In Darfur, Sudan a series of atrocities have been occurring since 2003. They began when the Darfurians (of the native African ethnic group) rebelled against the government of Sudan because the government was, according to them, favoring the Arabs over the native Africans. The government as well as the Janjaweed militia suppressed this opposition quite strongly leading to many casualties. Several independent states have called this crisis genocide because over 300,000 Darfurians have been killed. (CBC News In Depth: Crisis Zone: Darfur, Sudan) The UN has not yet called this genocide, on the basis of insufficient proof.(UN Watch Action on Darfur) However, some action has been taken to preserve justice. The International Criminal Court more commonly known as the ICC has issued a warrant for the arrest and trial of Omar Al Bashir, the head of state of Sudan. Although the government has not directly perpetrated any attacks on the people of Darfur, there is, according to the ICC, overwhelming evidence that the government funded the militia. This is why Al Bashir has been charged with ten counts of crimes against humanity, five counts of war crimes and two counts of murder. In brief if Omar Al Bashir is brought to trial he will most certainly spend the remainder of his life in prison.(ICC issues a warrant of arrest for Omar Al Bashir) But therein lies the problem; the likelihood that he will in fact be brought to trial is quite slim. The ICC was created under the very noble goal of safeguarding human rights through law, however like most organizations affiliated with the UN it is rather useless. The ICC does not have any army or police forces at its command and therefore relies on member countries to capture anyone they indict (or issue a warrant for) and bring them to The Hague to be tried for their crimes. (ICC About the Court) The only problem is that in the case of Al Bashir no-one is willing to invade Sudan to capture this man because there is simply no incentive to do so. Moreover, in Africa there is a concept of unity that is not found in any other continent. Usually the African leaders will support each other and act as a unified front. In this scenario this is exactly what has happened. The African Union has publicly condemned the indictment, (African Union Refuses to Cooperate With ICC Warrant) and in recent months Al Bashir has travelled to Egypt and Quatar, who have sided with him in the matter and have refused to capture him. So clearly, Omar Al Bashir will not be brought to trial in the near future. (Al Bashir flouts war crims warrant-World News-The Guardian)

Some may believe that although the indictment was ineffective it was also harmless, and if nothing else simply a good way for the international community to take a concrete stance on a human right issue, however this logic is false. The indictment has had terrible repercussions on the state of human rights in Sudan and may even continue to have negative repercussions on the status of the ICC. Firstly, upon hearing of the indictment Al Bashir removed a large portion of the foreign aid in Darfur under the suspicion that these were ‘western spies’ attempting to gather more information to run the trial. (Sudan Ousts Aid Groups After court Peruses President- washingtonpost.com) Clearly this indictment has placed Al Bashir on the defensive, thus causing him to use the Darfurian people as a political pawn. Moreover, Sudan has removed itself from the ICC’s jurisdiction, which begs the question: if the one of the only institutions safeguarding the status of human rights in Sudan is no longer present what will be the status of human rights in this country?(World News- The guardian) Moreover, since the functioning of the ICC depends entirely upon the support from its member countries, what will be the status of the ICC if the better part of Africa, is now pitted against it due to the issuing of the indictment. And if the ICC is no longer present in the better part of this continent where will the status of human rights be in the entire continent?

In conclusion, while it is clear that Al Bashir must be brought to justice for his crimes and his blatant disregard for human rights, one must ask themselves if the indictment through the ICC is really the best way to do it. The ICC is a very fragile organization that requires the support of its member countries to function, which not only reduces its power to act but also puts it in a very precarious situation. Perhaps then the best way to successfully force Al Bashir out of power and to trial is through economic sanctions by countries who buy Sudan’s oil such as China, however China does not seem willing to break their lucrative engagement with Sudan.(BBC News-Africa-Chinese leader boosts Sudan ties).  Evidently this is a complex problem, and whatever the solution it will probably require the involvement of several organizations and countries. Unfortunately, as is the case with many human rights offences, the guilty parties are rarely brought to justice.