Governments block progress on global justice - Amnesty

(May 29, 2010) Governments are blocking progress on human rights by refusing to join the International Criminal Court (ICC) or by shielding their allies from justice, human rights group Amnesty International said on Thursday. Releasing its annual report, Amnesty said 2009 was a landmark year for international justice because the ICC issued an arrest warrant for Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Sudan's Darfur region. Bashir, who was sworn in on Thursday after being re-elected president last month, is the world's only sitting leader to be indicted by the Hague-based ICC. "There has been progress in terms of international justice but governments are either holding themselves above the law, for example, by not signing up to the ICC or shielding their political allies when it's holding them to account," Amnesty's interim secretary-general, Claudio Cordone, told Reuters. The African Union's refusal to cooperate with the ICC warrant - with exceptions such as South Africa and Botswana - was an example of governmental failure to put justice before politics, the rights group said. Cordone urged states, particularly G20 nations, to prove their commitment to "global leadership" by fully signing up to the ICC. Of the G20, seven have yet to do so: the United States, China, Russia, India, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia and Turkey. Amnesty expressed particular concern over possible war crimes committed during fighting in Sri Lanka last year, criticizing the United Nations for its failure to intervene.