On June 9, 2016, I had the opportunity to go to the United Nations (UN) with the Darfur Women Action Group and the International Justice Project to hear the Prosecutor for the International Criminal Court (ICC), Fatou Bensouda, give a statement to the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) on the continuing situation in Darfur, Sudan. It has been over ten years since this case was referred to the ICC and it has still not been resolved.
Before I began my internship with the Darfur Women Action group, I had no idea the genocide in Darfur, Sudan was still an issue. I learned that, not only has the genocide been an issue for over ten years, but humanitarian aid is often blocked and unable to help the victims of the genocide. The president of the Darfur Woman Action Group was herself a member of the African diaspora and a genocide survivor. Hearing about her personal experiences with the situation in Darfur was eye-opening but barely scratched the surface of the mass suffering in the region.
At the UN, many of the states on the Security Council agreed that the situation in Darfur is unsettling and something must be done to allow justice to prevail. What surprised me, however, is that the delegates from Angola, Egypt, and Russia believed that the International Criminal Court and the UN should not interfere in the affairs of African states. Representatives of the African Union have even stated that the ICC’s investigation and the UN involvement are forms of neo-colonialism that seek to oppress African states such as Sudan.
What surprised me the most about my visit was the fact that the delegate from Sudan completely denied any instances of genocide within Sudan. The delegate even went so far as to suggest that the Prosecutor was lying about the situation in Darfur in order to subjugate victimized states. Meanwhile, the President of Sudan, Omar Al Bashir, remains free and travels across international borders, despite the two warrants that have been issued for his arrest. Prosecutor Bensouda pointed out that her Office’s “countless appeals to [the Council] for action to address the persistent failure of Sudan to comply with its international obligations have not been headed” and “the Council’s failure to act in response to 11 findings of noncompliance issued by ICC judges has equally emboldened states…not only to facilitate Mr. Al Bashir’s travels to their territories but to invite and host him.”
The situation in Darfur continues, even after the media has moved on to new crises. Despite those states that attempt to block the investigation, there remains overwhelming support from the majority of states in this continuing conflict. As Martin Luther King Jr. said, “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice.” We must remain hopeful and confident that there will be justice for the many victims of Darfur.