Justice for Darfur

January 15, 2009 at 6:38 PM

In the next few weeks, the International Criminal Court (ICC) is expected to hand down its decision about indicting Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir on charges of genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes.  Organizations such as the African Union and the Arab League are lobbying the UN Security Council to implement Article 16 of the Rome Statute, which would suspend any deliberations on the case against Bashir for a year with the possibility of an annual renewal.

 

We need to be wary of using the possibility of International Criminal Court indictments as a carrot and stick in seeking to end the conflict in Darfur.  Deferring the case of Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir sets up a catastrophic precedent whereby politics dictates the course of justice.  Amnesty International has advocated against such interference in the ICC from the court’s inception.

 

More importantly, we must not forget what Darfuris directly affected by nearly six years of state-sponsored terror want – justice.  Tens of thousands of Darfuris have signed petitions asking that the case against Bashir not be deferred.  We must listen to them.

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11 thoughts on “Justice for Darfur”

  1. The ICC, and international law, is first and foremost concerned with the protection of human rights and accountability for those who abuse them. Thank you, Ms. Bell, for pointing out that politics should not stand in the way of accountability. It would be nice if this same theory applied to the US and those war criminals of the Bush administration be treated the same way. Does AI support such international prosecution? I haven't heard it.

  2. The Indictment of President Al-Bashir and others in His Government should not be Politicized. The Efforts to have this Indictment surely are. The longer that this situation is not resolved the greater the chance that the Situations in Chad and the Central African Republic will continue to grow worse.

    i haven't heard about any support by AI in favor of or Support for any actions that have been taken regarding any War Crimes committed by the outgoing Administration. The way that I understand the Rome Statute is that the Country would have to be unwilling or unable to render such Prosecution. And since the US has a veto on the Security Council I don't expect one either.

  3. The ICC, and international law, is first and foremost concerned with the protection of human rights and accountability for those who abuse them. Thank you, Ms. Bell, for pointing out that politics should not stand in the way of accountability. It would be nice if this same theory applied to the US and those war criminals of the Bush administration be treated the same way. Does AI support such international prosecution? I haven’t heard it.

  5. The Indictment of President Al-Bashir and others in His Government should not be Politicized. The Efforts to have this Indictment surely are. The longer that this situation is not resolved the greater the chance that the Situations in Chad and the Central African Republic will continue to grow worse.

    i haven’t heard about any support by AI in favor of or Support for any actions that have been taken regarding any War Crimes committed by the outgoing Administration. The way that I understand the Rome Statute is that the Country would have to be unwilling or unable to render such Prosecution. And since the US has a veto on the Security Council I don’t expect one either.

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