India, the Rome Statute, and the International Criminal Court: Negotiating to No

Abstract

In October 2015 the President of Sudan, Omar Hassan Al Bashir, attended the third India-Africa Forum summit in New Delhi. With two warrants for his arrest outstanding, he was a wanted man.1 The first sitting head of state to be indicted by the International Criminal Court (ICC), he had earlier been charged with two counts of war crimes, three of genocide and five of crimes against humanity. 2 United Nations Security Council (UNSC) Resolution 1593 (2005), which first referred the situation in Darfur to the ICC, had “urge[d] all States and concerned regional and other international organizations to cooperate fully” with the Court’s activities, regardless of whether they were parties to the Rome Statute. 3 On the eve of Al Bashir’s visit to New Delhi, the ICC Prosecutor reiterated this plea, calling for India to “contribute to the important goal of ending impunity for the world’s worst crimes” by arresting Al Bashir. 4 India neglected, however, to comply.