The ICC: When Law Becomes Injustice
The Pretoria High Court has issued an interim order stopping Sudan's leader Omar al-Bashir from leaving the country. He is accused of committing war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide during the Darfur conflict, and has been instructed to stay in South Africa untilMonday when the court will take a decision on whether to hand over President Bashir to the International Criminal Court (ICC).
From the outset, we must be clear that all and any forms of injustice are condemned in the strongest terms. Tyrannical rulers and perpetrators of mass murder must be held accountable for their crimes, however, this rule must be applied to ALL men who fall under the above description, and not a select few.
It is with a deep sense of embarrassment that I ask a question plaguing many an educated mind: Do you think the ICC would ever pursue an Israeli, Western European or North American leader as they do Africans? From what we have witnessed, and no conjectures of hypothetical extrapolations needed, the simple answer is no.
I visited the “Current Cases” page on the ICC official website; there are 7 cases currently underway; 7 African leaders currently being tried; 7 men of colour being tried. It is never in the interest of progressiveness to propagate racist ideals when the motives do not exist, and some people may argue that if these are the men guilty of war crimes they are the ones who should be tried. I agree completely, any man who orchestrates gross human rights violations of another man deserves to be held accountable. However, knowledge of current world affairs makes it all too transparent that African leaders are not the only men who need to be hounded by the ICC.
Why is George W Bush not being tried, the man who led a modern day crusade against Iraq and Afghanistan with fabricated motives and is responsible for the complete destruction of those countries? Supported by his cronie in savagery Tony Blair, the Washington DC-based Physicians for Social Responsibility (PRS) released a landmark study this year concluding that the death toll from 10 years of the “War on Terror” since the 9/11 attacks is at least 1.3 million, and could be as high as 2 million.