The International Criminal Court is a “hobbled creature,” unable to bring to justice perpetrators of crimes against humanity, writes International Affairs columnist Jonathan Manthorpe’s. It’s under-resourced, shunned by China, Russia, and America, and under attack by critics with much to gain who say it’s a tool of western neo-colonialism, and biased against Africa. An excerpt of Manthorpe’s new column, Tyrants trump under-resourced International Criminal Court:
When the International Criminal Court came to life in 2002 it was touted as a place where tyrants and their underlings would be brought to account for genocide and crimes against humanity.
But the ICC, based in The Hague, has never gained altitude. The limits on its powers and its inability to fulfil even its restricted mandate were put on display this month by the court’s chief prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda. On Dec. 5 she withdrew charges of crimes against humanity lodged against Kenya’s president, Uhuru Kenyatta. A week later, Dec. 12, Bensouda said she will “hibernate” investigations into crimes against humanity in the Sudanese region of Dafur, in which President Omar al-Bashir and some of his officials were charged with genocide and war crimes in 2008.
Bensouda’s climb-downs came as representatives of the 122 countries involved in the ICC, the Assembly of States, met in New York. It was not a happy meeting. The ICC’s budget was cut, Kenya led a charge accusing the court of being biased against African heads of state, and the Palestinian Authority achieved observer status with the intention of suing Israel for war crimes when it achieves full membership … Log in to read Tyrants trump under-resourced International Criminal Court (subscription*).
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