Saints, Sinners And The Law

As the new and permanent International Criminal Court’s first prosecutor my mission is to put an end to the prevailing impunity in genocide cases, crimes against humanity and war crimes; as well as to contribute to the prevention of future crimes. While the Court’s jurisdiction covers the world, today I am writing about Darfur and why the Court can make a difference there.

There are those in the world who answer violence with forgiveness. Archbishop Desmond Tutu, an architect of reconciliation in a post-apartheid South Africa, is among them. He is a moral hero, a saint. I must confess that I am no saint. They may brand me a sinner, but if someone were to rape and murder my daughter I would not be capable of forgiving. No one can make me reconcile myself with a criminal. Reconciliation is an individual goal; it can be promoted, but not imposed.

But I would not kill the murderer. If I kill, then I should be punished. That is the law. We need moral heroes to show us the way, but we also need the law to control our violence. The law allows sinners to live within a community. The law gives communities the tools for ensuring coexistence and respect.

If most of us were like Desmond Tutu, the law would be unnecessary. People with such convictions can put aside their personal passions and always choose the better moral decision and therefore do not need a legal system. But if most of us are sinners... The law is an important tool for controlling violence. It is a fundamental tool for managing society’s conflicts. We need law to establish limits, and the courts to apply the law. Without law there is no society.

For the past 60 years we have tried to establish these kinds of legal limits on an international scale. The international community has committed to “never again” permit genocide or massive crimes. Nevertheless, during the past six years massive crimes have been committed in Darfur. No effort at negotiation has been able to stop the crimes.

Most villages have been destroyed. There are 2.2 million inhabitants of Darfur living in refugee camps. They are dying slowly. Since March 2003, Sudan’s President Omar Hassan al-Bashir has attacked them in their own homes; the women and children have been raped, their livestock stolen and their water supplies destroyed. They have been displaced. Who protects the victims when it is the president who orders the crimes?The international community is sending large-scale humanitarian aid to keep them alive. Bashir has adopted a new strategy for completing his extermination. Since the international community has been monitoring, fewer mass graves have been found, there has been less shelling and direct killings have decreased. His new extermination methods include mass violence against women and girls, famine, disrupting the distribution of humanitarian aid, killing millions slowly.

It was not clear to anyone that the delay in granting visas to the personnel bringing humanitarian aid was part of the extermination campaign. No one saw the connection between the accumulation of bureaucratic requirements for the authorizations of food aid transports and the commission of massive crimes. Nevertheless, thousands die every month in refugee camps.

On March 4, 2009 the International Criminal Court found that Bashir should be arrested to be brought to justice for his crimes, the killings and the extermination. Sudan, according to international law, is required to execute the arrest warrant within its territory. If it does not make the arrest, the United Nations Security Council, which referred the case to the International Criminal Court, would have to see that the order is carried out. The moment Bashir travels outside of his country he would be arrested. Like Slobodan Milosevic or Charles Taylor, his future will be one of facing justice. This may happen in two months or in two years, but he will be submitted to justice.

The Court is permanent, so we can wait, but the victims cannot. To prevent the continuation of crimes we need to act now. After the Court’s decision, Bashir expelled humanitarian aid organizations, another move in the extermination process. The question is not what Bashir will do next? He will continue to commit crimes.

The question is what the rest of the world will do? The crimes in Darfur have gone on because the international community has had manifold priorities and has never delivered a clear, strong or unified message. If the international community united itself, the extermination would cease. But the message should be truthful: what is happening in Darfur is not a humanitarian crisis; it is extermination.

The Court is not asking international forces to intervene... but neither does it want to ignore what has taken place. It is necessary for all the players to act together, denouncing the crimes, Bashir’s responsibility and acknowledging the need to arrest him. The presidents of Argentina and Brazil have already set their guidelines refusing to meet with him at any international gatherings.

This is a new chapter of history. It could prove to be another chapter of missed opportunities or that of a new era: of global leaders united to prevent massive crimes. What’s at stake are the lives of 2.5 million people, and also our future as a global community, our ability to use the law to ensure our coexistence. Are we promoting the use of large-scale violence to acquire and maintain power? Or are we promoting a community of nations governed by basic standards? We must, as Archbishop Desmond Tutu says, choose sides.