By Emanuele del Rosso
If someone from Fox News takes a strong position on a political issue, something really serious must be happening:
Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir is allegedly responsible for crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide. The International Criminal Court issued a warrant for his arrest in 2009.
Of course, van Susteren, the host of the programme “On the Record with Greta van Susteren”, is not alone in blaming India for its behaviour.
Still, for quite some time now, the Sudanese president has been moving around the globe, visiting countries that are States Parties of the ICC without being arrested.
Last time it was South Africa. The refusal of a State Party of the Rome Statute to hand over a wanted individual sends a strong message about the Court’s credibility.
India hasn’t ratified the Rome Statute, but it had been urged to collaborate with international justice.
The Sudanese president rolls around like a hot potato. With his simple presence, Bashir is capable of highlighting problems and raising interesting questions about the agendas of different countries, regardless of their commitments to international treaties.
According to an interview in The Hindu, India is the second largest exporter to Sudan. During his visit, Bashir talked about major new projects and collaborations for the future. All of that would have fallen apart if India had arrested the president.
China isn’t keen on apprehending the Sudanese leader either. According to the same article, 31% of Sudan’s imports come from there.
There’s a seven-year-old tweet that can help us understand what, in fact, is an old truth and to find the answer to India’s failure to arrest Bashir:
So…
- Will Bashir ever be arrested?
- How can the ICC convince countries to arrest him?
- Do you thing this is undermining the credibility of the Court?
Lead image: Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir addresses delegates at the India-Africa summit in New Delhi (Photo: Money Sharma/AFP)
The Weekly Hubble features the most popular or controversial international justice story of the past week and reactions on social media to the news.
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