Forging a Convention for Crimes against Humanity

INTRODUCTION

International criminal law is about politics. It is a naïve Chief Prosecutor who plans for and executes his prosecution plan (if he or she has one) without keeping in mind the bright red thread of politics that permeates the entire existence of a tribunal or court. Conceived due to a political event and a creature of political compromise, politics is in the DNA of all of the justice mechanisms that make up the modern era of international criminal justice.

Today, the climate is once again politically charged as the international community begins to adjust its thinking about how to solve diplomatically, in an acceptable manner, the indictment of the sitting President of the Sudan, Omar al-Bashir. The clarion calls by various States and organizations for peace first, maybe justice later, with a mounting pressure to defer the arrest warrant for a year, are familiar. These threats, comments, and histrionics are the very same as when I unsealed the indictment of then-President Charles Taylor of Liberia in June 2003. At the end of the day, his indictment brought a more sustainable peace for the people of Liberia, and Bashir's indictment will do the same for the people of the Sudan. It will be interesting to watch how this political process plays out.

This paper will use as a case study the development, planning, and execution of a political event that ultimately set into motion the prosecution of the various warring factions of Sierra Leone in the 1990s.