Eradicating evil is on trial

In another situation before the court, some countries are supporting a proposal that the ICC drop its indictments against Joseph Kony, leader of the Lord's Resistance Army in Uganda, as a condition of a peace agreement being negotiated in that country.

In each of these examples, if the politicians win the day the many thousands of victims and their families who had been affected by the brutality of these people would be deprived of a sense of real justice. We must not allow this to happen.

In the end, therefore, the effectiveness of international criminal justice will largely depend on the efforts of states to demonstrate the requisite political will - backed by tangible resources and action - necessary to allow for proper accountability for those who commit gross violations of human rights. It is in this regard also that states have and will continue to play a crucial role. The ICC and other international tribunals have no police force and are, to a large degree, entirely reliant on states to effect the arrest of indicted individuals so they can be brought before an appropriate court to face trial.

States have another, even more important, role. Prosecuting the perpetrators of these crimes represents only half of the picture. Courts such as the ICC are significant in this process of justice and reconciliation, but their creation is not the panacea that will stop these atrocities from taking place. To prevent acts of genocide and other atrocities requires more than the establishment of a legal regime that can deal with the crimes once the killing has stopped. That is an important element in the matrix of international criminal justice but is based on an assumption that such acts will take place.

What is needed is the sincere and determined political will on the part of all states to respect international law, to listen to the calls of those under threat and to ensure that crimes such as these do not occur.