New York — The International Criminal Court's decision to issue an arrest warrant against President Omar al-Bashir of Sudan is a major step toward justice for the victims of Darfur and in the development of international justice, the International Center for Transitional Justice said today.
"The court made clear that heads of state are not beyond the reach of the law," said Juan E. Méndez, president of ICTJ. "It is telling the world that government leaders can and should be held accountable for their actions."
A three-judge panel issued the warrants at the request of the court's prosecutor, charging President Bashir with crimes against humanity and war crimes, for actions in Sudan's Darfur region. The United Nations Security Council in 2005 referred the Darfur situation to the court's prosecutor for investigation. In July 2008, the prosecutor requested an arrest warrant against President Bashir. The judges, rejecting one part of the prosecutor's request, decided against charging President Bashir with genocide.
"The first, necessary step toward peace in Darfur is to pay attention to victims' need for justice," Méndez said. "The arrest warrant -- and taking Bashir into custody and then bringing him to trial -- will show that Sudan's government cannot evade responsibility for its actions."
Sudan's government has wrongly argued in the past that actions by the ICC would undermine the Darfur peace process of put victims in greater jeopardy. "The reality about the peace process for Darfur is that no serious peace process exists," Méndez said. "We know from history that silence in the face of atrocities does not prevent further crimes. The warrant could be an opportunity for the first real progress in Darfur."
The government of Sudan must cooperate with the international community by protecting civilians, allowing humanitarian assistance as well as by entering into serious peace talks, ICTJ said.
Sudan's government should also fulfill its obligations to respect the life and liberty of Sudanese citizens who have cooperated with the ICC or believe the ICC should act in their country.
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The International Criminal Courts decision to issue an arrest warrant against Sudan President Omar al-Bashir is excellent news. What is most disconcerting and what raises questions about how this decision will play out is where has the International Criminal Court been in the course of all of the atrocities which have taken place in Sudan, most notably Darfur? The referral of the Darfur nightmare by the U.N. Security Council to the courts prosecutor in 2005 resulted in three years of foot-dragging. In July of 2008 the ICC prosecutor requested an arrest warrant against President Bashir, but the judges of the ICC rejected one part of the prosecutors request and so threw out the entire matter, being unwilling to charge President Bashir with genocide.
Now Juan E. Mendez of the International Center for Transitional Justice is telling the world that government leaders can and should be held responsible for their actions.
What in the name of all that is sacred have the ICC and ICTJ, as well as the U.N. been doing for these many years while hundreds of thousands of innocents have lost their lives? Is it the election of the new American president which has precipitated this long-delayed action finally to take place?
As this process goes forward the world must keep its eyes on the ICC, the ICTJ and the U.N. and hold them accountable. These organizations are gravely suspect in this outrageous allowance of what has amounted to genocide and, dare we say it, organized population control ... but at whose behest? Who has thwarted these welcome actions until now and why? Perhaps these organizations which could have done something before now should also be tried for crimes against humanity.
Lest we forget, the five Bulgarian nurses and the Palestinian doctor who injected babies with the HIV virus in Libya and the attempted kidnapping of children in Chad by a French organization are still highly troubling -- and they are because both the American and the French presidents, after the Bulgarians and the doctor were convicted of murder, intervened to the tune of millions and millions of dollars to get these murderers released. And they were. We must not forget the past wherever genocide has reared its head. We must not.
International Center for Transitional Justice (New York)
Would you consider an ICC arrest warrant against Bush, Blair, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz .. a major step toward justice for the victims of Iraq and Afghanistan and in the development of international justice?
There in no evidence that you have considered such a move seriously. And I get an impression that you are duplicitous and morally bankrupt.