Reply #1: Human Rights Watch: U.S. Fiddles Over ICC While Darfur Burns

[Jack Rabbit]

Press release from Human Rights Watch
Dateline New York, Monday January 31

U.S. Fiddles Over ICC While Darfur Burns
U.N. Security Council Should Reject U.S. Scheme for Ad Hoc Court

The Bush administration is creating a deadly delay for the people of Darfur by attempting to block the U.N. Security Council from referring Darfur atrocities to the International Criminal Court, Human Rights Watch said in a letter to U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

Last week, one day after the Sudanese military reportedly killed or wounded nearly 100 civilians in an air strike in southern Darfur, the United States put forth a time-consuming, costly alternative for justice to the already functioning International Criminal Court (ICC): that the Security Council set up a new ad hoc tribunal for Darfur and house it in Tanzania, using the facilities of the international court that is currently prosecuting perpetrators of Rwanda's 1994 genocide.

This week, the U.N. Security Council is expected to receive the findings of the commission of inquiry it established to investigate violations of international human rights and humanitarian law in Darfur. It was also charged with determining if acts of genocide have occurred, and identifying perpetrators with a view to ensuring accountability. While identifying several options, the commission is likely to recommend that the Security Council refer the Darfur situation to the ICC.

"The delay involved in setting up a new tribunal would only lead to the loss of more innocent lives in Darfur," said Richard Dicker, director of the International Justice Program at Human Rights Watch. "The Bush administration seems willing to sacrifice Darfur's victims to its ideological campaign against the court."

Of course, the security council and all people of goodwill should reject the neoconservative attempt to gut the ICC. It should be hoped that one day the neoconservatives, led by Mr. Bush, will answer for their crimes before the ICC.