States must arrest International Criminal Court suspects, official says at UN
The International Criminal Court (ICC) has created a working body of law since its inception and the onus is now on
States Parties to enforce the court's decisions, especially its arrest warrants, and bring in war crimes suspects so
they can face trial, Deputy Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said today.
Ms. Bensouda told journalists at United Nations Headquarters in New York that six arrest warrants - relating to four
senior members of the rebel Lord's Resistance Army in northern Uganda and two figures accused of war crimes in the
Darfur region of Sudan - remain outstanding.
She said that even though continuing conflicts present obstacles to the arrest of suspects, the interests of peace and
justice demand that States take assertive action.
"Arresting criminals in the context of ongoing conflicts is a difficult endeavour," she said. "Individuals sought by the
court are often enjoying the protection of armies or militias. Some of them are members of governments who are eager to
shield them from justice, and this is why we precisely need a very strong commitment from the international community."
Ms. Bensouda warned: "If States Parties do not actively support the Court, in this area as well as in others, then they
are actively undermining the Court."
The Deputy Prosecutor noted that the ICC's first trial - that of the Congolese militia leader Thomas Lubanga Dyilo -
will begin at the end of March next year.
"The Rome system today is in motion," she said, referring to the treaty signed in the Italian capital in 1998 which led
to the establishment of the tribunal. "The Court has made this body of law... operational, and it has transformed ideas
and concepts into a working system. The States Parties which committed to the new law are now facing a difficult
challenge: this is the challenge of enforcing the Court's decisions."
Ms. Bensouda also said the ICC's existence was having an important deterrent effect against recurring violence, citing
several examples. In Colombia, laws and proceedings against paramilitary groups were influenced by the Rome Statute, she
said, while in Côte d'Ivoire "the prospect of prosecution of those using hate speech is deemed to have kept the main
actors under some level of control."
ENDS