August 5, 2024
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.
Highlighting the many tangible steps his Office has taken, he noted cooperation with Sudanese authorities in addressing several longstanding requests. Through the collection of testimonies via extensive field deployments to Chad as well as engagements with Sudanese civil society, the Office has been able to piece together “who is responsible for unleashing this hell on earth”, he said. The Office has also expanded its ability to process audio, video and other forms of digital evidence, he said, adding that by his next report, he expected to announce arrest warrants against those who are most responsible. “The “ICC [the International Criminal Court] is not a talk shop,” he stressed. The Council needs to look at imaginative ways to stop this cycle of violence from persisting. Turning to the case of Ali Abd-Al-Rahman — an alleged senior member of the Janjaweed militia charged with 31 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity — he said one more defence witness will testify in September and final statements are expected before the end of the year. The Court has now heard from more than 100 witnesses, with his Office submitting over 1,500 items of evidence in support of its case, he noted.
Recalling a Sudanese man who asked him why he is optimistic that warrants will lead to accountability, he urged States to support the Office’s work more decisively. Sudan’s Government must expedite its cooperation with the Court, he said, pointing to the outstanding arrest warrant for Ahmed Harun. During his meeting with the Chair of Sudan’s Transitional Sovereign Council, Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, last year, he received a number of commitments, he said, also thanking the new focal point for cooperation appointed following this meeting. He also noted his efforts to engage with the leadership of the Rapid Support Forces. Given the absence of cooperation from them, he said, his Office has also been engaging with the Arab communities in Darfur, despite some initial hesitations from that community. This is a defining moment in history, he said, noting the increasing concentration of suffering around the world. Increasingly, the cry raised from so many parts of the Global South and the North is “does every human life matter equally?” No representative will be here [in the Council] forever, but being here is an opportunity to make a huge difference in the lives of so many people around the world, he reminded delegates.