Lenah
Follow us
Justice Hub
  • My Justice
  • News
  • Insights
  • Justice Explained
  • About Us
No Result
View All Result
Justice Hub
  • My Justice
  • News
  • Insights
  • Justice Explained
  • About Us
No Result
View All Result
Justice Hub
No Result
View All Result

The aftermath of al-Bashir’s visit to South Africa

June 21, 2015
in Justice Explained|News
0
0
Home Justice Explained|News
FacebookTwitterLinkedInWhatsappEmail

By Niklas Jakobsson

One week after people in the world of international justice were at the edge of their seats, we’re starting to see the aftermath of Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir’s narrow escape from justice in South Africa. The event encapsulated many of the International Criminal Court’s current struggles, from state cooperation to the Court’s inability to arrest suspects. I spent most of my week perusing opinion pieces and social media posts. I decided to divide the opinions into three categories:

Blame the ICC
The Ottawa Citizen published an opinion piece by Mohammed Adam which laid the blame squarely on the ICC – highlighting the Court’s inability to prosecute anyone who is not African. 

“If there is any outrage, it should be directed at an ICC that was sworn to the pursuit of universal justice at birth, but has since pursued selective justice.”

The ICC operates in a flawed reality
An opinion piece in The Guardian gave a nuanced and sober evaluation of what went wrong in the al-Bashir-South Africa debacle. While the ICC’s argued African bias is brought up, the author’s main point boils down to this: the Court’s limitations are not of its own doing. Instead it’s a court which has to play the hand it’s been dealt. And trust me, it’s a really poor hand.

“It is not the fault of the ICC that it exists in an imperfect world where the powerful can opt in and out of human rights. Ideally, Mr. Bashir would be standing in the dock today with all other heads of state that have perpetrated illegal wars, but until that happens, the court has no mandate, and the Sudanese people will continue to suffer the double whammy of international sanctions against them for having a government they have had no say in choosing, and a president that they cannot enlist outsiders to eject because the willpower to arrest him cannot be reasonably summoned in the face of exceptionalism.”

One small step for man, a giant leap for International Justice
Regular contributor to Justice Hub, Mark Kersten, published an interesting piece on the Monkey Cage blog a few hours after the al-Bashir saga unraveled before the eyes of the world. While he looked critically at the al-Bashir case, he emerged as one of the most optimistic commentators throughout the week.

“Even the nature of Bashir’s visit suggests that the ICC isn’t an impotent institution… When he finally did depart in violation of the order against leaving the country, Bashir became the only African leader who had to flee South Africa rather than return back home.”

A closing note
Throughout the week I kept asking why? Why did South Africa decide to let Omar al-Bashir leave the country? Twitter had a few answers, some more credible than others:

Tweet.

Tweet.

Tweet.

Regardless of the actions of the South African government, court or the ICC, it is clear that all three will be held accountable in the eyes of the public. What that will lead to no one knows. All we know is that Omar al-Bashir will be ruling Sudan for an indefinite period.

So…

  • What implications will the al-Bashir saga have on the ICC?
  • Which category do you find yourself in?
  • Why do you think South Africa let al-Bashir leave?

Dr. Meddy is a cartoonist who works for Cartoon Movement. 

The Weekly Hubble features the most popular or controversial international justice story of the past week and reactions on social media to the news.

Tags: ICC (International Criminal Court)Justice NewsSudan
ShareTweetShareSendSend

Justice Hub

Justice Hub is an online platform connecting conversations about international justice.

Related Posts

Why is the Libya situation at the International Criminal Court?
Justice Explained|News

Why is the Libya situation at the International Criminal Court?

by Justice Hub
March 14, 2016
0
9

By Emanuele del Rosso Libya was a dictatorship from 1969 until 2011. Protests against the rule of Muammar Gaddafi began in...

Read more
Burundi’s Awkward — and Mostly Pointless — Farewell to the ICC

Prosecuting the Destruction of Shrines at the ICC – A Clash of Civilisations?

March 2, 2016
13
Mixed reactions to the start of the Dominic Ongwen hearing

Mixed reactions to the start of the Dominic Ongwen hearing

January 24, 2016
10
An inside look into how the ICC works

An inside look into how the ICC works

January 19, 2016
9
What is justice? The best of the series “My Justice”

Lino Owor Ogora, an advocate for the victims in northern Uganda

December 8, 2015
31

Justice Hub

Justice Hub is an online platform connecting conversations about international justice.

Justice Hub

Justice Hub is an online platform aimed at a worldwide audience of 18-35 year olds, especially in countries where people are looking for sustainable and innovative solutions to problems of justice, peace and security. Justice can feel too abstract, too often owned by experts. We make the conversations lively and accessible.

Follow Us

Quick Links

  • Featured
  • My Justice
  • News
  • Insights
  • Justice Explained
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy

 

  HPPJ Forum Login
Creative Commons Licence
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
No Result
View All Result
  • My Justice
  • News
  • Insights
  • Justice Explained
  • About Us

© 2018 Justice Hub

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Fill the forms bellow to register

*By registering into our website, you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy.
All fields are required. Log In

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In

Login

Lost password?
This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. Visit our Privacy and Cookie Policy.

REPUBLISHING TERMS

You may republish this article online or in print under our Creative Commons license. You may not edit or shorten the text, you must attribute the article to Aeon and you must include the author’s name in your republication.

If you have any questions, please email nsharafa@gmail.com

License

Creative Commons License AttributionCreative Commons Attribution
The aftermath of al-Bashir’s visit to South Africa