ICC PROSECUTOR ANNOUNCES DARFUR INVESTIGATION

On June 6, 2005, the International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo took a significant step toward advancing justice in the war-wracked Sudanese province of Darfur when he announced the opening of his formal investigations in the region. The move came only two months after the United Nations Security Council’s historic decision to send the Darfur case to the ICC for investigation and prosecution.

Although Ocampo’s swift action signifies that he is taking his mandate from the Security Council very seriously, it must be juxtaposed with the continued atrocities occurring throughout Darfur. While action by the ICC is important in ensuring security and accountability in the region it will hardly, by itself, be enough to stop the killing, violence and rape that occur daily. As Ocampo plainly stated, “The investigation will require sustained cooperation from national and international authorities.”

The United States could play a pivotal role in bringing justice and security to Darfur should it choose to back up its soaring rhetoric with concrete action. On one hand, Administration officials doggedly refer to the atrocities as genocide (as recently as early-June President Bush used this very term in reference to Darfur). On the other hand, however, the Administration’s strong aversion to the International Criminal Court might very well prevent it from fully supporting the one mechanism that can provide accountability to the region.

The Bush Administration has yet to clarify whether it intends to hand over to the ICC the vast evidence it had gathered about the genocide. While these documents are not essential to the investigations, they are highly useful for the prosecution. ICC investigators already face a difficult – but not impossible – task in building legal cases against specific individuals, partially because much of the evidence compiled by the UN Commission of Inquiry and NGOs may prove inadmissible. Should the U.S. government choose to withhold its information, not only will Ocampo’s job undoubtedly be more difficult, but security in the region could very well be weakened. As Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick noted during a press briefing on May 27, 2005, the ICC’s presence in Darfur “send[s] a signal about accountability for these actions… it's a useful deterrence against others and allows us to emphasize...the need to stop the violence…”

Khartoum has already voiced its opposition.  The Sudanese Ambassador to the UK, Hassan Abdeen, stated that the “Sudan Government will not hand in any Sudanese citizens accused of committing crimes in Sudan to be the tried outside of Sudan.”   The Sudanese government argues that its own judicial system is capable of trying those accused of war crimes and that the ICC is not needed.  The Government has even hired lawyers from Britain and Kenya to advise them on how to start domestic trials. 

Of course, support from the Bush Administration for Darfur is needed far beyond the judicial realm. While the ICC investigations offer real hope for justice and security they may do very little to end the atrocities currently ravaging the region. To this point, genocide in Darfur has claimed the lives of roughly 400,000 people and forced the internal displacement of over 1.8 million Sudanese. It is estimated that an additional 500 Darfurians die every day, a number that will likely rise following the government’s recent decision to inhibit the delivery of aid by humanitarian organizations.

This makes it all the more important for the Bush Administration to improve what has been a campaign of impressive rhetoric and limited action. Accountability must be brought to Darfur through full support of ICC investigations. It must, however, be complemented by serious attempts on behalf of the international community to end the atrocities on the ground. Ocampo has gotten the ball rolling. Now it is up to President Bush and other international leaders to keep its momentum.
 

Updated March 02, 2006

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