International Criminal Court Chief Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda was recently asked by Yahoo! News, “What is the biggest challenge [the Court faces] in 2016?”
Her response is instructive:
“There is a lot of misunderstanding about how the court works …especially in the face of the propaganda that is being made against the court. Because people are deliberately misinforming about the ICC, politicizing the court.”
One might think the biggest problem the Court faces is after more than a decade and a billion dollars spent it has only managed to convict two obscure African warlords. Or that itconsistently worsens the already-fragile situations in the countries it gets involved in. Or that its deterrent effect is nonexistent. Or that Bensouda herself cannot bring herself toacknowledge mistakes and, therefore, the ICC is completely incapable of making the kind of institutional reforms that might make it more fair and less political. Or that it is used as a hammer by the Great Powers that would never submit themselves to its authority. Or that its got a real Africa problem.
But, no. We’re expected to believe the primary problem the ICC must deal with is a growing chorus of people pointing out the Court has utterly failed to live up to its own purported mission.
(Photo via ICC official Flick’r.)