7833rd Security Council Meeting: Situation in Sudan and South Sudan

Unless the impasse in Sudan’s Darfur region was broken, the five suspects indicted for grave crimes committed there would remain at large, the Chief Prosecutor of International Criminal Court warns the Security Council, at 7833rd meeting.

• Categories: Meetings & Events / Security Council
• Video Length: 01:38:38
• Production Date: 13 December 2016
• Asset Language: Arabic; Chinese; English; French; Russian; Spanish
• Personal Subject: FATOU BENSOUDA
• Corporate Name: INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT - ICC
• Subject Topical: INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURTS; INTERNATIONAL LAW; INVESTIGATION; CHEMICAL WEAPONS
• Geographic Subject: SUDAN; SOUTH SUDAN; DARFUR
• MAMS Id: 1795818
• Parent Id: 1795126

Description

Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said that Security Council resolution 1593 (2005), which had referred the Darfur situation to the Court, was intended to deliver justice for the victims, but those it had indicted continued to travel unimpeded, with some States parties to the Rome Statute failing to enforce its arrest warrants. South Africa had failed to arrest President Omar Hassan A. al-Bashir of Sudan during his visit there in June 2015, she recalled, noting also that States parties Uganda and Djibouti had been found in non-compliance after having failed to arrest the President during his visits to those countries. Given the failure to arrest the Darfur suspects, it was no surprise that new allegations of crimes continued to be reported.

Describing the Council’s own inaction as an aggravating factor, she said the open display of impunity undermined resolution 1593 (2005) and the Council’s credibility. One approach to mitigating the situation might be found in a recommendation by New Zealand, to the effect that, upon receiving a finding of non-compliance with the Court, the Council’s reaction should include a draft resolution or statement, a letter to, or a meeting with, the country concerned. The Council should also consider referring, in a separate resolution, to the Pre-trial Chamber’s 13 decisions finding non-compliance, as had been done in adopting resolution 2213 (2015) in the case of Libya.

Citing allegations that the Government of Sudan might have deployed chemical weapons, she said steps were being taken to verify whether that was true. However, it would be increasingly difficult for the Prosecutor’s Office to allocate the necessary resources to the Darfur investigation in the coming year, given the Court’s recently approved 2017 budget. She went on to note that she was forced to voice her concerns about the very same challenges on every occasion that she briefed the Council on Darfur. As long as there was no direct Council action to induce Sudan and other States to execute the Court’s arrest warrants, she said, it remained likely that she would be back next June, delivering the same message.

During the ensuing discussion, representatives of African countries, as well as their counterpart from China, emphasized the united African position regarding International Criminal Court activities. Egypt’s representative said that, while the African Union was committed to combating impunity, the Court should suspend measures against the President of Sudan. The regional bloc also urged the Council to withdraw its referral of Sudan to the Court, he added.

Angola’s representative noted with concern that a whole chapter of the Court’s report was based on allegations and reports from third sources, rather than on Court investigations. That could affect its credibility, he cautioned.

On the other hand, some countries called for greater implementation of Council resolutions on Sudan and Darfur, with France’s representative emphasizing that the reported use of chemical weapons should push the Council to greater determination in that respect.

Regarding alleged chemical weapons use, the Russian Federation’s representative stressed that the claim could not be verified without additional information, pointing out that it would have been impossible to keep such attacks quiet.

New Zealand’s representative encouraged Council members to take a more credible and consistent approach in response to future reports of non-compliance.

Sudan’s representative said the Court had been transformed into a monitoring mission with a political agenda in Darfur, as opposed to a judicial body, emphasizing that it was not qualified to achieve any sort of justice. Dismissing as fabrications, allegations of chemical weapons use by the Government of Sudan, he pointed out that the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) had renewed his country’s membership of its Executive Council for another two years.

Also speaking today were representatives of the United Kingdom, Ukraine, Uruguay, Malaysia, Japan, Venezuela, United States, Senegal and Spain.

The meeting began at 10:19 a.m. and ended at 11:57 a.m.