to ensure that the African proposals and concerns are addressed and to report to the ordinary session of the Assembly through the Executive Council scheduled for January 2017.

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