WASHINGTON, DC: The world deserves a supranational and neutral international court in which political interests and stakeholders are unable to deter investigations into the actions of leaders who sanction murder and other inhumane acts.
Omar El-Bashir may be our chance to empower such a court.
If the International Criminal Court (ICC) is able to bring Sudan’s president, Omar El-Bashir, to justice, its legitimacy will increase. This would give it more power, as a court independent of the United Nations or other international organizations, to investigate and bring to justice the perpetrators of war crimes at the highest levels.
In 1991, eight years into a bloody conflict between the Sudanese government and rebels in southern Sudan, Omar El-Bashir became president of Sudan. In the years that followed, El-Bashir was involved in government-led and government-backed violence, murder, rape, and pillaging communities in southern Sudan. Today’s estimates of the death toll are as high as two million people dead with up to 2.5 million people internally displaced.
Meanwhile in 2002, the Rome Statute stipulated the formation of the ICC, capable of bringing individuals to justice for the perpetration of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide. The court, however, could only investigate war crimes committed from July 2002 onwards.
Less than a year after the court’s ratification, rebels in Darfur, a largely Muslim and non-Arab region in western Sudan, launched a rebellion against the Sudanese government. El-Bashir’s response was brutal. In less than five years, most news agencies and advocacy groups already had reported between 200,000 and 400,000 dead in Darfur.
Outcries against the killings in southern Sudan, where the majority of people are Christians and animists, compelled the United States in 2003 to mediate between El-Bashir and the southern rebel groups, leading to a 2005 agreement and an end to murders of non-Arab populations in the south. El-Bashir, however, remained in power and led a regime that was known to have systematically killed and starved its own population, regardless of their affiliation.
While many in the West have viewed the conflict as a Muslim government targeting non-Muslim Sudanese, and while many in the Muslim world have viewed the ICC as having played into the hands of the Western leadership, the reality is much more complicated. What is clear, however, is that if Muslims, Christians, Arabs and westerners alike take a stand against war crimes and injustice and show support for the ICC, there may be a chance to build an effective purveyor of international justice and a safeguard for all against leaders with jarring disregard for human life.
The UN Security Council referred the case of Darfur to the ICC’s Prosecutor-General Luis Moreno-Ocampo for investigation. The ICC had previously brought charges against ministers, warlords and militia commanders – including two Sudanese Janjaweed rebel leaders last year – but never anyone higher in the chain of command. Yet, on 14 July 2008, Moreno-Ocampo, lay grounds for a change in the way international justice functions and requested for the first time that the court issue an arrest warrant against a sitting head-of-state who has not signed the Rome Statute, Sudanese President Omar El-Bashir, on ten charges of crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide.
The indictment of Omar El-Bashir would set a precedent – a crucial one – and thereby give legitimacy to this court that could provide a forum to address the systematic abuse of civilian populations by heads of state. Many countries, including China, the United States, Israel and most Middle Eastern governments, have yet to ratify the Rome Statute. The only way to open an investigation of war criminals in any of these states is if the UN Security Council refers such a case to the ICC – as was the case of investigating El-Bashir in Sudan.
The case against El-Bashir was presented to the multinational judicial division of the court and is awaiting further decision. The allegations have been refuted by Sudan’s government, ignored by the US government, and rejected by the Arab League, China and the African Union.
In order to extend the reach of this court further, the ICC requires support from the international community. This support will only come from the widespread ratification of the ICC, helped along with the encouragement of global citizens in all countries.
The world deserves a court that will bring uncompromising, and undiscriminating justice against war criminals. The global community must not allow this chance for true change on the global stage to pass.
Danny Anas Kaysiis a student at the Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution at George Mason University. This article was written for the Common Ground News Service (CGNews) and can be accessed at www.commongroundnews.org.
