Assembly/AU/11 (XIII) Annex II Page 22   State pursuant to a decision of the Assembly in respect of grave circumstances, namely war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity, amounts to a statement that impunity for these crimes is unacceptable to AU Member States. But there are national legal and institutional constraints on the capacity of many African states to address these crimes and to prosecute perpetrators of them. Consideration should be given to building the national legal capacity of African states to combat genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and torture. 34. As some members of International Law Commission have observed, assertion by national courts of the principle of universal jurisdiction has led to misunderstandings and to aggravation of inter-state tensions, and has given rise to perceptions of abuse on political or other grounds. African states take the view that they have been singularly targeted in the indictment and arrest of their officials and that the exercise of universal jurisdiction by European states is politically selective against them. This raises a concern over double standards, and the concern is heightened by multiple charges being brought against officials of African states in the jurisdictions of different European states. The African perception is that the majority of indictees are sitting officials of African states, and the indictments against such officials have profound implications for relations between African and European states, including the legal responsibility of the relevant European states. As one leader of a European state has intimated, the powers of investigative judges relating to indictments against officials of foreign states need to be reviewed by amending the relevant legislation. 35. Indictments issued against foreign state officials exercising representative functions on behalf of their states by low-level judges, often sitting alone without the benefit of collective knowledge and decision-making in judicial terms, tend to undermine the dignity of the state officials concerned and put at risk friendly relations between sovereign states. 36. Public issuance of indictments and warrants of arrest on an ex parte basis, instead of a summons to appear170 or equivalent measure not entailing the arrest of the addressee, of those sitting officials of African states entitled to personal and functional immunity creates an international stigma against them, undermining their dignity and that of their states, and is in violation of certain of their fundamental rights, in particular the presumption of innocence. 37. Indictments issued by European states against officials of African states have the effect of subjecting the latter to the jurisdiction of European states, contrary to the sovereign equality and independence of states. For African states, this evokes memories of colonialism.                                                              170 This is an order from the court to appear before it which does not entail the arrest of the addressee. Version 31 March 09(FINAL)