The international community must tackle the climate of impunity that is fuelling mass violence in Sudan, the Security Council heard on Monday as it considered the work of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in investigating crimes committed in the country bedeviled by war.
“Terror has become a common currency” in Sudan, Karim Khan, Prosecutor of that Court said, detailing the human rights abuses, including rapes and crimes against children, during his semi-annual briefing to the Council. Pointing to the provision of arms, financial support, and political triangulations enabling this, he said these abuses are also fuelled by “this feeling that Darfur or Sudan is a law-free zone in which people can act with abandon”, with nothing more than “a flicker of attention from the Council” every six months.
Outlining his Office’s efforts, he noted cooperation with Sudanese authorities, collection of testimonies, extensive field deployments, engagements with civil society, and the processing of digital evidence. Also pointing to his meeting with the Chair of Sudan’s Transitional Sovereign Council and efforts to engage with the leadership of the Rapid Support Forces, he said that by his next report, he expected to announce arrest warrants against those who are most responsible.
He also noted that final statements are expected this year in the case of Ali Abd-Al-Rahman — an alleged senior member of the Janjaweed militia, adding: “The “ICC is not a talk shop.”
The Council needs to look at imaginative ways to stop the cycle of violence from persisting in Sudan, he said, adding that the Government of Sudan must expedite its cooperation with the Court. Recalling a Sudanese man who asked him why he is optimistic that the warrant will lead to accountability, he noted that so many parts of the Global South and the North are asking: “Does every human life matter equally?” Membership in the Council is an opportunity to make a huge difference in their lives, he reminded delegates.
The Council also heard from the representative of Sudan, who highlighted his Government’s political will and commitment to engage with the Court within the principle of judicial complementarity. Citing a 2021 memorandum of understanding signed between his Government and the Office of the Prosecutor, he pointed to domestic efforts to strengthen judicial capacity, including steps undertaken to join the Rome Statute.
Sudan seeks further cooperation with the Court, he said, highlighting the Sovereign Transitional Council’s establishment of a committee to coordinate with the Court. Drawing attention to the increase in sexual and gender-based violence in the areas targeted by the Rapid Support Forces, he said such violence is used to destabilize safe areas. The establishment of gender units within the family protection centers has led to the documentation of 191 instances of sexual violence.
“Women and children,” Malta’s delegate observed, “are bearing the brunt of the conflict, particularly through the widespread perpetration of gender-based crimes”. Calling on the Prosecutor’s Office to prioritize investigations addressing crimes of sexual and gender-based violence and crimes against children, she called for a ceasefire and unimpeded access to humanitarian relief.
However, the representative of the Russian Federation criticized the Prosecutor’s successive reports as useless and said there is no point in continuing the “routine hearing of empty reports.”
“The ICC always has to blame someone else,” she said, placing the blame instead on the Court’s procrastination. This pseudo-court, after 20 years of inaction, with a go-ahead from its Western masters, has suddenly become interested in the situation in Sudan. Urging Council members to focus on assistance to national judicial bodies, she noted that no one from the Western military or leadership was held accountable for atrocities in Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as for the military aggression against Libya.
Karim Khan, Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, stressing that it has been a dark and tragic six months for Sudan since his last briefing to the Council, noted the mass scale of crimes in that country, including rapes and crimes against children.
“Terror has become a common currency,” he said, adding that these profound human rights abuses are being fuelled by the provision of arms, financial support, and political triangulations. But they are also fuelled by a sense of impunity, “this feeling that Darfur or Sudan is a law-free zone in which people can act with abandon”, with nothing more than “a flicker of attention from the Council” every six months, he said. “To those on the ground in Darfur today, to the members of the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces, to those also fighting alongside them, to those who give orders, to those who feel there are no limits to what they can do, I wish to send a clear message: my Office is moving with urgency and focus to ensure that you will be held to account for your crimes,” he pledged.