RSS FeedHappy Rome Statute Day
In addition to Canada Day, it’s also 7 years today since the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court came into force.
I’ve offered some very strong criticisms of the Rome Statute and the International Criminal Court (ICC), especially as it relates to Sudan and the Darfur Crisis. It’s not that an international judicial mechanism for addressing heinous crimes isn’t a progressive step. It’s the concern that this “justice” will be applied unequally and unevenly to different state parties.
The rule of law means that nobody is above the law, even the most powerful. And when dealing international law and the ICC, we’re unlikely to see some of the more politically contentious complaints against dominant states addressed in an equitable manner any time in the near future. This weakens the perception of the court in the developing world, and in their mind creates questions of its legitimacy.
With violence returning to the Southern Sudan, concerns about Africa’s longest civil war are also being resurrected.
An interesting and related discussion on the subject was covered recently on Change.org in What Right Do We Have to Advocate on Darfur, an interview with Neha Erasmus, who worked with NGOs in Darfur,
