Assembly/AU/Dec.616 (XXVII) Page 2 5. 2 TAKES NOTE of the upcoming session of the 15th Assembly of the States Parties of the ICC (ASP) scheduled to take place in November 2016 in The Hague and DECIDES that: i) At the upcoming 15th ASP in November 2016, African States Parties to the Rome Statute of the ICC should reject the provisional amendment to rule 165 of the Rules of Procedure and Evidence adopted by the judges of the International Criminal Court during their 34th plenary session as this will increase prejudice, may be used to circumvent substantive rights enshrined in the Rome Statute and remove the possibility of the checks and balances in the form of a dissenting opinion; ii) African States Parties to the Rome Statute of the ICC should reject during the consideration and adoption of the draft ICC Action Plan on Arrest Strategies any provision that includes language requiring the UNSC to mandate UN Peacekeeping missions to enforce ICC arrest warrants in Africa because the exercise of arrest is a sovereign power that cannot be delegated to any other authority; iii) The Open Ended Ministerial Committee should: a) Engage the United Nations Security Council as mandated by the Assembly before the January 2017 Ordinary Session of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government and before the upcoming 15th Assembly of States Parties (ASP) in November 2016; b) 2Implement c) Conclude its work on the review of the ICC’s interpretation of its power pursuant to Article 93 of the Rome Statute that allows the latter to impose on the 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; d) In its engagement with UNSC, the Assembly of State Parties to the Rome Statute and other stakeholders on AU concerns on the activities of the ICC in Africa, convey that the AU member states object to the inclusion of Decision Assembly/AU/Dec.590 (XXVI) adopted by the 26 th Ordinary Session held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in January 2016 on the development of a comprehensive strategy including on a collective withdrawal from the ICC to inform the next action of AU Member States that are also parties to the Rome Statute; Reservations entered by Burkina Faso, Cabo Verde, Democratic Republic of Congo and Senegal.