jewscout
Religious Zionist
Sudan Poses First Big Trial for World Criminal Court
THE HAGUE - Almost three years after the International Criminal Court opened over United States opposition, the United Nations Security Council asked it to investigate atrocities in Sudan and, in the process, placed the court squarely in the international spotlight. By any measure, the request was an important vote of confidence in the new tribunal.
But at the court's glass-and-steel headquarters in The Hague, the reaction has been less than euphoric. Still wrestling with the mechanics of how to carry out its mandate to deal with large-scale human rights abuses, the new institution faces high expectations but lacks practical experience.
Unlike temporary tribunals, such as those addressing Yugoslavia, Rwanda and Sierra Leone, this is the world's first permanent and independent criminal court for judging war crimes. The chief prosecutor, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, has taken up two cases, involving large-scale killings in Uganda and Congo, but neither case is expected to come to court soon.
On the conflict in Darfur in Western Sudan, however, where as many as 300,000 people have been killed and more than two million others displaced, the court is under pressure to act swiftly, not only in the hope of ending the bloodshed but also, some diplomats say, because it would allow the Security Council to postpone direct intervention and nonetheless appear to be taking action.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/29/international/africa/29darfur.html?
THE HAGUE - Almost three years after the International Criminal Court opened over United States opposition, the United Nations Security Council asked it to investigate atrocities in Sudan and, in the process, placed the court squarely in the international spotlight. By any measure, the request was an important vote of confidence in the new tribunal.
But at the court's glass-and-steel headquarters in The Hague, the reaction has been less than euphoric. Still wrestling with the mechanics of how to carry out its mandate to deal with large-scale human rights abuses, the new institution faces high expectations but lacks practical experience.
Unlike temporary tribunals, such as those addressing Yugoslavia, Rwanda and Sierra Leone, this is the world's first permanent and independent criminal court for judging war crimes. The chief prosecutor, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, has taken up two cases, involving large-scale killings in Uganda and Congo, but neither case is expected to come to court soon.
On the conflict in Darfur in Western Sudan, however, where as many as 300,000 people have been killed and more than two million others displaced, the court is under pressure to act swiftly, not only in the hope of ending the bloodshed but also, some diplomats say, because it would allow the Security Council to postpone direct intervention and nonetheless appear to be taking action.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/29/international/africa/29darfur.html?