South Africa’s actions in allowing Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir to depart from the country in defiance of a court order has dealt a grave blow to victims’ rights and international justice‚ the International Centre for Transitional Justice (ICTJ) said on Tuesday.
It said the South African government had allowed Bashir’s departure in blatant breach of its obligations under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC).
There was now no immediate possibility of Bashir’s arrest and transfer to the ICC to face charges of war crimes‚ crimes against humanity and genocide‚ the New York-based organisation added.
"The actions of the South African government have dealt a grave blow to the rights of victims of atrocities in Darfur and to the prospects of establishing a credible system of international criminal justice through the ICC‚" said David Tolbert‚ president of the ICTJ.
He said the action was consistent with the established tone of the African Union’s claims the ICC was persecuting African states.
These claims ignored the fact that Uganda‚ the Democratic Republic of Congo‚ the Central African Republic‚ and Mali had all "referred the situations in their own countries to the ICC".
Moreover‚ two different Ivorian governments had confirmed the recognition of the ICC’s jurisdiction to enable it to investigate crimes alleged to have occurred in Cote d’Ivoire‚ Tolbert said.
The UN Security Council had referred the situations of Darfur and Libya – the latter with a unanimous vote of all 15 members of the UN Security Council. Of the eight ICC situation countries‚ only Kenya was subject of an investigation as a result of the ICC Prosecutor’s own initiative.
"While there is no doubt that the African Union has been successful in rallying leaders of African states to decry the ICC as an instrument of neo-colonialism‚ the fact remains that the court has acted almost exclusively on the request of different African states themselves or the UN Security Council.
"The position of the African Union‚ and today the decision by the South African government‚ present the single biggest threat to the decades-long struggle to respect the victims of human rights abuses‚" Tolbert asserted.
"Whatever the criticisms of the efficiency and impact of the ICC‚ the African Union runs the risk of establishing itself as the single most effective ‘Impunity Club’ in the world‚ using sham arguments to screen high-level suspects and obstruct the pursuit of justice‚" he added.
"It is sad that South Africa‚ so long seen as a global example in progress towards peace through measures of truth‚ justice and dignity‚ should undermine the cause of justice for so many victims."
SA’s allowing Bashir to leave country a ‘grave blow’ to victims’ rights
It said the South African government had allowed Bashir’s departure in blatant breach of its obligations under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC).
There was now no immediate possibility of Bashir’s arrest and transfer to the ICC to face charges of war crimes‚ crimes against humanity and genocide‚ the New York-based organisation added.
"The actions of the South African government have dealt a grave blow to the rights of victims of atrocities in Darfur and to the prospects of establishing a credible system of international criminal justice through the ICC‚" said David Tolbert‚ president of the ICTJ.
He said the action was consistent with the established tone of the African Union’s claims the ICC was persecuting African states.
These claims ignored the fact that Uganda‚ the Democratic Republic of Congo‚ the Central African Republic‚ and Mali had all "referred the situations in their own countries to the ICC".
Moreover‚ two different Ivorian governments had confirmed the recognition of the ICC’s jurisdiction to enable it to investigate crimes alleged to have occurred in Cote d’Ivoire‚ Tolbert said.
The UN Security Council had referred the situations of Darfur and Libya – the latter with a unanimous vote of all 15 members of the UN Security Council. Of the eight ICC situation countries‚ only Kenya was subject of an investigation as a result of the ICC Prosecutor’s own initiative.
"While there is no doubt that the African Union has been successful in rallying leaders of African states to decry the ICC as an instrument of neo-colonialism‚ the fact remains that the court has acted almost exclusively on the request of different African states themselves or the UN Security Council.
"The position of the African Union‚ and today the decision by the South African government‚ present the single biggest threat to the decades-long struggle to respect the victims of human rights abuses‚" Tolbert asserted.
"Whatever the criticisms of the efficiency and impact of the ICC‚ the African Union runs the risk of establishing itself as the single most effective ‘Impunity Club’ in the world‚ using sham arguments to screen high-level suspects and obstruct the pursuit of justice‚" he added.
"It is sad that South Africa‚ so long seen as a global example in progress towards peace through measures of truth‚ justice and dignity‚ should undermine the cause of justice for so many victims."
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