Possible NPR Spot on the ICC (Featuring Dan!!)

On Thursday I will be heading to Chicago Public Radio for a possible spot on Worldview about the International Criminal Court. In my role as Convenor of the Chicago Alliance for the ICC, I have been invited to participate in a discussion about the differences and similarities between the Kony (Uganda) and Bashir (Sudan) cases.

While details are still uncertain, I expect that the discussion will look at the interplay between the pursuit of lasting peace and the prosecution of the cases. While the situation in Uganda involved a referral to the ICC by the Ugandan government, and the situation in the Sudan was referred to the Court by the U.N. Security Council, there are calls in both cases for the Prosecutor to refrain from seeking the arrest of Kony and Bashir for the sake of ongoing negotiations.

The position of the Office of the Prosecutor has reinforced the independence of the Court from political considerations, and advocates of the Court have suggested that any considerations external to the prosecution of the cases should be weighed only by political actors. The extent to which the Prosecutor should consider these outside factors is contained in Article 53 of the Rome Statute; our discussion will likely look at the interplay between political and judicial forces at work in these two cases, and attempt to shed light on the best way forward toward the goal of securing a lasting resolution to these conflicts.

Check back for details on if/when it will air!