Sudan: UN Security Council must ensure Sudan arrests war crimes suspects

The ICC Prosecutor told the Security Council this morning that the government of Sudan is not cooperating with the Court and that the Council must now send a strong message to the government to ensure Sudan's compliance with its obligation, under UNSC Resolution 1593(2005), to arrest and surrender the two men to the International Criminal Court. [...] Sudan has so far not only persistently refused to arrest and surrender the two men – it has even promoted Ahmed Harun to the post of Minister of State for Humanitarian Affairs. [...] The organization welcomed and supported Costa Rica's timely initiative before the Council calling for Sudan’s compliance with its obligations and called on all members of the Security Council to act immediately on the Costa Rican proposal without any further delay and without weakening it. [...] Amnesty International said that those Security Council members that are party to or have signed the Rome Statute of the ICC have a particular responsibility to do their utmost to further all states’ cooperation with the ICC – including ensuring that the Security Council guarantees compliance with its own resolution that referred the situation in Darfur to the Prosecutor of the ICC. [...] Background Security Council members Belgium, Burkina Faso, Costa Rica, Croatia, France, Italy, Panama, South Africa and the United Kingdom are parties to the Rome Statute of the ICC.