AU-EU Meeting on Universal Jurisdiction

(Destin de l’Afrique)--Representatives of the European Union and the African Union meeting in Brussels on September 16, 2008 were to discuss the crisis in Darfur and ‘universal jurisdiction,’ the concept by which countries can prosecute perpetrators of grave international crimes that have not been committed on their territory or against their citizens. They should use the meeting to affirm the need to bring to justice those who commit serious abuses, regardless of where they or their victims live.

The meeting, at Troika ministerial level, comes at a time when justice is at risk for the thousands of victims of atrocities committed since 2003 in Darfur. In July, after the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) requested an arrest warrant for Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, the government of Sudan and its allies launched a diplomatic campaign to halt the work of the court in Darfur. The African Union called on the United Nations Security Council to make use of its powers under article 16 of the ICC treaty to suspend the court’s proceedings in Darfur. AU leaders have expressed concerns about possible consequences for efforts to broker a peace deal in Darfur. Sudanese government officials threatened to retaliate against civilians and humanitarian workers, and President al-Bashir said he would expulse the UN-AU peacekeeping force if an arrest warrant is issued.

‘Governments might be tempted to let President al-Bashir off in return for promises to make peace, but such a deal would not only betray Darfur’s victims, it would surely fail to end the fighting,’ said Richard Dicker, director of the international justice program at Human Rights Watch. ‘Sudan has made many promises on Darfur and they have all proven to be just empty words.’

Some African countries have argued that the ICC and universal jurisdiction are used by the West against the African continent. The meeting is an opportunity to recall that international justice is a tool to bring justice to women, children and men who are abused every day across the world, and to send a strong message that their tormentors will be held to account for their acts, whatever their position and rank, and wherever they live. Ensuring justice for grave crimes should be cherished by both the European Union and African Union, Human Rights Watch said.

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