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CYIL 7 ȍ2016Ȏ
THE ICC ARREST WARRANT FOR THE SUDANESE PRESIDENT…
• States not Parties to the Rome Statute have no such obligation, but in the
case of a request of the Court, they can decide to arrest him.
• Member States of the African Union who are States Parties to the Convention
on the Privileges and Immunities of the OAU are also under legal obligation
to arrest the Sudanese President, provided that they are States Parties to the
Rome Statute.
• For practical purposes, in dualist countries it is necessary to check whether
the content of the Rome Statute has been thoroughly transformed into
domestic law.
The Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir was re-elected in April 2015 and he can
be expected to travel to other Member States of the African Union in the future
again. As the International Criminal Court does not have any enforcement powers
at disposal, it fully relies on the cooperation of States Parties to the Rome Statute in
order to execute its arrest warrants. Therefore, clarification of the legal obligations of
the States Parties represents a significant step on the road to achieving international
criminal justice.