Sudan, Justice And Peace: Ensuring Sudan Complies With International Law
By Sara Darehshori, Senior Counsel, International Justice Program, Human Rights Watch and Suliman Baldo, Africa
Director, the International Center for Transitional Justice
Monday's request by the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court for an arrest warrant charging President Omar
al-Bashir of Sudan with crimes against humanity and genocide is generating enormous debate and controversy. Diplomats
express increasing concern that the arrest warrant will endanger the work of humanitarian organizations and peacekeepers
in Sudan.
But the actor holding the key to these issues is Sudan's government. It is up to the international community - beginning
with the UN Security Council - to ensure that Sudan complies with international law by being prepared to hold the
government accountable for retaliatory attacks against peacekeepers and aid workers.
Official spokespersons for President Bashir's government and the ruling National Congress Party took a threatening
stance even before the prosecutor's formal request. They accuse chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo of serving not
justice but Western political interests. They reject the court's jurisdiction and, with no hint of irony, gravely warn
that arrest warrants will destroy the chances of peace in Darfur. But there is no peace in Darfur.
Sudanese officials, including President Bashir, have cited their commitment to a peacekeeping force deployed in Darfur
by the United Nations and the African Union, and to protecting humanitarian workers and peacekeepers. They are quick to
say that that the ICC's action threatens these commitments.
The international community should stand ready to respond to any retaliatory measures against international peacekeeping
or humanitarian operations. International law requires full, safe and unhindered access of relief personnel to all those
in need in Darfur as well as the delivery of humanitarian assistance.
Deliberate targeting of peacekeepers or humanitarian workers is a war crime.
Rather than back away from its commitment to ending impunity for horrific international crimes, the Security Council
should ensure Sudan's government fulfills its obligations to provide unhindered access to humanitarian workers and
peacekeepers to those in need. If Sudan conducts reprisal attacks against UN or relief personnel because of Monday's
announcement, the Security Council should hold accountable those responsible for the violence. UN member states with
information that could help identify perpetrators should share it with UN investigators.
For more than a year Khartoum has thumbed its nose at the Security Council. It was the Security Council that in 2005
asked the ICC's prosecutor to investigate the situation in Darfur.
In 2007, the court issued arrest warrants for two Sudanese for crimes against humanity and war crimes. Last September,
during the UN Secretary-General's visit to Sudan, the government showed its contempt for international law by appointing
one of the two to co-chair a committee designated to hear human rights complaints. More recently, instead of turning
over the fugitives, officials in Khartoum called for the arrest of the ICC prosecutor.
The Security Council must not allow itself to be blackmailed. Moreno-Ocampo last month told the Council of repeated
large-scale attacks in the Darfur region against civilians, systematic rapes, the usurpation of land and the
disintegration of entire communities. He said he was likely to pursue charges against government authorities 'at the
highest level' as the crimes clearly indicated a plan based on mobilisation of the entire state apparatus. The Council
responded by unanimously calling on Sudan's government to cooperate with the court.
With the request for warrants against Bashir, the stakes have gone up. The Council, however, must stand firm. If the
government of Sudan is allowed to use threats of additional violence and further crimes to defer or even dispel the
possibility of justice, the victims of Darfur are ultimately betrayed.
ENDS